tony b

Re: Charcoal choices? Second Doc's suggestion on using the Whiz's reviews. (I seem to be "ditto-ing" Doc a lot lately! ) I use a lot of Royal Oak as well (cheap and easy to find), but I actually like Weekend Warrior as my fav (not counting cocochar). Good sized pieces, no junk, not leftover lumber (Cowboy). As I posted in the other section, I've ordered 4 boxes of the Forest Lump to try out.

Re: Everyday Misc Cooking Photos w/ details Second that! At first you threw me with the "butt end of 2 butter knives," but once I saw the picture, my brain went "clic" and I got it!

Re: More Sear basket fun OK, I succumbed to peer pressure and order the basket splitter. If it works as well as it's advertised, I may have to retire the baby Grill Dome, which I use for small, fast grilling (couple of burgers, brats, tuna steaks, or chicken breasts). Bought it to save on charcoal over using the bigger KK (and originally the POSK). Yeah, I know, you can snuff out the charcoal at the end of the cook, but you still end up burning a lot more than you really need.

Re: Forestlumps charcoal Broke down and ordered 4 boxes during the liquidation sale, based upon the positive feedback here and Naked Whiz's review. Want to see how it compares to Weekend Warrior. Agree with Doc, I use all the smalls in the chimney to light everything else and for direct grilling; set aside the large chunks for the longer cooks.

Re: Barbacoa de Borrego Where do you get banana leaves? Is it essential, i.e., can you "fake it" with something else?

Re: Anyone cook Denver ribs of lamb? Came out phenomenal!! Indirect on the KK with hickory & cherry wood in smoker pot @ 275F for about 3 1/2 hours. Here's some pics.

Re: Tappecue - May be interesting? Good to see another home brewer in the forum!

Re: Everyday Misc Cooking Photos w/ details Good one, FM!

Re: Buying decision help requested! Hey Doc, you didn't look close enough. Fire Magic makes charcoal grills, too. http://firemagicstore.com/fire-magic-charcoal-stand-alone-barbecue-grill-with-smoker-hood-30-x-18-238.html But, I second the sentiment on high priced gassers! However, for the price point of the FM (3 grand), assuming you're not looking at the dual fuel units ($4400), why not splurge the extra money and get the KK, which will last a lifetime (not so sure about the longevity of the FM - guess it depends on the climate it's in. Don't be fooled, stainless steel will rust in the right conditions.) Plus, the KK has significantly more grilling area than the FM and looks to be way more versatile - IMHO. Never owned an FM or anything like it. My early days were all classic Webers until I bought my first ceramic (POSK), which I gave to a buddy when I upgraded to the KK. I also own a small Grill Dome, which I use for grilling smaller quantities - couple of brats, chicken breast, etc. I have to say, unequivocally, that the KK is the best purchase that I've ever made for any piece of cooking equipment. It is a marvel to cook on. So much so, that when I remodeled the kitchen, I didn't put in a conventional oven - only a cooktop. I have a small Cuisinart counter-top, brick-lined, convection oven and a GE Advantium microwave above the cooktop. Everything else goes on the KK (or Grill Dome). Trust me, you will not have "buyer's remorse" if you pull the trigger and buy a KK.

My local butcher raises lambs. He just got me to buy "denver ribs," which are from the breast area. He says to cook them low and slow, to medium/medium-well (not medium rare like a normal rack of lamb). Gonna give this a try this weekend. Planning on basic overnight marinade of Penzey's lamb seasoning, olive oil, and garlic paste. On the KK, indirect, at 275F for about 3 hours, cherry wood. Any suggestions, thoughts, feedback? Thanks in advance.

Re: Sunday BBQ Pork Yes, please - those potatoes look killer!

Re: New KK Video in the works - your feedback please

Re: New KK Video in the works - your feedback please BGE: I just love the way that the fire reflects off your beautiful tiles. KK: {blushes} Thank You.

Re: Updated: Brisket going on soon/Done Doc, my butcher says that he uses the bandsaw and cuts them apart after they are frozen. YMMV.

Re: Updated: Brisket going on soon/Done Unfortunately, the butcher had already done that for me. So, yes, they were cooked separately.

Re: Updated: Brisket going on soon/Done Hosted my Foodie Group on Sunday. This month's theme was BBQ. Did a full packer brisket (local grass fed beef). Injected with beef broth and dry rub (Billy Bone's Competition Rub), marinated overnight. On the KK for 13.5 hours @ 225F, with hickory and peach wood in the dutch oven smoker. Pulled the meat @ 192F (target was 195F) as I was running short on time (wanting several hours rest before serving). After an hour of resting in foil, blanketed in a cooler, pulled out the point, cut into 1" cubes for burnt ends. Dusted the cut sides with more Billy Bone's dry rub. Went back on the KK @ 275F for another 2 hours. Killer. As I've said in the past - meat candy! The group was just ga-ga over the KK. They had fun finishing off their dishes (including a BBQ rabbit!) on it. Roasted local sweet corn (1st of the season) and grilled marinated mixed veggies, to go with all the meat. Oh yeah, I made a batch of ABTs, too. Top it all off with a nice white wine sangria and it was a great day! Here's the brisket as it was coming off the grill.

Re: More like survival training than a holiday.. Famous Dave's is big here in the Midwest, given his starting out in the Twin Cities. Had his food at our local annual BBQ Round-up. Decent, is all I can say. Never actually been in one of the restaurants. He's won a lot of hardware for his ribs. Don't think he's ever won at the biggies (The Jack, Memphis in May, American Royal).

Re: Help putting this thing together!! The other things that you asked about. You shouldn't have gotten both an ash deflector and a screen. The screen is the older design. I guess the documentation hasn't caught up to Dennis' latest upgrades. The rack on the side is for hanging your grill grates on, but you could hang utensils off them, too, I suppose. And, as Robert said, the odd shaped stone is your heat deflector, which is used on the lower grill or on top of the charcoal grate handles for indirect cooking- roasting and bbq'ing versus grilling. Enjoy the ride!

Re: Nathans Famous Hotdogs Apricot salt ??? Googled that and I think it's referring to Murray River salt from Australia, which I actually do have in the cupboard. I went through a "gourmet salt" phase a few years ago and have a bunch of different ones in the cupboard.

Re: KK in NY Times I also have a baby Grill Dome, which I thought for the money was a good deal. I don't use it very much anymore since I got rid of the POSK and upgraded to the KK, but it still comes in handy for grilling a couple of brats, burgers or chicken breasts for dinner. If I had it to do over, I'd go up one size more on the Grill Dome to a large, as the baby is very small and harder to control temps in because of the surface area to volume. And, I also had to replace the original lower grate (ceramic disk w/small holes) with a cheapo grill rack to get decent airflow and pretty much only use Weekend Warrior briquettes in it. Medium sized chunks of lump work OK, too, but you have to hand pick them out of the lot, so the WW briquettes are just an easier way to go. But, overall, if you want to get into ceramic cookers for a reasonable price, I think they are the way to go, personally.

Re: Emulating Wood burning pizza ovens with KK I did it with a simple, cordless drill motor. Cast iron is actually a soft metal and easy to drill. Used mine again this past weekend (3rd try) and I am getting better at the flour paste. Also made sure to put the oven on top of the coal. Better results this time.

Re: Emulating Wood burning pizza ovens with KK Thanks for the helpful tips. I had pretty much guessed that I should have put the smoker pot on TOP of the fire, not in the center. Glad to know that I was on target with that one. I'll just keep playing with the dough (would that be Playdoh?) Both times that I've tried it, the dough was just very sticky and would not cooperate easily. I just ended up spackling it onto the pot lid and smooshing it down to make the seal. I'm pretty sure that both times, I got a good seal. It's just a cumbersome, messy process. Practice, practice, practice!

Re: Emulating Wood burning pizza ovens with KK Hey, Syz, can you give me the rough proportions for the flour paste. I tried it for the second time yesterday and still struggled with the consistency. Too gummy/sticky to pipe out of the zipbag easily. Just goop'ed it on the lip of the oven lid and smooshed it down. Also, I was doing baby back ribs at 225F for 4 hours. I didn't seem to get much smoke from the smoker pot. Today, I opened up the dutch oven and most of the wood was still unburned, only slightly brown, with a couple of smaller pieces turned to charcoal. I had made a well in the charcoal basket for the smoker pot, and put the Coco around the outside in a ring. A double handful of small pieces of lump in the chimney for a starter. I'm wondering if the oven didn't get hot enough to burn the smoking wood because of not enough direct contact with the burning Coco on the outside? There was no burning charcoal under the bottom of the smoker pot, it was resting directly on the bottom of the basket. Thoughts/suggestions??

Re: Emulating Wood burning pizza ovens with KK FWIW - I just built the 2 qt dutch oven as a smoker box. Only used it once so far, but I did like the results. I do need to practice more with the dough sealant, though. Mine was too gummy and hard to work with. Just like making bread and pasta, it's all in the tactile feel.

Re: Tower of Steak What Army were you feeding?? My local supermarket's butcher counter never has that many steaks in the window!