tony b

I do have to say that I have found a good use of the double drip pan - the base for my vertical spike for doing shawarma/gyro/al pastor cooks. I typically don't put veggies in it, but I've enjoyed seeing the pics from others that do it. The reason for the double bottom was a suggestion by several of us here when Dennis 1st rolled out the single pan, was to make sure that the drippings for gravy, etc. didn't burn. It works. I did use it once for a Thanksgiving turkey to make the gravy - yeah, it was a tad smoky, but I liked it. Cold smoker - I've done cheese, salmon (both cold and "warm" smoked (140F), nuts and most recently - smoking beef tallow and pork leaf lard. I have used it to add smoke to hot cooks, but generally default to the smoker pot, because my older KK doesn't have the dual ports - so you have to choose smoker or Guru for your cook. I like using the Guru on long cooks, so I HAVE to use the smoker pot and not the cold smoker. As noted, pellets in the cold smoker are the only way to go - hard to keep wood chips lit. Buy high quality ones that don't have a lot of "binder" added - that's what gunks up the smoker. I like these guys: Our Smoking Pellets - BBQ Lumberjack wood pellets for smoking

That one is made with green habanero peppers. Best guess on the rest - garlic, cumin, cilantro, salt, vinegar. Play around with it and keep a bottle of the original for reference. That's typically how I copy rubs/sauces. @Troble - that's quite the impressive pantry re-stock! You look like you're set for a while! I'm getting a pretty decent crop of Aji this year, so I'm hoping to get enough to make a batch of hot sauce. Not enough peppers last year to bother with.

Works for me - tasty fat is tasty fat in my book!

I'd eat that! Please tell me that those potatoes are going into either duck or goose fat??

Doc made straight up "cracklin's." Chicharron (aka, pork rinds) are pig skin that's been boiled first to soften them up and then they are deep fried to puff up and get all crunchy. Agree with @Poochie - cracklin's can often be crazy hard on the teeth - practically inedible if overcooked.

That's our @Poochie! 🤣 It's not really an either/or decision, but my priority would be cold smoker 1st, double drip pan 2nd. I have both and don't use that double drip pan all that much - in fact, rarely. But, I like the cold smoker and use it much more often.

I was lucky enough this week to get to have one of my favorite snacks - chicharron, at not 1, but 2 different brewpubs while visiting Milwaukee. Drank a LOT of Oktoberfest beers there - every brewery seemed to have their own take on it. Most were pretty good, a few were "meh," but no really bad ones. I'm a convert of the smoked beef tallow school of BBQ after watching several YouTube vids on it. Makes a difference!!

2nd that - no need for the ceramic heat deflector - even Dennis doesn't use it! I normally just use a sheet of AL foil to block the infrared.

This is a MUST TRY menu. It's awesome. Big hats off to @Troble for sharing it. I've made this multiple times and I try to have the green sauce in my fridge frequently for putting on all kinds of spuds. It's my "Green Crack" now!

What @jonjsaid.

👌

That would probably be best.

That's an excellent price. Meat prices have gone crazy the last couple of months, so I'm always on the lookout for a good bargain, even if I have to drop down a bit in quality over my usual brands/grades.

No, I'm not. How did you make the connection with his profile here?

But, be mindful that it's an air pump and needs to have a steady supply of intake air or it will burn up the motor. So, if you put it in a ziptop bag, make sure there's a few holes in it; plus, cut the corner off for the hose. If you run it and see the bag collapse, then it's not getting enough intake air.

@RokDok - I just have the one plant of Cascade. It's about 15 years old now. That bucket full was air-dried for 5 days and I put them up in vacuum bags today - got 5 oz of dried. Those chickens all look amazing! I haven't done a matone in a long time. Got me thinking. I have a whole bird in the freezer.

Sorry, no help here. But, I have run my Guru in the rain before - just put the controller in a ziploc bag with a bottom corner cut out for the wires. Be mindful of electrical safety, though. My power supply was in a protected spot.

If you hadn't been banned a long time ago for your bad jokes, you'll never get banned on here!!

Don't leave out the rosemary sprigs!

Unfortunately, my "go-to" guy closed his deli/meat market today. His sausage business (another location) will be closing at the end to October. Classic pandemic trifecta: Delivery costs (Chomp, Door Dash, Uber Eats, etc.) cutting into slim margins, skyrocketing meat prices this summer, and hard to get/retain employees. Sad days indeed! 😢

On your longer cooks, like ribs, butts and brisket, you can try spraying them periodically with apple juice/cider vinegar/water/bourbon/beer - whatever strikes your fancy. Smoke likes a damp surface to stick to, so by lightly spritzing the meat during the cook after the bark sets (several hours in), say every 30 mins to an hour, you will pick up some more smoke flavor. Just be careful and don't overdo the spraying each time, as you don't want to wash off that lovely bark that you've worked so hard to create.

You mean like this?? Picked these over the weekend. That's a 3 gallon bucket. Maybe 25% of what's on the plant?

Was in a bit of a rush for dinner last night, so I bopped on over to the supermarket to grab something in the butcher counter to toss on the KK, when I spotted this - Flamin' Hot Cheetos crusted, stuffed & bacon-wrapped chicken breasts (stuffing is cream cheese & jalapenos). Just had to hit it! Direct, main grate, 325F, apple wood chunk. Plated with melting potatoes and a side salad (yummy yellow tomato!)

I have a jar of filets in my fridge. They keep like forever if you keep them covered in oil. The paste comes in a tube, like toothpaste, so it might be easier to use than filets. Look for it in the supermarket where they sell the canned sardines. However, the filets are very tender and are easy to smash into a paste.

Yeah, that pic was taken a long time ago, right after I got it, so it was pretty "brand new." I called it "KK at Sunrise."