tony b

Photos, dude, where are the food pix?? You know the Forum rules - "No pix, it didn't happen!"

First off, great food porn! See you've found Fruita woods already. Great Stuff!!! Try the OakRidge rubs; they are pretty good, too! Love the Santa Maria on tri-tip over their Cali Red Oak splits. No dilemma there - cook your briskets like TX and your pork butts like NC and all will be right with the world!!!

Looks like you could roast chiles with it, too! As far as roasting coffee beans, I'd think that you'd pick up too much smoky flavors that would overwhelm some of the milder coffee flavors, unless you're going for a really dark roast/espresso. The pictures are using a gas grill, which would probably make more sense for a lighter roast. But, having never done it, I'm just guessing.

Pictures, dude, where is the food porn?? Forum Rule #1 - no pictures of the cook, it didn't happen! You will love the Guru. It's not really training wheels at all - IMO. It's so nice to set it up for a long lo & slo cook and just walk away (or go to bed) and not worry about the temperature fluctuating.

Then it didn't happen! Hearsay, fiction, myth!

First off, gorgeous outdoor kitchen. I am so jealous. Not practical here in Iowa. I have granite countertops in my indoor kitchen (about 1 1/2 inches thick). They were put in over 6 years ago. I put pots straight off the stove on them with no issues at all. I wouldn't worry about it at all.

Hey Firemonkey, have you tried Frogmats for doing your fatties? They work great. www.frogmats.com

Huzzah!!

The interstitial gap is a great idea. Will add to the overall expense, but look at what we're cooking on - LOL! I would use the pan drippings more, but they often burn and are unusable. This would likely solve that problem.

Yes, I generally foil the cast iron skillet for the Hasselback spuds and take it off with about 30 mins to go to reduce the liquid a bit and get a touch more smokiness on them. While Susan's recipe doesn't call for it, I like to finish off the sauce with half-n-half. Take the potatoes out of the skillet, add just enough half-n-half to form a sauce. The residual heat in the pan is enough. I've even used my immersion blender to cream it up a bit more, but leave some chunks.

Too good for words!!

MIM is on my "bucket list", too, along with the Jack and the Am Royal. BTW - as the geeky engineer, you should know that the "double rainbow" that you saw was actually a "triple!" What you saw were the primary and tertiary rainbows. The secondary appears as a circle around the sun and would have been 180 degrees behind you. I have been fortunate enough to have observed a triple in my life - the secondary was amazing - a full circle rainbow around the sun!

I just did some boneless beef ribs. My mistake was letting the temperature get away from me. I tried to salvage them by foiling and adding some liquid, but the ends were just too dried out. Next time, I'll foil sooner. Boneless really makes a difference in how they cook, too. Glad that I stocked up when they were on sale, so I have more to "practice on."

Seriously yummy looking. I agree, you should plan on a serving size of 6 - 8. FYI - that style of potato (partially sliced) is called Hasselback. Susan (Loquitor) posted a really good recipe for doing them in the Forum that I've done several times. Yours look great too!

A big from me on the cast iron smoke pot. Took me a few tries to get the flour/water paste down (I started out making it too thin), but now I have a feel for it and it works great. I generally put one good sized chunk of hardwood (hickory, oak, or mesquite) in the pot with 2 or 3 similar sized chunks of whatever fruit wood I plan to use. Put the pot on top of the coals at the beginning and by the time you've heated up the KK to temp, the pot should be just starting to smoke. With the restricted airflow in the pot, you can generate some nice smoke for a long cook and when you're done - you've made a few pieces of nice hardwood charcoal. How cool is that!?!

That's the reason that we cook to temperature, not to time. Just think what it would have turned out like if you'd cooked it for the "normal time" for a full packer cut of brisket - can you say jerky!

I did my last rack for about 4 hours @ 225F (w/guru control). They were St. Louis cut, so a bit thicker and being Swabian, they had higher fat content. But, Dennis is correct about how to test for "doneness." I wait until the meat pulls back from the ends of the bones before I start "bend testing" them. I want a bite to it and not "falling off the bone."

Just follow Dennis' directions on the venting and you'll be just fine. It's a simple process. Just stay on top of it and it goes pretty smoothly. I didn't have any tiles bubble, but you do smell it as it's offgassing. Good Luck! Check out the forum posts on pizza to get you stoked for doing yours!!

Sorry to hear that MK. I don't buy direct from Carl at Rustic Rooster. I get mine from the local butcher shop at our Farmers' Market (Big Boy Meats). Unfortunately, I don't think Nate ships. Fingers crossed for Susan's shipment!

Just checking in to see if the folks that ordered some of the Swabian have had a chance to cook it yet and hear what they think? I just did 2 racks of Swabian St. Louis ribs on Sunday. Just got a pack of Jowl Bacon, which I've yet to try, but can't wait.

Not many things on this planet better than a good salmon belly! Believe it or not, we get Copper River Salmon here in Iowa during the season. I always vacuum seal up a bunch for the freezer. It's the best (IMHO).

Stunning! Welcome and hang on, you're in for the ride of your life! But, dude, where's the food porn? Rule #1 of the Forum - no food pictures, it didn't happen!

Killer. I did a couple of racks of the Swabian ribs on Sunday. Pretty tasty!

I use parchment paper for both pizza and bread. About 3/4 of the way through, just remove the paper then to firm up the bottom.

My 2 cents - FWIW. First, I'm not that anal about my drip pan/heat deflector looking shiny and new. I don't foil. If I need a clean pan to catch dripping, I use a disposable aluminum one, sized to fit whatever I'm cooking (most often it's to catch duck fat, a valuable commodity!) So, the ability to foil aspect is not high on my list, but if it's easily incorporated into the design, "no harm, no foul" in my book. As I said before, I like the handles for ease of picking it up, especially when hot. I also liked the deeper construction, because if you're doing several pork butts at once, you can accumulate a lot of fat drippings, so the extra room is nice. As far as weight is concerned, all that matters to me is that it has sufficient wall/bottom thickness that it doesn't warp with moderately high heat. The rods on the bottom could supply the extra stability to prevent warping, while providing the insulation that folks seem to want.