tony b

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.

Thread inspired me to do some Asian cooking tonight to use up some leftovers from weekend grilling. Used up the roasted chicken to make some Tom Yum Kha soup. A big chunk of the roasted pork roast wrapped in bacon became pork in Szechuan black bean sauce. 美食帶來的快樂 (Měishí dà i lái de kuà ilè) (Food brings Happiness)

Of all the problems that I've had with the new Forum software, I have to say that this hasn't been one of them. But, most of the time, I'm only uploading 3 or 4 pics at a time.

Use pulled pork for a lot of things - pizza, omelets, fried rice, but never thought about using rib meat. Good call, Wilbur! Got some leftover ribs in the fridge - Hmmm, what can we use them for tonight??

Where's the pics, Doc? Toss in some gochujang and sesame oil into that marinade and we're in business! Plan B - Doc's marinade with Chinese 5-spice powder with some extra szechuan peppercorns tossed in and a shot of Sriracha - bingo, bango, bongo!

Tonight's cook - cajun blackened pork chops. Basket splitter to conserve charcoal (it really does!). 550F in the dome, which puts the grate on the basket in the 800F - 900F range, with a cast iron skillet. Dizzy Pig Bayouish rub - first use - really liked it. Now for the pics. First you need a seriously smoking hot pan. 3 1/2 minutes on the first side, 2 1/2 minutes on the other side, then pulled off the inferno to rest for another 3 minutes . Off the grill. Plated, with a side of gnocchi and homemade pesto cream sauce.

Way too open on the top - that's like shooting for 450F - 500F range. I was trying to cook yesterday's pork roast @ 275F and got impatient and opened the top vent 3/4 turn and before I knew it, the KK was at 375F. And it was very windy, too! Shuddah known bettah!

My crystal ball sees "black & tans" in your future! LOL!!