tony b

Can someone who speaks "Green Egg" translate this into KK??

Nothing better on the KK than a whole roasted chicken. While big ole hunks of beef and pork are great, I still think that chicken is the best thing overall to come off the KK - perfection!!

Killer - all around - awesome grill (I have an dark autumn nebula, too!), prime rib, and that wicked Japanese knife, too! Looks like you're off to a great start. Enjoy the adventure!!

Cedar planks are pretty popular for cooking fish, especially salmon. I've used them for many years.

No, I've cold smoked salmon, almonds, and cheese at 140-150F with no problems generating smoke.

Killer looking burnt ends - best part of making brisket - IMHO. OK, so help us Yanks out - "arvo"?? Here's a tip for generating smoke on longer cooks. Consider getting a cheap cast iron dutch oven. You drill 3 small holes in the bottom (3/16" diam) - yes, the bottom, not the lid*. Toss in your wood chunks. Seal up the lid with a simple flour/water paste. Set it on top of your burning coals and off to the races! No more carefully placing the chunks around the basket hoping that they burn in the right order and not all at once. * Holes on the bottom pushes the smoke back into the fire, so the volatile chemicals (creosote) get burned off to get a cleaner smoke. Small holes limit the oxygen into the dutch oven, so the chunks burn real slow. And, at the end, you have made more charcoal - just toss it back into the basket for the next cook! Nice side benefit!

Welcome to my world! 7th Coldest Winter on record here in Iowa, going back 130 years! Coldest in the last 25 years, too! Snowing as we speak, predicting about 6" by morning. I've tried to sneak in some cooks now and then, whenever it gets above freezing - or at least when the wind chill gets into positive numbers above single digits!! On the bright side, this bad winter has given me time to learn alternative cooking methods - pressure cooking and sous vide. Although it's nice to be able to finish a sous vide steak off on the sear grill!! Planning on cooking my pot roast tomorrow in the pressure cooker. Here's a picture of my last beef rib cook. Back and short ribs. Both bone-in. The short ribs were good, but not a lot of meat on them - mostly bone and fat.

Nice pic of the pebble KK!! If you want crispier skin, you'll want to cook it at a higher temperature: 375F - 425F. I also put it on the upper grill to be closer to the dome walls. Also, for others, if you've run across posts talking about "spatchcocked" chicken, this is it - butterflied. You take a whole chicken and cut out the backbone with poultry/kitchen shears. Then pop the thigh joints so it lies flat. You can also crack the breastbone to get it even flatter (if you're doing Tuscan Brick Chicken), but I generally don't go that far.

Stock up now folks in the US. Beef prices will be going up even more this spring. Ranchers lost a lot of head due to the bitter winter that we've had here in the Midwest. So, when the current "glut" is bought up, supply will drop off and prices will jump up. My newspaper had an article today that this is the 7th coldest winter on record going back over 130 years of recordkeeping. Coldest in the last 25 years.

This was my first high temp cook on the KK after the break-in run. I posted elsewhere about over-ranging the dome thermometer - off scale - guessing about 1000F. As noted by Bruce, the porterhouse just has a bigger filet side than a regular T-bone. They are cut from the same primal section of the cow.

Here's a picture of a US porterhouse.

Larb is one of my all time favorite Thai foods! Looks excellent.

Welcome back!

Have to update my earlier post. Just scored a nice tri-tip (grass fed) at our farmers market. Now waiting for the weather to cooperate. Will try to remember to post pictures.

One question at a time. Yes, with a good fire in your basket, opening up the top vent all the way and pulling out the drawer on the bottom vent, you'll be amazed at how fast the temp screams up. We're talking a matter of a minute. You can actually watch the dial on the dome thermometer moving. One tip - take out the dome thermometer before it goes offscale high. You can affect the calibration if it ranges too far; and while easy to recalibrate, it's just better not to have to. On that steak cook above, I ran back into the house for just a moment (I'd forgotten the plate) only to come back out and see my dial reading 200F - but it wasn't 200F, but 1000F as it had over ranged that far!!! To Robert's point, it's a matter of control and trying not to over/under cook the steak. When it's down in that roaring flame, it's really hard to stick a meat thermometer in there and check the temps. Otherwise, you're just guessing cooking solely by time. With the reverse sear, you know where you are after the initial roast. And, as long as you are careful with the sear, you're going to be pretty close on your final meat temps. I'm using this technique almost exclusively now that I'm doing sous vide, but was already a convert before that. YMMV.

Looks like Grasshopper has snatched the pebble. Go forth and cook tasty food!!

As another owner of a previous komado style grill known for its flaws (POSK), I know exactly how you felt when you saw the KK sitting on your patio/deck. I just stared at mine forever. Amazing. You will be sooooo much happier with it than your previous one and will not regret for one second the price paid - quality is never cheap, but cheap is almost never quality! Like Hector said, pictures, my man, pictures, especially your first cook. Forum Rule #1: no pictures, it didn't happen.

Look up the post on doing the "reverse sear" on steaks. That's where you first roast them, lid down at around 400F, on the main grill until close to done (use a temperature probe to verify). Pull them about 10 -15F below your target final temperature. Then, open the vents up wide open, scream up to about 800F, and finish them on the sear grate (the grate with the side rails upside down on top of the charcoal basket handles) for about 30 seconds on each side. Here's a picture of my first steak cook.

Big fan of Wicked Good. It's my "everyday" charcoal. Of all the brands that I've tried, I like it the best (except for Coco Char, of course)!

Remember Forum Rule #1 - no pictures, it didn't happen. So, remember to take pics of that first (virgin) cook!

Second getting the longer cables. I'll definitely order longer ones when I need replacements. Might have to put extensions on the blower.

Fruita wood sells red oak. That's where I got mine. Also, picked up some Santa Maria steak rub (lemon pepper). Have done several nice steaks that way. Tri-tip is not common here in IA. Must export it all to Cali!

Another trick that's just simple, use parchment paper. Pizza (and bread) just slide right off the peel and you don't compromise the crust that much. And, you can always wait a few minutes, slide the peel back under and pull the paper out from under the pizza. It should have enough body by this point to slide off the peel without the paper.

Second Susan on the temp range. If you want crispy skin you need to shoot for 375-425F. As Doc tells us, precise grill temp is not the goal, it's the internal meat temp! All a slightly higher (or lower) temp off "ideal" target just adjusts the cooking times slightly. Don't sweat it and just roll with it. Basic rule of KK cooking - don't chase the temperature. Worst thing you can do is mother the vents trying to hit an exact temperature. As they say, "Close enough for government work!"

I'd be up for it. I guess it's up to Dennis if he wants to create a new topic in the forum just for this?