tony b

Nice cooks everyone! @Troble - you're killin' me with that grilled octopus! Brought back a good flashback to Greece. I put that grilled octopus dinner there in my top 5 all time best meals! Epic!

Nicely done!

Don't forget those all important adult beverages while learning your vent settings!

Jumping on the pile here, but that's too open on the top vent for 225F. It should be barely off the seat. Toss a small chunk of wood on the fire right after you get it lit. When it starts to smoke, then adjust the top hat to where the smoke is just barely coming out. That's the 225F sweet spot - at least on my 23". YMMV

Great cooks all around, folks! Rocking the KKs! Simple wing dinner last night. 3 different dry rubs (no sauce). Direct, main grate, started out at 275F and finished at 350F. Peach wood chunks. Plated with air fried duck fat sprayed fries, side salad, carrot & celery stix with blue cheese dressing and some Peruvian green crack sauce for the fries! Sorry no pic of the can, but a Cigar City Jai Alai (one of my favs!)

I'd still do it classical Franklin - equal parts by volume of salt & pepper to let the flavor come through, low & slow with some nice wood chunks (post oak if you have it), wrap in the pink butcher paper after the stall, cook to 203F and make sure to let it rest, still wrapped, a couple of hours at least when done. I'm now partial to doing chuck roasts, as they are about this size or slightly bigger (~4 lbs). Technique works great. I'm looking forward to my next one to try out the Waygu tallow trick in the Mad Scientist BBQ video that I posted.

I've had a Cascade hop plant for over 13 years now - still going strong, even after getting heavily damaged in last summer's derecho. I usually get a couple of pounds of dried cones in a good year. I rarely use them up and end up tossing a bunch every harvest (2 year old ones) to make room for the new crop.

I hope that you do realize that the basket is round in a 21" (and in the 23") and you can position the direct/indirect sides anywhere that you want in the "approved configuration" of the splitter and cover?

That's the ONLY thing that I miss about my old job and all the travelling!

Greek Night last night. In true traditional style, started off with the Greek salad and some rakia (apple brandy) in the gazebo. Beautiful afternoon for eating outside. Made my own mashup seasoning for the ground sirloin. Onto skewers on the main grate, 325F, cherry wood chunks. I briefly thought about using the vertical skewer, but this was only a 1/2 lb of meat, so it seemed too small a quantity to try it. I liked this so much though that I might try it on the vertical skewer with more meat and use thinly sliced beef instead of coarse ground. Plated with the pita bread, tzatziki sauce, cherry tomatoes and nice Rose wine.

Others have posted for sale KKs on Craig's List, if you want to go that route. Make it clear that shipping is the buyers responsibility. For price point, I'd start with trying to recover 90% of what you have invested in everything so far.

Funny that you should mention Gyro, as that's what I made for dinner last night. Check out the pics over in the Everyday Cooks postings.

@Basher - still got that receipt for the dry ager? LOL

Good one, Syz!

Hit the nail on the head!!

OMG! That's all I can say!

INDEED! Plus, lots of bubbly to celebrate that momentous occasion! 🍾 I've been a member of the retiree's club for 8 years now. Never looked back with regrets! Enjoy the ride, man!

The "squeaky wheel" theory often works!

Nice cooks, everyone! Making me hungry!

I'm wondering that in the process of opening/closing the lid, the top vent shifted a bit on you, which lead to the temperature increase?? That short of an opening time shouldn't have lead to a sustained temperature rise?

Check with Dennis about when yours was built? It's not so much new materials, he's just doing more burn-in at the factory than he used to with the older models.

Nicely done!