tony b

Never doubted your intelligence (we're both engineers after all), but I was beginning to doubt your taste - LOL! Will give you the benefit of the doubt from now on - promise!

My only challenge is patience - or lack thereof. I have a tendency to overshoot medium range cooks because when I open vents too far for my final temp (300F - 400F range) to "jump start" the cook, I let too much charcoal get going and even though I close the vents back down to final positions when the dome temps reaches 250F, it's too late and I end up higher than my target. As long as I catch it early, before the KK heat soaks, I can usually turn it around; it's when I get busy doing prep work in the kitchen and thinking all is well on the grill to finally discover - OOPS, I DID IT AGAIN! (sorry, bad Brittany pun.) So, I've tried to learn more discipline and just start the KK earlier and let it come up to temps "naturally," rather than jump start it. YMMV.

CC, dude, mushroom swiss burgers are da bomb, man! And, I gotta wean you off that damned Miller Lite! At least Fortune is a step in the right direction; but, beware, it's not a "light" beer at all - 6.9 percent alcohol by volume. 186 calories per 12-ounce serving. Try Sam Adams Light (119 Cal), if you're gonna stick to "light" beer.

You should be able to find it then, or at least the sumac and blend up your own. If not, Penzey's carries it. (btw - they are my "go to" spice store. Great stuff!) https://www.penzeys.com/online-catalog/zatar/c-24/p-486/pd-s

Thanks, CC. My gift to the KK community! Hope you can find someone locally to fab one for you. Here's a secret tip. Make a mock-up first to make sure that it fits. While mine was made for the old POSK, it still works on the KK - luckily. But, I have to remember to take out the dome thermometer, as it interferes with the rack, even on the lower grate. Bent the crap out of the thermometer the first time I used it on the KK when I closed the lid! Fortunately, it straightened out without breaking. Here's the other tip/trick - put a piece of potato on the end of the skewer, so the meats don't slide off as they cook (helps to put spuds in between too so all the meats don't slide down to the end (see pic above). Learned that one the hard way, too (LOL!) Susan, it came that way. I've never had any issues flipping it over to use as a sear grate. Thanks for the tips, Wilburpan. Will just use the "manual" method next time. Done that many times to put herbed butter under the skin of chickens. Best part of that video, listening to the crunchy skin as he's slicing it off the bird!! I can just taste it - Killer!

Speaking of old slaw recipes - here's one from the old Kamado (POSK) Forum that I've used a lot. It really goes well with pulled pork sandwiches (it's a Southern thing!) Posted by Barry on Thursday, September 08, 2005- 4:24pm: Here is a coleslaw recipe I like to use with the pork..I use Napa or Savoy cabbage. I like the texture and sweetness it gives to the slaw. Rinse off a head of Napa or Savoy cabbage, removing the outer leaves and discarding. Wrap it tightly and slice into about 1/4 inch thick. For the dressing I use 3/4 cup Best Foods mayonnaise 2T Balsamic Vinegar 1T Rice wine vinegar 1/2t colemans dry mustard 1T Sesame seed oil 1/2t white pepper 1T white sugar 2-3 cloves of garlic smashed and chopped Whisk it all together in a large bowl. Add chopped cabbage by the hand full while stirring to incorporate it all together. This is all approximate since I made this recipe up and never measure it. Just taste it. It is all good. I also add a spice mixture called Zattar. It is popular in the middle east, particularly Jordan. The main ingredients of Zattar are thyme, roasted sesame seeds and sumac. It is not readily available in stores. I would think a google search would find a supplier. Zattar adds a different flavor to the slaw that no one can figure out. It goes really well with the pulled pork though. It is also, I have found, indispensable when you want to K a really good leg of lamb. I add the Zattar when I make it - about a tablespoon. The sumac gives it a tart, lemony component. And, the other thing is to let it rest for a couple of hours to blend the flavors.

DRAT!!!! Of all the pieces of the old Forum that don't work, it would be the Pork section in the Recipes & How do I cook a ... thread!!! Well, at least the rest of it seems OK.

It was custom made for me by the blacksmith shop down in the Amana Colonies. The skewers were an in-house basic item that I had them tweak by putting the hooks on the end. For the life of me, I can't recall what I paid them, but it wasn't a lot. They did several custom jobs for me back then - my pot rack for my kitchen remodel and my grilling table. Both were riffs on things that they routinely made for the gift shop. I just had them customize stuff for me. I just remember how cheap the pot rack was compared to what I found in catalogs for similar ones. I seem to remember that the hooks were the most expensive part of the deal!! The table got tiled during the house remodeling by the same folks that did the tile work in the kitchen. The blacksmiths just made the frame and the hooks, towel rack, etc.

Great looking duck, Wilburpan! Looking for tips on how to blow air under the skin. I tried several techniques and nothing I've tried seemed to work very well. Can't seem to generate enough pressure to separate the skin from the meat. Will be interested in how the rotisserie works out for you. I've done mine on vertical roasters (I don't have the roti for my KK). Sav, not to bring up too many bad memories, but the old POSK did have a meat hanger option. I never got one, but had something similar made locally for doing South American Churasco.

While many of us used to be on the old Kamado Forum, despite all the other issues with owning a POSK, there were a lot of good recipes and tips on that Forum (It's where I cut my teeth). I found a link to someone who had archived a lot of that old information if you ever want to peruse it. http://web.archive.org/web/20070623144413/http://www.kamado.com/discus/messages/2/2.html?1180985704

I can't actually believe it, but I read an article in the paper today on developing Ebola vaccines and they used the word "armamentarium." OK, that's twice in one week - freaky!

Appreciate the kinds words! My Mom passed back in '96. A lot of Thanksgivings ago! Still, like you said, to have just one more Thanksgiving with all of us around the table would be "priceless!"

First, great pics of the bird cook! Looks seriously yummy. Making me wish that Thanksgiving would get here sooner! But, dude, gotta testify against that statement about "I HATE giblet gravy..." - blasphemy/heresy/sacrilege/by all that is holy!!!! My Mom's giblet gravy was to die for - seriously! It wouldn't have been Thanksgiving in my parents' house without it (or her fabulous sage dressing). All of us kids (and the grandkids now) have struggled our entire lives trying to replicate my Mom's Thanksgiving dinner. I've come close, but .... Miss those dinners!!

"armamentarium" - only an MD would use this term - LOL! Nice one, Doc! And, yes, inquiring minds like ours would like to know - what temp did you cook the roast at, indirect, final Internal temp?

I have done the almonds on sheet pans, indirect (drip pan on lower grill), one pan on the main grill and one on the upper grill (swap about 1/2 way through the cook), using the whole charcoal basket, BBQ Guru at 150F for about 2 hours (taste them starting around 90 minutes to check if they are done and smoky enough). http://komodokamado.com/forum/topic/4834-smoked-almonds-with-ancho-chile/?p=45268 Had mixed success with seasonings. They tend to fall off easily. Used both PAM and egg white wash. The latter worked better. Maybe I shouldn't stir them in process? I now have 2 perforated sheet pans, so hopefully, I won't have to stir them and the seasonings will stay on better.

Good to hear, Amir, as I've never used my splitter basket on a low & slow cook, only short, higher temp cooks to conserve charcoal. Need to do another batch of smoked almonds. This could be a good test case with the splitter.

Me, too. I don't have the rotisserie, but have done ducks on my vertical roaster. Eager to learn more. They are one of the harder cooks to do well.

Eager to hear, Susan, how the hot sauce turns out. Have gotten good feedback on mine. It's HOT!

Great job, Wilbur! Looks like a seasoned pro did it! Big, big fan of garlic rosemary potatoes. Never done them on the KK, though. Fine balance between crispy brown exteriors and nice soft moist interiors, but when it's done right, they are awesome!! The biggest thing that I've learned that affects the outcome is the size of the potato pieces. I have a tendency to cut them a bit small (bite sized) and they dry out easier than if I make them bigger. And, you're right Wilbur, lots of olive oil helps too!

Yes, it will do that. For tonight's cook, I just dumped the rest of my full basket of coco from a previous cook on top of the coals in the split basket so I didn't have to handle them directly, but they still broke apart some. Was being lazy and didn't want to go to the garage and get another bag of regular charcoal to refill the split basket.

Awesome.

To quote Mel Brooks, "It's good to be the king!"

My guess, you're using an Apple product (MAC, iPhone). Their software is known to do that. I don't own any Apple stuff, so no personal accounts from me, just what I've seen posted by others.

Midleton - WOW! Expensive taste, Doc. Jealous! Definitely, The Doors, "Strange Days" album. (2nd album choice, "LA Woman") Sorry to hear that Susan. Hope you got it on Amazon so it's not a hassle to send it back.

My top vent isn't that "free wheeling" that I'd worry about that being the cause, at least in my case, Doc. Have had the hat move slightly when opening/closing the lid, though. But, I will do a direct observation next windy day cook, just to confirm. That is true, Robert, and I normally keep the damper just barely cracked to be on the safe side, having had temps get away because it was too open. But, in the case of the windy day issue, I don't think it factors in much, as the Bernoulli effect is far more prevalent on the top vent. Too much pressure drop across the fan to be a direct concern on the Guru port. That said, if the Guru damper is open a lot, it does make it easier for the top vent to pull more air through on a windy day (vacuum draw). If I were more ambitious in following up on this, I'd run an experiment setting up the KK with the Guru and a box fan. Pick a nice calm day. After getting the KK up and stable at say 250F, then point the box fan directly at the Guru, blowing directly into it, with the fan on high speed and see if there's any change in temperature over say a 15 minute period. Then, run the experiment again, this time, remove the Guru (plug the port) and open the lower vent just slightly. Let the KK stabilize at that setting. Point the fan directly at the lower vent and monitor the temperature. Finally, move the fan to a position where it blows only at the top vent and repeat the experiment. My hypothesis is that the most profound effect on the temperature will be on the 3rd test - top vent. I suspect you will see negligible effect on the Guru test and probably a little increase in temperature on the lower vent test.