normstar

Made Surf and Turf for my wife and I this weekend. 10oz Prime filet and 3/4lb northern Australian lobster tails. Best lobster I've ever had! Not sure if it was merely the quality of the tails, but The Kraken (my KK) cooked them beautifully.

I preheated the grill with some leftover mesquite and 8 briquettes. An hour later I threw in 4 sticks of CocoChar, broken into 3 pieces each. I didn't want too much smoke on the lobster so Coco was the choice.

Baby girl didn't go I sleep right away, so it burned for almost 1.5 hours before I was ready to start and I was concerned that I would need to add more charcoal. Nope! Not with the Coco.

Grilled them both on the middle grate with the vent all the way open - since there was only about 5lbs of charcoal I wasn't worried about it getting away from me. Perfect! 6-7 minutes per side on the lobster.

Sorry no mid-cook pics, I always forget

I just ordered one as well. Thanks for the tips guys!

Gents,

Made the best tri-tip of my career this past weekend. It was a beautifully marbled 2.5 lb'er, either choice or prime I'm not sure. Only was able to take a before pic because the party was happening when it came off and I had to throw it to the wolves.

4 hours at 138 in the sous vide bath, then 2 mins/side over hot mesquite in the KK. Had the basket splitter installed and I still only filled the baste 1/2 way.

Here's the before, in the bag with salt, pepper, Rosemary and olive oil. Next time I'll cook for 6 hours and see if that tenderizes it any more.

Thanks Robert.  I can get the wifi on my phone, but sometimes its hit or miss.  So I guess I'll just have to try.

Hi All,

I'm considering a Cyber Q - as opposed to the Digi Q mainly for the wireless and ability to monitor/control from my phone.  However, I'm worried that the Cyber Q may not be albe to grab the wireless signal out by my KK in the back yard.  Can anyone comment on how good the wireless receiver is in the Cyber Q?

Also, if I cannot get wireless access, is it pointless to get the Cyber Q, should I just get the Digi Q? 

Thanks all and happy friday!

andy

Random question for y'all. If I wanted to make a brisket and have some burnt ends, but I did not want to cook a huge whole packer, can anyone think of a way to get a partial brisket that would give you some of both parts? Would cutting it in half lengthwise work, or would that ruin it?

Reason I ask is my butcher uses a ton of briskest in his ground burgers and said he'd be happy to cut one up any way I wish.

Condolences Dave. Three years ago tomorrow I lost my dad to cancer as well. Hang in there.

Nice work Wilbur! One thing you didn't mention, what grate did you grill on?

As for fresh ground meat, you guys are right. I was at a meat dinner recently and several chefs were talking about how they get fresh soft packed (machine made but soft packed like hand made) burgers delivered about every other day. They said that even vacuum sealing the burgers compresses them to a noticeable extent, so they get them just boxed up with wax paper or something.

I'm gonna have to try grinding my own. For just $30 why the heck not!

What about the VP215? Its square shape will be easier for me to store it I figure. Plus it's got the oil pump which supposedly will last forever with proper maintenance:

What immersion circulator do you guys have? I just ordered Anova's new "precision cooker" model. It seems to be the best among the consumer models, but they all do basically the same thing. I like this one because it has an "app" to automatically set temps and times based on what you're cooking - so my wife can use it!

I, on the other hand, will likely spend hours fine tuning my preferred temp to the tenth of a degree lol.

Appreciate any feedback!

Setup.jpg

Here's an idea of the size of the VP115. It's next to a commercial rice cooker and a Sous Vide Magic controller, the economy approach to sous vide some years back. Today, I'd buy the $199 Anova circulator. (This is the other coast from where a spouse could raise concerns about the wood finish. I do take stickers off things I buy, but only after the return period expires.)

Carrots.jpg

The winner in experiments so far was a farmers market carrot cooked an hour at 185 F (85 C) in olive oil and a bit of salt. (This was a big carrot; you're looking at a lot of contorno.)

Hey Syz,

I'm considering a VP215 and Anova's new model "precision cooker" for sous vide and I came across your post. Any thoughts on the Anova? It seems to be the best of the consumer models, as good as if lot better than the $400 PolyScience Creative model.

Appreciate anyone's thoughts on this stuff!

Setup.jpg

Here's an idea of the size of the VP115. It's next to a commercial rice cooker and a Sous Vide Magic controller, the economy approach to sous vide some years back. Today, I'd buy the $199 Anova circulator. (This is the other coast from where a spouse could raise concerns about the wood finish. I do take stickers off things I buy, but only after the return period expires.)

Carrots.jpg

The winner in experiments so far was a farmers market carrot cooked an hour at 185 F (85 C) in olive oil and a bit of salt. (This was a big carrot; you're looking at a lot of contorno.)

Hey Syz,

I'm considering a VP215 and Anova's new model "precision cooker" for sous vide and I came across your post. Any thoughts on the Anova? It seems to be the best of the consumer models, as good as if lot better than the $400 PolyScience Creative model.

Appreciate anyone's thoughts on this stuff!

Thanks Doc, that is indeed a great option to know about! Especially since you can throw it on frozen. How long and what temp?

https://vimeo.com/110046738

Bone-in Ribeye's and a filet on a hot fire of mesquite. Te best way to cook a steak! I don't mess around with reverse-Sears, I'm getting good like this. About 8 minutes for a 26oz bone-in rib steak. Sorry I forgot to take a cooked pic, but they were beautifully Rare-Plus.

Wilbur,

I agree with the gents above. So far I've only cooked salmon, chicken and burgers on the top grate. Food that you want to cook more gently and get a nice little sear on them. The bottom grate would be way too fast for those foods.

I do like to cook Tri-tip on the middle grate. It's a happy medium between a roast but you also get a consistent direct heat sear on the meat which forms a nice crust but doesn't overdo it. The bottom grate, for example, would completely overcook the outer layer of meat before the inside was done. That's why folks do a "reverse sear" or sear first then move higher or to an indirect position.

"Cool nights, wafting smoke, adult beverages, and fine cigars. That's all good regardless of how your experiment comes out."

Well said Doc!!! Man this made me want to go out and grill right now.

Ha Thx Tony! And you're right Dave, I heard some boxes shifting on the way home and I was a but worried for them

Great job! That bark ain't too dark... It's beautiful!

Cooked a Tri-tip last night! Here are two pics I took of the cook, middle grate over a hot basket of mesquite. KK was hot at 500 degrees and it cooked in just 25 minutes! That is fast for a 3lb Tri-tip.<br />

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Egg! You don't really want to cook a Tri-tip past medium-rare. Medium might be ok if it's well marbled, by typically Tri-tips are so lean that anything past Med-Rare will dry them out.<br />

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That comes from a friend of mine who owns a huge meat provisioning company that sells to fine restaurants.<br />

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Lastly, yes 30-40 mins on the lower grill is too long. I've tried reverse sears and such, but my favorite is direct medium heat the entire time. Or most of the time... You get a beautiful crust that develops and it's so darn tasty! If I was cooking a single Tri-tip, I would use the basket splitter and if the crust got too dark or thick I would just move it over to the indirect side until it hit 125 or so.<br />

Beautiful Dennis!

That looks great! Makes me want to go fishin'

That looks AMAZING!!' Gonna have to try. What does that sell for per pound?

Tonight's supper: <br />

Pork two ways: tenderloin cooked sous vide, shank braised forever and finished by roasting in caul fat.<br />

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Has anyone used Caul Fat in their KK? I'm gonna have to try that.