tony b

I did get the skin on belly - a whopping 13#!! Killer busy weekend (homebrew club's annual beer festival), so had to toss it in the freezer. I promised Susan (Loquitur) that I'd take pictures during assembly and cooking.

Yeah, what she said!

Tasty looking little birds! I was already in the mood for chicken today, but this just sealed the deal. Have a pack of thighs in the freezer begging to be grilled! Just struggling to figure out how I want to do them? Maybe a "snack pak" approach - LOL!

Yes, they seem to be different cuts, as the first one was a bit more marbled. They cooked differently, too. The first one pulled easily, the "pot roast" didn't and I ended up slicing it, even though it was cooked to 200F and let rest for 30 minutes in foil. Both were seriously tasty though! Will try and remember to take "in process" pics. This is a whole belly; hence 13#. I'm hoping that the porchetta only uses a portion of it, so I can make some bacon with the remainder. Eager to tackle both, as I've never done either one before.

Funny, but the first picture still shows the bent probes, but all the others show the straight ones. I've owned 2 of these in the past and been generally happy with them. Minor complaints about the on/off switch being inside the battery cover (hope the newer ones changed that). Hard to get to sync up sometimes (multiple attempts needed). And, the "pre-programmed" meat temperatures are all on the high side of the USDA recommendations, so you need to manually lower them to get the doneness that you really want, as they don't account for any increase during rest periods. That said, a large percentage of reviews on Amazon of this new model are not good. Lots of complaints about probes dying after one or two cooks (or right out of the box). Others complained about it eating batteries and having low display brightness. Sounds like they didn't improve the interface either, as many complained about the same sync problems that the older model had. YMMV.

I do the same, Syz. If you look closely, I think I can make out the strap on the top. It's just lying flat.

Great to hear that others have discovered the Anova. I was an early convert. The newer model is even better. But no buyers' remorse. Syz, I also bought a nice Cambro and lid to do larger cooks in, but most of the time, I'm just cooking for me, so the stock pot works just fine. I mainly use my pressure cooker for canning, but have made some seriously good batches of bolognese in it.

See this second post, but without the picture. As a "newbie" you might not know this, but you can edit your posts afterwards. Look at the bottom right-hand corner and you'll see an Edit command - but only in your own posts. One of the things you can do in Edit mode is add a picture, if you forgot or took it later and want to add it to the old post instead of a new one.

Nice looking birds. I am fond of spatchcocking them as well. With the KK, I've never seen the need to brine, as they stay very moist on their own. Try it next time to compare.

Fingers crossed that the belly will be at the market today. Went by yesterday and they didn't come in with their order. Update: We have BELLY!! Woo-Hoo!! 13# of porky goodness. Now I just need to go buy the roast to go inside and find the time to put this bad boy together! Susan, here's a shot of the lable off of the "pot roast." As you can see, that's how they labelled it. Lobel's Meat Bible says this - " Pot Roast is a dish, not a cut of meat. Any relatively large cut of beef does well when pot roasted, or to use an old-fashioned term, when it is "potted." We don't recommend using this method to cook the more tender roasts, such as rib roasts, sirloin roasts, or whole fillets. Instead, use tougher cuts that are improved by braising. In order of preference, we like the following cuts for pot roast: chuck, whole flat iron, brisket, bottom round, and eye of round."

My mom's used to do that too! Newer ones don't use the weight resting on the stub tube in the lid anymore. A bit safer nowadays!

I'd have to look it up in Lobel's book to be precise, Susan, but the label on the package just said "Pot Roast." I picked up another one at the market today (on sale). They also had the Angus Reserve bottom chuck roasts for $3.99/lb. Bought 3 of them!!

Thanks. Forgot to mention that I made the sauce for it, too. Simple - small can of tomato sauce, EVOO, Italian herbs, roasted garlic paste, a splash of red wine, and grated (canned) Parmesan/Romano blend. Heated in a sauce pan until just to simmer. Cooked for about 15 minutes.

Having owned a POSK, I was one of the lucky ones that got an early Indonesian made one. It lasted 8 years before it really started to have structural problems. The friend of mine that inherited my POSK tried to work with the new guys to get a replacement collar for the top hat spider (where it was severely cracked and eventually failed). But, while the guys were very sincere, they could just never deliver the product and my friend gave up on them. At least they didn't take his money upfront like RJ does.

On my "wish list" is to do a porchetta - http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Porchetta-367138 I was supposed to get my pork belly w/skin on today, but the order didn't arrive at the butcher store. They said tomorrow (sounds kinda like "checks in the mail" - LOL!)

Was in the mood for pizza, so whipped up some dough and tossed her on the KK - pizza stone on the upper grill, no heat deflector, 600F in the dome, for 8 minutes. Pre-cooked sausage and bacon, with mushrooms, black olives (salt cured), and fresh onion, mozzarella pearls, and fresh basil. Ta -da! An "oh, by the way" - after I took the pizza off the stone and closed the lid, I heard a "tink". So, curiousity got the best of me, so I opened the KK back up to see that my stone had completely broken into two pieces. I guess the rush of cooler air hitting the 600F stone, cracked it. Please note that this was a thinner pizza stone, not the hefty one from Kamodo-Kamado. Just goes to prove that Dennis knows what the hell he's doing!!!

I've always sworn that they roast whole chickens better than any other cooking method!

Definitely! Having said that, I did prefer the chuck roast over the pot roast though. Local supermarket is having a sale right now on Angus Reserve chuck roasts, so I'm likely to stock up on them.

If it works for you, Doc, I might just have to try it sometime. Always looking for a new tricks.

Good luck with the experiment, Doc (haven't heard from you in a while?) Love my pressure cooker, just never thought of using it as a prequel to smoking. The challenge will to optimize the cooking time without making them mushy. I can tell immediately when ribs have been boiled - the texture is off. In most cooking, technique IS important. If you try to saute with too much oil in the pan, you're frying, not sauteing. The results will be different. Not necessarily bad, just different. If you're cooking your pork butts in a crock pot, with liquid smoke and a bottle of sauce, it might be tasty, just don't call it BBQ! Just saying!

Sistah, you do like you some rare meat!!!

Don't fret the bark. It looks just right. Welcome to the Fans of Pork Club!!

OK, adventures in beef cuts #2 was yesterday. This time it was a pot roast, about 2.5 lbs. Similar to the chuck roast cook, indirect @ 250F using the Guru. Smoking pot was hickory, red oak and mesquite. Roast was injected with Butcher's brisket injection and rubbed with OakRidge's Secret Weapon brisket rub, rested overnight. Pulled off the grill @ 200F internal (I was shooting for the same 210F as before, but it was taking forever to move a single degree and it had been on for 9 hours already). It didn't pull, but sliced easily and was very tender. Killer beef flavor again, but I might have had a touch too much rub on it - bold flavor! Here's the pix to prove it happened!

That's the best way to go. Susan convinced me a while back. It's less messy; just swap baskets.

If you don't have one, consider getting the split basket setup. Makes for very easy direct/indirect combo cooks. Use mine more than I thought I would when I ordered it. I bought it primarily for doing high temp steak sears, so I didn't have to burn up a lot of coals to reach high temps, but have expanded my repertoire to "classic" direct/indirect combo cooking as well. Steven Raichlen would be so proud - LOL!