normstar

Excellent!!! I'm with you, you just can't beat quality salmon cooked at low temp. I usually cook/smoke mine at 225, either direct or indirect on the main grate. I only cook it medium to medium-well though, i don't completely obliterate it like most people do when they "smoke fish"

These were awesome! My wife marinaded them with the Pioneer Woman skirt steak marinade (google it) an they were delicious. Here's the recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2013/03/beef-fajitas/ Hot mesquite fire cooked on the lower grate. This was the first time I cooked with the Lid Open. I wanted a good char on them and was afraid with the lid closed that they would cook too fast. It worked perfectly, about 3 minutes per side.

Dennis, I've got a driver... A breastfeeding wife! Lol As for meat across the grain, great point and me too! A lot of these cuts have been recently discovered, or re-discovered, by chefs as prices of individual cuts have gone up over the years. A friend told me that skirt steak used to be $1/lb, until fajitas became popular!

Not KK related...well, there is BEEF involved, but I thought you guys would enjoy these pics from yesterday. Went tasting at Harlan and had dinner at Ad Hoc (hanger steak)

I demand you all come to LA and we will run a scientific experiment. I'll even take you to the meat plant to pick out your steaks!

Great tips thank you guys, I'll try that! I have trues reverse sears in the past but just couldn't get the hang of it, I didn't seem to get a good enough crust. I will try the constant flipping technique. Tony: for goodness sake let your steak rest! At least 5 minutes, ideally 7-10 minutes. Every chef I know would "chop" you for cutting into your steak before it rests

Hi all, I'm going to be building a BBQ Island, or outdoor work space, next to my KK. I will include a gasser (convenience grill for the wife to cook wienies, etc for the kids), a 20k BTU outside burner, and some drawers/cabinets for storage of my KK supplies and accessories. I would greatly appreciate any ideas and suggestions as to what, how and why to build from anyone whom has one or has ever thought of building one. I want to get it done ASAP, but just haven't been able to nail down exactly what I want. Thanks for your help in advance! Norm Manhattan Beach, CA

Cooked this beauty last night. Had the horizontal portion of the basket splitter installed, so the basket was only half-deep. Filled it with mesquite and soaked to a dome temp of 450. Steak on the middle grate for 5 minutes total, half on each side. With the super hot fire and awesome searing I was worries about overcooking it, and it felt pretty firm to the touch, so I pulled it at 5 minutes. I even took a temp with the Thermapen, normally I don't so this for steaks as I've found it tough to use with any meat that is less than 1.5-2" thick minimum. But the thermapen read about 112-115 so I figured it would carryover cooking up to about 120-125. I think it did just that, but it was Rare - very good, but I would have preferred med-rare, so another minute would have been perfect. Grilling steaks on high heat is challenging, I have not mastered it yet. They always seem to "seize up", for lack of a better term, and they feel like they are more cooked than they are. Must just be the high heat. Anyway, steak was fantastic, I iust wish that I had cooked it one minute longer!

There's a Penzeys store by me, I cannot get out of there without spending at least $50! Very high quality spices and better prices that the store-bought junk.

RW they were awesome. Prime Pork chops, don't know the brand name or anything, I get them from my friend whom owns a meat company here in LA. Good luck Susan! I did mine on the middle grate, direct heat the entire time. Cooked in about 20 minutes, so not much worry about spacing out for half a minute and over cooking them.

On the KK tonight! Brined them in the Williams Sonoma brine for 5 hours; salt, pepper and olive oil and on the grill. You can see my basket splitter installed and only about 1/2 full of mesquite.

Great discussion and lots of good info. Keep in mind folks, when using the basket splitter and a lower volume of charcoal, it requires more airflow as opposed to a regular full basket of charcoal. Especially if you want a raging fire of a small amount of coals like Susan mentioned. I like this technique because you can get a great sear from a hot fire, but the temp in the KK does not get away from you since it's a much smaller volume of charcoal.

Two tips! 1). "Par bake" the crust for a minute or two to give it some rigidity. Then put on your ingredients and cook it. 2). In your pic I can see the ceramic heat deflector. Do not use that! You want direct heat hitting your pizza stone - on the main grill like Dennis says. I also have found 600 degrees to be the perfect temp. Good luck!

Had this at a restauant in LA called "Chi Spacca" last night. Cooked over wood on an open grill, patterned after Dario Ceccini's place in Italy. It was good, but not worth $200 and I could certainly do better on the KK!

I'll try lighting in the middle. I'm cooking a Prime Rib tonight and am planning to do it at 275, so I will try this same technique to start the fire. Thank you Robert!

Thanks Robert, I'm definitely not patient. I've tried that before and the fire always seems to go out - meaning 45 minutes later the dome thermometer has not budged and it appears to be out. Maybe I need to wait longer, I'll try that technique again. Lastly, I vacuum out the ashes with a shopvac every cook.

Hi All, I still can't get my low temp cooking to work. Last night I put on a 7lb pork butt and wanted to cook it overnight and I woke up this morning with the fire out! Here's what I did, I would GREATLY appreciate your thoughts and suggestions on how to get my KK stable in Low and Slow mode. Basket full of Mesquite, all sized chunks. Lit a Softball sized spot on one side; pulled open lower draft door and opened top vent 2+ turns. When temp hit 300 (from the direct heat hitting the dome thermometer, I realize this is probably overstated), I closed the top vent to 1/2 turn and moved the bottom vent so that it was open about 1/4". Waited 15 minutes and then reduced the bottom vent to "Open the size of a 2 Quarters!" (I am beginning to hate this proverbial quarters). 30 minutes later the temp was 200 at the Dome and 246 at the top grate level. I reduced the lower vent to Open One Quarter size.; I also closed the top vent an inch or two, so now it is Open 1/3-1/4 turn. Temp dropped to about 240 over the next 20-30 minutes and seemed pretty stable, so I went to bed. Woke up this morning and the fire was out! I'm wondering, did I close the Top Vent too much? Or was the bottom vent not open enough? I'm frustrated and would appreciate all help and suggestions. Happy New Year!!!

Shoot! I can see them on my iphone with tapatalk. Guess I'm the only one that can.

Hope there pics work! Cooked a 5.5lb tenderloin last night. 500 degrees indirect for about 40 minutes, was cooked perfectly!

Shoot, I posted from tapatalk. I'll try from the computer if I can remember...

Merry Christmas all! Thought you'd enjoy seeing what I cooked for our Xmas party this past weekend. Smoked Tri-tip sliders; pulled pork cups; and tons of sausages (rabbit/veal, chicken/duck, Thai spicy pork). All done on the KK! Our guests loved it, huge success. Next I'm making a dry aged prime rib on Sunday, and a whole tenderloin on Xmas eve! This is the season of Feasting!!!

Double wrap in foil and it's tight as a bun. I made one this weekend and just single-wrapped it and let it rest on the counter for an hour (it was already 9pm and needed to pull that night!). No juice leaked out. The towels are in the cooler to take up any airspace and provide insulation. I've DFTC a couple butt's for 5-6 hours and upon opening they were still STEAMING hot!

Nice! How's you cook it? I see some evidence of low and slow, but there also a nice brown crust.

Thanks all! The bird only sat out for an hour, and I picked it up directly from the meat plant that day. So great point Dennis, it may have been still frozen in the bones. I'm all set for tomorrow, 2 15lb free range birds have been brining since Monday. I will be sure and take them out 2 hours before I plan to put them on the KK. Question - any idea how long they take to cook at 325 or 350? I always cook to IT, just need an idea a to when to put them on. Happy TG everyone!!!

Hello All, Cooking my first Turkey on the KK this year, so last night I did a practice run with a 12lb bird. My plan was to roast at 325 for about 17 mins per pound, give or take, so I preheated the KK to 325 and heat soaked it for 30-40 minutes with a basket of Mesquite. (I know Mesquite is not ideal for poultry, I used what I had handy for the test run. I plan to use CocoChar for the Thanksgiving bird. It got away from me at the end and was up to 425 but I don't think it was at that temp for very long. So I put on the bird and off we went. To maintain the temp of 325 I trimmed the airflow down pretty low and had the Top Vent only open 1/2 turn and the Bottom Vent open 1/4". Three hours later, the turkey appeared to have stalled around 150 degrees or so and the KK temp was at 300 - but I figured it was around 325 at grill level and that should be fine. I let it run for another 20-30 minutes and took several temperature readings with my Thermapen and it appeared to be done, seeing 165+ in breast and 175+ in areas of the leg. But I don't really know where to measure the thigh/leg area, my recipe describes it as the "thickest part of the bird." After a 20 minute rest I discovered that the bird was not done! So in hindsight, I have two theories of what I did wrong and would greatly appreciate any thoughts/suggestions: 1) I need to learn where to put the dang thermapen in the bird. This is a given. 2) I think that I dropped the airflow to low and at the 3 hour mark the fire was just barely smoldering and almost out, and it was the residual heat of the KK that was keeping the temp around 300. At that point I did confirm that there was still charcoal in the basket, and for the last 20-30 minuties I cranked open both vents the the temp just barely hit 400, so there wasn't much fuel left. What do y'all think?