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Howdy KKers! It's been almost 2 months since I took delivery on The Beast, a KK BB 32. While I initially posted what follows in another Forum, I thought I'd post it here in hopes that this will help potential KKers make their KK Purchase decision. I just finished taking delivery on the Komodo Kamado Big Bad 32" we've been waiting for! Also got 40 boxes of coconut charcoal. First, let me say that Dennis Linkletter is a joy to work with. Second, This thing is MASSIVE! I can't begin to tell you what this thing looks like crated. The top of the crate is just shy of 5' and its width is 44". With all the accessories, it stands over my head, and I'm 6'1". Third, this thing is so well packed/crated. Now a scratch on the crate at all. This came from Indonesia and it looks as if it were assembled right here in OKC. Very, VERY impressive. Ok, I"m on a mission. Here is a beginner photo to whet your appetites. More to follow! Attached Thumbnails

Howdy KKers! Here are pics of my smoke pot that I use while smoking in TheBeast. As you'll see, this little 2 qt Lodge Dutch Oven really won't fit well in Beauty!, my 19" Hi-Cap; she is too petite. When it comes to smoking meats, that is strictly within the purview of TheBeast, my KK BB 32". However, when you see the Lodge Dutch Oven smoke pot in the belly of TheBeast, you can see that it fits quite nicely even with a heat deflector in place. So, let's cut to the chase. Here is a bottom view of the drilled bottom. These are 1/8" holes drilled about every 1.25 inches around the perimeter of the DO. Here is the pot flipped over looking down inside the DO. Here is, hopefully, a better view of the hole pattern in the drilled DO. Now here is the DO smoke pot sitting on top of a full fire box in Beauty! As you can see there really isn't any room in Beauty! for the DO smoke pot and a heat deflector. Here is that same DO smoke pot sitting in the belly of TheBeast. Here is a look at the coffee wood i'll be using later today in a cook. This stuff is tremendous in conjunction with a coffee/cardamom rub. Finally, here is the DO smoke pot ready for action later in the day. Here is what you get at the end of every smoke. I just dump the charcoal back into the firebox for the next cook. There are not very many volatiles left so it makes good fuel. Waste not, want not. All I do before I put a cook on to smoke is move half of the heat deflector to one side, put the DO smoke pot directly over the lit charcoal and wiggle it to seat it well in the burning charcoal, move the heat deflector back into place, put the cooking grate back in place, put the cook on the grate and shut the lid. No waiting to thin blue smoke. It happens from the first instant you get smoke as the smoke generated by the DO smoke pot is injected directly down into the charcoal fire thus burning off all the foul tasting volatiles that you see in the initial gray smoke that is produced by laying the smoke wood directly on the coals. Now, what you may need to do is make certain that the cooks you smoke with this DO smoke pot is make certain that your cook, i.e. butt, brisket, ribs, etc., is really cold when you put it on the grate. Because this technique gives you a milder version of smoke at all times, your cook may not have the deep smoke taste many people want. You can combat that by cooling the meat your smoking thus doing a couple of things. First colder meat will condense more smoke on its surface for a longer period of time. Second, you may want to use woods that are not as sublime as alder, fruit woods, etc. Rather, look to hickory or mesquite. The originator of this little DO Smoke Pot runs a bead of flour paste around the rim of the DO and then puts the lid on. It seals the DO and forces all the smoke out the holes drilled in the bottom. I have not found the need to do that with this DO. I'd say about 95%+ of the smoke generated by this incarnation goes straight out through the holes in the bottom. I wasn't worth a damn with paste in the first grade and I haven't gotten any better with age! Finally, a disclaimer here. This IS NOT an idea that is original with me. Rather, I got this from a thread here at the KK Forum. And God help me, I can't find the original post where this smoke pot is described!. It originated with , I believe, @Syzygies, a KK owner and member of our Forum I'm certain most of you don't know that you know. Remember the movie "A Beautiful Mind"? I've been told by a reliable source that all the mathematical notion that you saw on chalk boards, windows, etc. is the work of our very own mathematician, i.e. @Syzygies, who came up with this technique. Who says mathematicians are out of touch and don't live in the real world!? This is about as real world as it gets! Syzygies, I give it up to you for this technique! It's aces. I owe you more than a couple of beers.

Howdy my KK Friends! I thought for some strange reason that I'd pay homage to my 0.001% Irish Forefathers this evening. Tonight's cook consisted of scooped out baked potatoes, filled with some sort of filling, and the whole thing rebaked on the KK. So, without further ado, here is my homage to Erin. The very first thing to do is have a couple of bakers well slathered with bacon grease. Yes, bacon grease. Yeah, I know, but if you don't use bacon grease, the neo-nazi health police win, and I'm trying to beat the back every day! If you don't have bacon grease in your kitchen, shame on you! Next, I browned up some 90/10 hamburger meat, some red, orange, and yellow bell peppers, and some onion and garlic. Here are the bakers on the main grate of TheBeast. I baked them for about an hour at 400F until a fork went in easily. This is a picture of the browned hamburger, peppers, etc. ready for the potatoes. Here are the spuds. As you can see, slit in half and scoop out most of the interior. I try and leave about 1/4" all the way around. Reserve the scooping for potato salad. Tonight I laid down in the scooped potato a simple ragu as a base layer. Put a heaping amount of the burger mixture in the potato. Sauce again and top with your favorite cheese. For these I use shredded mozzarella cheese. Here are the assembled potatoes. They take about 15 minutes on the grill at 400F. And finally, here is the money shot with Pete The Salt Pig granting approval to chow down! These potatoes are really quite easy to do, especially on a weekday evening. Instead of hamburger, you can use pork sausage (Pete would not be so happy with that cook!), ground turkey or chicken, or chorizo etc. Instead of a ragu, you can use salsas, grilled and pureed fruit such as mangoes, peaches, etc. You can get as creative as you wish. After all, it's your dinner and you can do it any way you and your family desire. From the time I lit the FOGO in the belly of TheBeast until I was 400F it was about 15 minutes. The potatoes took about an hour to bake to fork tender. To assemble it took no more than 15 minutes. Time on the grill for the stuffed potatoes was no more than 15 minutes. All totaled, from start to finish, this simple homage to my Irish roots took about 1 hour and 45 minutes. I like this cook because there was lots of time to stay hydrated between the flurries of activity. Thanks for looking. I appreciate it!

Howdy KKers! So as many of you know, I was planning on a Simple 4th of July Cook. I wasn't entertaining a big group of folks as I've done for years. I was just having my brothers over to drink a little beer, grill some dogs, burgers, and sausages, eat a few chips, and watch a little baseball, etc. Well, here is the result of a "Simple 4th of July!" I knew I was in trouble and the best laid plans of mice and CC were shot to hades when I walked out of Sam's Club with over $200 in food and beverage! Here is the table with the appiteasers on it. Here is TheBeast getting loaded up for his time to shine! I spiral cut jalapeño and cheese sausage, and Oscar Mayer hot dogs (what else? ) My brother loves spiral cut ever since I introduced him to them. Next up on the grate was the burgers. Gotta stage this cook ... Here is a money shot that is just a couple of simple dogs, some German potato salad made by my brother who lives just around the corner and an ear of corn. That's all the money shot. However, I guess my house is now known as BBQ Central as all of a sudden, my neighbors show up carrying burgers, buns, and beer, and they just came in and sat down! At the end of it all there were about 30 folks here. It looked like the swarm of locusts of Biblical proportions eating at my table! A great time was had by all. Just a great 4th of July here at ChezChef! I hope your 4th was as much fun as was mine!

Howdy again KKers! I had a couple of pounds of hamburger that needed to be eaten and I had a couple of friends coming over to just hand out, drink some beer, burn a few burgers, nothing big. I thought rather than burgers, I'd do enchiladas. I had one couple bring black beans, another chips and salsa for nachos, and another bring more beer. I called an audible and switched from burgers to enchiladas. Browned up the meat, onions, peppers, etc. and made a quick great sauce. Here are the enchis rolled and in the pan and on the main grate in TheBeast. Here is the pan just prior to the pull. Here is the closeup view that shows the cheese just the right color of brown for my guests and me. Just an ever so slight crunch there that was quite tasty. And finally the money shot. This was just a simple and quick enchi cook that worked out quite well. We all had our fill of food and beer and had a great time shooting the breeze. Good audible at the line. I hope your weekend was as enjoyable as mine. Thanks for looking.

Howdy KKers! So it was a miserable evening to cook last evening. The temperature was only about 95F, but the humidity took the Heat Index to 110F! Just flat dadgummed miserable. It's forecast to be a Heat Index this evening of 115F or better this evening! HOWEVER, ever the trooper, I was not to be deterred (I had a couple or 3 or 4 COLD beers ...). Here is a cook of mini peppers, summer squashes, Vidalia onions, etc. 90/10 hamburger, and cottage cheese. Simple, quick, healthy, and easy! Here are the veggies on the flip side of the Grill Grates. The torpedo burgers on the main grate of TheBeast. And finally a couple of money shots. Here is a money shot with Pete The Salt Pig supervising (as usual!). Thanks for looking! All y'all be safe as temperatures rise. Stay hydrated!

Howdy KKers! So I've been neglecting posting cooks as of late and I'm fixing that this evening. This is just a simple little cook of breaded chicken breasts, a nice green salad, and an avocado salad made by a friend. She thinks I need some care taking seeing as how I'm a bachelor. I don't tell her otherwise. She's been her many times for parties that I've thrown and she still brings me food. Here is the Marketing shot: Here is the money shot: The chicken breasts were most and juicy and the avocado salad was wonderful. Pete, my salt pig that was a gift from a dear friend, approves. He's not too happy with me when I do butts or pork ribs! The breading was really simple: I packet of powdered Spicy Ranch Dressing mixed into Panko breadcrumbs that had been salted and peppered. The breasts were soaked for 30 minutes in buttermilk and then dredged in the breadcrumbs. I personally think it needed more salt, but nobody complained.

Howdy KKers! I lost my password and have been absent here. BUT, I have not been idle. Here's a quick little cook from Sunday evening. Nothing big here, just did a reverse sear on a Tri-Tip over FOGO. I marinated it in my FoodSaver marinater. If you don't have one, you should really check it out. You can get one for under $20 at Amazon. I highly recommend it. Here are a couple of pics at the beginning and end of the cook. I just wasn't too ambitious, but all y'all get the idea. Beginning: Ending: So there you have it. I took the Tri-Tip to 120F on the grates, cranked up the volume to about 475F. TheBeast took about 10 minutes to go from 200F to 475F. I pulled at 128F, tented on the carving board for something like 7-10 minutes and then carved and served. Just your typical reverse sear. Thanks for looking.

Dear MacKenzie - you wanted meager, here it is, especially for you! I wouldn't want you to feel cheated! Ok, let's set the record straight. In my previous post, some of you thought I eat like a king or that my definition of "meager" was a little skewed. Yes, I did cook all that food, but I purposefully left out the merely prosaic. Nothing could be further from the truth. How many burger, brats, and dawg cooks can you look at before you doze off. But just to prove a point here are more of the everyday cooks here at ChezChef. So, without further ado, here is my homage to the Merely Meager Cooks here at ChezChef! Some Juicy Lucies Pulled pork on TheBeast Pulled pork It doesn't get any more common that pulled pork and corn chips Here are the burgers, brats, and dawgs Here's something for the waistline More burgers and brats on TheBeast And comfort food ... the humble chicken pot pie Ready to serve See? There really isn't a big production every evening here at ChezChef! Thanks for looking (again).

Howdy KKers - I've seen so many really wonderful cooks documented by Wilbur, MavKenzie, ckreef, and a whole host of others that I've got to post a few of my meager cooks. I've done all these since I returned from my various trips. I'm not much on verbiage, I'll just let the pics speak for themselves. it may take a few posts to get all this in, but ... Quiche Roasted yard Bird and corn FOGO One HUGE pan of lasagna Lasagna plated Smoked & Stuffed pork chops Stuffed Pork Chops plated Grilled salmon Plated Salmon More to follow soon.

Howdy KKers! Well, I was sitting around thinking about Wednesday evening's dinner and thought that I haven't used my Anova Sous Vide in q few weeks. Time to get the hot water to meet the NY Strips. The first thing I did was season the NY Strips with S&P, garlic, rosemary and thyme. Then it was time to seal them in a bag using the Food Saver vacuum packer. Here's a closer view hopefully showing the spices on the meat. Prior to seasoning the NY Strips, I got the Sous Vide controller set up and warming the water to 125F. My Sous Vide is set to keep the water at 125F for 4 hours. Here is a picture of the NY Strips cooking away in the water at 125F. Tonight's sides are brussels sprouts seasoned with a kiss of garlic with a lite cheese sauce and sweet potatoes, Here they are in the belly of TheBeast. It's worth noting at this point that sweet potatoes are really a dense food. They need MUCH more time to cook at temp than brussels sprouts. Make certain you take that into account whenever you cook sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes do not bake at the same rate as regular white potatoes. Sweets are really more dense and take quite a bit longer. Our cooking temp this evening is 400F. As you can see my temp control skills are slipping. I just hate it when I do that! LOL!! Next comes the cheese sauce. it's nothing more than a blonde roux (just cook the raw dough taste out of the flour), spices, 1 cup of COLD milk, and a couple of cups of sharp cheddar. No big deal. A roux is a basic sauce and dead simple to make and then it serves as the basis for so many sauces. Dead simple ... that's what I like! Here is a plated shot of the final product when everything came together. I like my cheese sauce spicier than does SWMBOI, so I did the cayenne and black pepper workup on mine. We topped the Strips with a nice goat cheese with basil crumbles and the sweet potatoes just got kissed with butter, salt, and pepper. Couldn't be simpler and couldn't be tastier! In fact, it was so tasty, I almost forgot to show the inside of the steak was cooked to a perfect medium rare. Sorry I don't have a shot of the steaks searing in TheBeast. As the NY Strips were already at 125F, it was throw the steaks on TheBeast, wait a few seconds, turn, wait a few more, flip, and repeat. The Strips came out at a perfect 135F. Here's a picture of the steak cut open. I hope you can see the color of a perfectly done medium rare. Were it not for SWMBOI, this shot wouldn't have happened. This steak was so delicious, I literally forgot about taking pics! Sous Vide makes cooking steaks so easy. Just set the temp of the water bath just just below where you want to final temp to be (medium rare is 130-135F). The longer you cook at temp, the more tender the cut of meat will generally be. You also want to save the juices in the Sous Vide bag as they are simply wonderful poured over the steak. So this was a quick and simple cook. Steak were just to our liking and couldn't have been better! Thanks for looking in.

Howdy Again KKers! Last night SWMBOI and I were tired at the end of the day. I was looking for something quick, easy, and light. We have a favorite restaurant very near our home here in OKC, Charleston's, and they do a killer flat bread pizza. SWMBOI has been after me to duplicate it and I had the materials on hand, so, what the heck, why not? So here we go. Lit a fire in the belly of TheBeast and got him up to about 425. A little corn meal on the pizza peel ... The sweet Italian sausage hand made from the local grocery ... I bought some Momma Mary's thin and crispy pizza flats at the store. Here it is on the peel ... I whipped up some pesto in the food processor and spread it on the pizza flat ... Added some mozzarella cheese and Roma tomatoes sliced so thin they only had one side ... Then the sweet Italian sausage went on top to complete the flat bread pizza pie ... And into the belly of TheBeast who had heat soaked for about an hour ... Total time to cook was only about 9 minutes at 425F and here's the finished pesto flat bread pizza with sweet Italian sausage ... A view of the finished crust ... And a plated shot of a couple of slices sitting on my best china ... And finally the aftermath ... As you can see, this was a very formal dinner where I use my best china and stemware! When all was said and done, this was a wonderful cook. Next time, I think I would add a few sliced ripe olives. You can also use chicken, beef, etc. I'm also going to add a few jalapeños to the next pie. This was a simple, easy and delicious cook that took very little time and was wonderfully tasty without much work at all. Thanks for looking in.

Well, yesterday was supposed to be the day that I spun some meat. However, technical difficulties prevented spinning meat until further notice. Rather than sulk, I decided to make yesterday evening's consolation prize worth truly enjoying. My motto has always been when life gives you lemons, grab a bottle of vodka and make some LeninAde! Tonight's menu consists of NY Strips, Baby Dutch Golden Potatoes, and Fresh Asparagus! SWMBOI and I had bacon and scrambled eggs with sautéed peppers and onion done on the griddle yesterday morning in the belly of TheBeast. So we had bacon grease left over; yes, we collect bacon grease and use it for cooking! Pork fat rules! Thank you Emeril! So I grab the griddle and I use the bacon fat to coat the potatoes. I love rubbing up potatoes with bacon grease. It's one of the small things that takes me back to my youth learn how to cook in my Mother's kitchen. Here are the small baby golds rubbed up, salted, peppered, dusted with granulated garlic, rosemary and thyme, and sprinkled with some parmesan cheese. They are ready for the belly of TheBeast. Next comes the asparagus. It too gets rubbed with s slight coating of bacon grease, salt and pepper. It's in a tray and ready to sit next to the potatoes. TheBeast hit about 375F and it's time for the potatoes to hit the heat. I've got half the heat deflector in the belly of TheBeast; that's just right for roasting potatoes and cooking some asparagus. And dadgummit, I don't have a single pic of the potatoes roasting in TheBeast! The potatoes take about an hour at 375F packed as they are. Here are the NY Strips seasoned with S&P, granulated garlic, and some chipotle pepper. Here is the asparagus on the indirect side and the NY Strips on the direct side. Temp on the direct side for this quick sear was 550F. Here is the end result of the cook before we jumped in with knife and fork. My dear friend, Pete the Salt Pig looks on approvingly as not pigs were involved in dinner tonight! The steaks were seared to a wonderfully delicious medium rare. And here is the end result about 30 minutes later! While I'm disappointed I didn't get to spin some meat yesterday for that evening's dinner, but this was a really nice consolation prize that was quick, easy, and very tasty. I'll spin that meat soon, but as long as I can entertain SWMBOI with a meal this good, I'm doing okay! Thanks for looking in!

Howdy KKers! It's finally time to say goodbye to the holidays. The 12 Days of Christmas are about gone and the Holiday Season is over. I figured it was time to move on and I pulled a turkey roast that I cooked for Thanksgiving out of the freezer. Some of you may remember this cook .... here is a picture of a turkey and the turkey roast from that cook. The roast is on the far right of the picture. So I asked SWMBO, my brother the BBQ Mooch, and my neighbors if they would like some smoked turkey enchiladas. The resounding answer: YES! So I'm presenting a dish of the smoked turkey enchies I made this past weekend. Here is a look at the turkey roast in a solo shot. The paring knife is for a size reference. These roasts have elastic netting to keep the preformed turkey roast in its formed shape. Here is a shot of that netting cut off the turkey roast. Here is a shot of the turkey roast right after shredding it. It's really a lot of turkey! For an idea of how much turkey this is, here is a shot with a blue latex glove for a size comparison. The pile of turkey is about 1.5" high.

Well KKers, yesterday I was bored. Stark. Staring. Bored! I had a couple of slabs of St. Louis Style Ribs I picked up at Sams Neighborhood market on deal that I had prepped and rubbed and were in the fridge. I also had 2 pork tenderloins that I dropped in marinade at the same time. Had to get 'em cooked but I was bored. I went out and had a chat with TheBeast. Always cheers me up and it happened again as soon as I lit the lump with the MAPP torch. I'm not so thrilled that I'm doing the Spunky Monkey, AllyCat, but there was a spring in my step. Marinated Pork Loins As you can see, Pete the Pink Salt Pig is nonplussed to see some brethren on the business end of a cook! Here are the rubbed ribs. Notice the "Chef's Portion" separated from the ribs. That's MINE! So let's go get TheBeast ready to do his duty and earn his keep. [Many people have asked how I arrange TheBeast for a cook similar to this, so please bear with me here.] First thing I do is completely fill the basket with lump and light him up. I only lit one spot and you can see it to the right of the picture. I then bring TheBeast up to temp; in this case about 250 since I'm getting a late start. Then its on with the smoke component; in this case hickory. Now let's add the deflector plates ... ... the drip pan is next ... And then the main grate and the ribs. So we button up TheBeast and in 10 minutes, I check the temp. Rock Solid. With about 45 minutes left in the rib cook, it's time for the pork loins to hit the grate for a reverse sear. On they went and I forgot the pic! BUT WAIT! The Chef's Portion is done and Bubba, my BBQ Moochin' Brother, is here and wanting to know "What're we eating!" Bubba declared the ribs Delicious Edible! To be continued ...

So I have new neighbors that moved into the house just east of me. Unpacking is such a pain in the gluteus maximus, Been there and done that. So Pat and her husband Kerwin are directing the unpacking of the moving van and we get to know each other. Lovely couple who are 75 and 79 respectively. I ask if they like BBQ and Kerwin looks at me as if I've lost my mind! He says "Young man, what part of YES, HE!! YES don't you understand!" I know immediately I'm gonna like these folks! So I tell Pat and Kerwin I'm fixing them a pulled pork dinner with all the fixin's. After protesting I tell them I'm bigger than both of them and I don't want to hear any more about it. So I buy a couple of butts and and rub 'em up with olive oil and my Embarrassed Zebra rub and stow 'em in the refrigerator over night for 24 hours. I pull the butts about 6 pm and rub 'em up again and back into the cooler. I fire up TheBeast about 8:00 pm and heat soak him at 225F until 10 pm when the butts go on the grill. We're using apple chunks for our smoke component. Here are the butts just on the main grate. So I shut the lid and it's off to bed. I told TheBeast this was for our new neighbors and to behave himself over night. No shenanigans whatsoever! So I wake up the next morning and this is what greets my eyes ... Here's how my neighbor's butts look about half way through the cook ... So it seems that TheBeast and his guests of honor are playing nice together! Flash forward to about 5:00 pm and I check my neighbor's butts again. Probed like soft butt and the ThermaPen showed and IT of 200F for off the butts came! Here's a pic of one of the butts right before wrapping and being stuck in the cooler for about an hour. At 6:00 pm I started pulling the pork and here is a pic of what went next door. I don't have any pics of the plated sammies, cole slaw, and homemade chips, but let's just say Pat came over about 7:30 pm and told me Kerwin was on his 3rd helping of everything! BINGO! As an aside, Kerwin came over the next day to get a proper introduction to TheBeast. I showed him TheBeast and he started asking questions. Kerwin WAS thinking of buying a BGE but has changed his mind. His family is eaten up with BGEs. Pat told me he's spent the last 2 days reading the Komodo Kamado website and has decided he's going to can his BGE purchase and go with a KK 23" Ultimate! Y'all have the very Merriest and most Blessed of Christmases!

KKers and Potential Customers of all stripe - Well I just got off the phone with Dennis Linkletter, the gentleman who owns KK. I sent Dennis an email this morning about a problems I thought I might have with TheBeast, my KK BB 32". I attached pictures. Dennis knew I was doing some cooks over the next couple of days. No more than 5 minutes later I get a call from Dennis. Dennis could have easily replied by email. Would have been absolutely fine by me. Remember, he's half a world away in Indonesia. That's 13 hours ahead of my time here in OKC! It was late at night in Indonesia, WAY beyond anything normal business hours, and I get a call in response to my email. Kamado Kookers, I know that there are a lot of good kamados on the market and Kamado Joe, among its devotees, is hailed for its customer service. But when the owner of the company personally calls you in the middle of his night to make certain you know there is no problem with TheBeast, that's the single most impressive customer service experience I've ever had. I had heard the tales of very good customer service from KJ. And it is well deserved. I like the KJ product line. But nothing in my experience has prepared me for the level of service I've gotten from Dennis Linkletter and his company, Komodo Kamado. It is so far beyond anything posted here I just had to post this. I built 4 companies based on excellent customer service and that made me quite comfortable. But as good as my companies were at taking care of customers, I NEVER went the lengths Dennis does to make certain we Komodo Kamado owners know we count above all else. KK owners know how valued they are by KK and Dennis specifically. I can recommend KK without any reservation. What's amazing, each and every KK owners has a story just like mine. To any potential KK customer, your KK will come with a level of customer you won't believe! Buy the KK you're looking at and you'll never regret it one iota.

Well, TheBeast finally got his own formal wear and he couldn't be happier! Made by Sunbrella, the workmanship of this cover beats anything I've ever seen on any kind of patio get. Heavy duty treated canvas, all seams are incredibly well sewn. The cover is designed to fit like a glove and it does. And like everything KK, this manufacturer has passed muster with Dennis Linkletter. It's also passed muster with all kinds of KK Owners. All I did was hop on the train as it passed by. Of course, the color is black! After all, this is formal wear for TheBeast!

Howdy KK Kooks! For your consideration, I present a hickory smoked, reverse seared Prime NY Strip. I've been under the weather lately and haven't done a thing with TheBeast. TheBeast was getting a bit antsy, so I went out to the refrigerator and discovered I had 2 Prime NY Strips. More correctly, SWMBOI asked if I intended on letting "... all that meat go to waste"? She also informed me it was taking up needed space in the refrigerator. It wasn't bothering me one little bit in the refrigerator and after all, it IS my refrigerator! But as we all know, happy, ahhhh, happy life! So not feeling too keen about putting' on the dawg, I lit TheBeast and threw in a piece of hickory for smoke. Here he is, getting up to speed: Here are the Prime Strips just on with nothing but salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Just plain simple. And after 30 minutes at 200F, here they are at 120F when I pulled them. Really gorgeous color on that meat. I opened the bottom vent about 3/4ths of the way open and spun the top hat vent 2 full turns. Temps took off like a rocket sled on rails! Here's what 750 looks like in the belly of TheBeast! Here's 2 minutes later at the first turn: Here's another 2 minutes after that first turn: Pulled at 135 internal temp (SWMBOI Likes her steak on the medium side and again, happy, ahhhh, happy life!) I gotta figure out a new saying for SWMBOI! You can't tell it but the pic because the light was so bad and my camera sucks, but it was SWMBOI Medium. Perfect she told me. Whew! Another bullet dodged! And here, finally, is the means whereby I avoided going face down in my cook. HYDRATION! That Shiner Wild Hare died in the service of a great steak and a grateful CC! Pete The Pink Salt Pig gives this cook 4 hooves up! He fell on his a$$ doing so, but Pete liked this cook! Y'all have a great week!

So today is a nice cool day here in OKC and after Jerri smoked cheese right after Thanksgiving and my ne'er do well Brother gigged me to smoke some cheese for him, I decided to do some smoked Tillamok Medium Cheddar Cheese today in TheBeast. This is my first attempt at smoking cheese in the belly of TheBeast, so we're into unknown territory. So, we shall see what we shall see. Open up both manifold wide open to get plenty of airflow to make certain the A-Maz-N-Tube Smoker performs as designed. Here's a pic of the A-Maz-N-Tube 6" smoker resting on my lower grate in the beast. It's been lit and has been burning for 10 minutes. Blew out the fire as per instructions and it's now smoking away. We're using hickory pellets today for our smoke component. Here is the Tillamok Cheddar cut into slabs for better smoke adsorption. I used a veggie tray since the holes will allow for good smoke contact on all sides of the cheddar slabs. You probably can't tell from the picture, but I have the upper cooking grate to get the cheese high in the dome of TheBeast. The upper cooking grate is sitting on the main grate which is above the lower grate. So we have the lower grate holding the Tube Smoker, the main grate, and the upper cooking grate holding the cheese for smoking. Here's a picture of the top vent. I've opened this more for this smoke than it's ever been open for a cook, even high temp pizza cooks. The reason for this is that Tube Smokers are notorious for not staying lit in kamado cookers. This isn't going to happen to me today! TheBeast's top vent is 3 full turns open at this point! If you look right under the top vent in the lower right hand quadrant you can see the gasket. Here is the cheese after 2 hours on smoke. The cheese doesn't look as if it has adsorbed much smoke, but believe me it has! You should have been in the kitchen 5 minutes after I brought it in .... smelled like a BBQ joint! Go figure! After a trip to the Food Saver, here's what you get ... Note that Pete The Pink Salt Pig approves! Also note that I've put the date I smoked this cheese on the bag. It'll be ready for consumption in 3 weeks, just in time for Xmas hors d'oeuvres! The reason the bag is so dadgummed crinkled is because I got distracted by Skippy, the Sous Chef cat! I"ll let y'all know in 3 weeks how this turns out!

Wilbur's post of his Portobello Burgers reminded that I didn't post a recent burger feed that I did. While mine is nowhere as impressive as his, it still was pretty dadgummed good. This took place a few Saturday's ago while watching American College Football. So here is that burger cook ... I'm not wanting to do a grand cook just for my fat rat backside, so I decided Simple Is Best. Just a couple of grilled hamburgers on The Beast will do just fine! I found a new brand of Miller named "FORTUNE" and decided to give it a try for hydration purposes. The bottle is black and could be hard to see against The Beast, but it's a pretty good tasting beer. I prefer Miller Lite, but this is a good start. Here is the total extent of the seasonings I'll be using on this cook ... salt, pepper, and essentially garlic. Sometimes Simple Is Best. Finally, here are the hamburger steaks resting until The Beast is heat soaked and ready for the cook. I love a plain old every day ordinary classic hamburger. Mustard, dill pickle, a thin slice of onion, and some good cheddar cheese. Wait, I guess that cheese makes it a cheese burger! Ok KKers, here's the rest of Simple Is Best, but with an undocumented but true twist! So The Beast gets up to temp and on the burgers go! Here's another view to show you how small half-pound burgers look on The Beast ... Things are doing well. Run inside to get the fixin's ready ... As I said, simple is best and this is one very prosaic cook. It doesn't get any simpler or prosaic than French's Yellow Mustard. I grew up on it and I love it! Time to flip the burgers. I'm wearing my welder's gauntlet because it is dadgummed HOT in the belly of The Beast! The feast is ready and I'm so hungry my stomach thinks my throat's been cut. Let's get these bad boys assembled and on a plate! And as we're ready to sit down with a cold beer and a balanced plate of grilled goodness ... My dadgummed doorbell ring! Blast it all anyway! I open the door and it's my dear middle brother who lives just around the corner, not 125 yards away. "HEY, whatcha eating'?" he asks. "I thought I smelled you cooking! When do WE eat?" "We?, I asked. "Hey, what kinda beer you got there?" he asked as he walked on by to the table. Oh well, once the camel's nose is under the tent, he's gonna eat and drink. And so fellow Gurus, a sumptuous feast was had by yours truly and his feckless brother, now fast asleep on the sofa! And what did the fearless Sous Chef Skippy do during all this commotion? Where was he? Sitting on his cat tree watching the whole thing go down! And so they lived happily ever after. The End!

Hi KKers! Last Friday evening I did PaPa Murphy's in the belly of TheBeast! Quick and simply and delicious. Here's the set-up ... baking stone (YEAH! That thing is HEAVY!) on the extended cooking grate over the main grate. No diffuser. Dome temp at 425F per PaPa Murphy's direction. I normally do pizza at higher temps, but PaPa Murphy's dough is literally engineered for 425F since most home overs don't get above 500F. Here are a couple of pics of the unbaked pies with a few extras from the refrigerator here at ChezChef: The first pie is thin crust the second is regular crust. Both pies were augmented with jalapeño andouille and spicy litallian sausage cooked on TheBeast and some more low moisture cheese. Here are pics of the two pies after their being cooked: The frist pie got too close to the edge of the KK baking stone and I was a minute or so late in pulling it, hence the burned edge. I wasn't about to let that happen on the second pie! Both crusts were crispy and the pies were delicious. For store-bought pizza, this was the best I've had in some time. Quick and easy peasy! The beverage of the evening was a relatively new ale from Shiner ... The Wild Hare. Very good tasting and I heartily recommend it!

Hi KKers! Yesterday was the BIG Thanksgiving Feast at my church. I volunteered to help cook some turkeys. In fact, I signed up to do 6, was told to expect to do more, but was only given 2 due to so many others wanting to cook the birds. OK, no big deal. I went out and bought a CyberQ WiFi unit to help with the cook seeing as I thought I had so many birds to cook. Well, the cook ended up being no big deal, but I think I screwed myself. More on that at the end. Early Saturday morning was cold and wet! I'm not a cold weather guy and I"m certainly never going to like being both cold and wet, so I was looking to spend as little time outside as possible. The CyberQ helped me stay dry and roast toasty. This WiFi feature is simply wonderful! Bluetooth has some inherent limitation that are easily overcome by WiFi. Here's a photo of the CyberQ all plugged in and ready to do its work in a hostile environment: Here's the PitViper fan ready to do it's thing in the rain: Neither until is waterproof so I had to figure something out. I Buddy of mine has drilled holes in Tupper Ware that he runs his cords through, but I didn't have that luxury. SOOOOO .... I made do. I had to anchor down the little storage bin covering the Cyber! unit with anything I could find ... these Oklahoma winds were nasty that day. The PitViper fan I covered with aluminum foil wrapped around the neck of the fitting that goes into The Beast. I secured it with a two twist ties tied together. Talk about Red-Neck engineering! But it worked and that's the important thing. Two 20# turkeys fit on the main grate with lots of room to spare: Now normally, I'd truss the legs and wings, but I was given strict instructions not to. The ladies who run this event told me not to put smoke on the bird, not to truss, no dressing, no oil on the skin for crispness, and cook until the pop-up thermometers popped up. I wasn't about to argue, so no smoke (except I did put on a little maple!), and I cooked the bird the bird until the pop-ups popped up. BTW - know what both pop-ups were set to? 175F! How do I know .... because the thermometers showed that temp on the CyberQ! In any event, here's a pic of the birds right after the CyberQ registered 155F, the temp I'd normally pull this cook. You can see the pop-ups on both birds in the back right hand quadrant: We did this cook at 350 and the CyberQ kept it nailed on that temp! Total time in the belly of TheBeast was 2:45: The finished birds ... notice the popped up thermometers ... 175F according to the CyberQ. I was instructed to cook until the pop-ups popped up and that's what this far rat did: Not too bad but could have been soon much better. BUT ... I'm not running that show, I just work here, drive a truck, and sweep the warehouse! Here the birds are foiled right before I took them to the church. Notice on the far right the bird tried to escape --- he didn't get far! To the church he went. The car smelled incredible for the trip! So all in all I'll give this cook a 3.5 Star Rating out of 5. Now for the I'm screwed part. I take those birds into the church kitchen and everyone starts oohing and aahing. How did you get that color on those birds. I said cooked 'em on my Komodo Kamado! The head of the Knights of Columbus perked up and came walking over to me and said, I never knew you had a kamado, like a BGE! I said, I have a kamado, but its MUCH better, IMNSHO, than the BGE. He said, so how come you're not signed up to cook for our brisket feed!? Now I've been a Knight for a LONG time and I never knew we had a brisket feed! The head Knight said, Well now you know and you just signed up! How big is your kamado? I told him it was large enough to fit 4 turkeys like the ones he was looking at. He said --- You're my new head bbq chef and walked away. We cook and sell over 75 briskets. I'm screwed! No good deed goes unpunished! I knew I should have listened to the Nuns!

Well KKers, it snowed in OKC yesterday, about 2.5" from what I hear. Windy as all get out and dadgummed cold. However, The Beast seemed right at home here in OKC and on the patio. Y'all stay warm and have a great week! Oh hey! Dennis, The Beast wanted in yesterday afternoon. I had to tell him NO! I told him that he had a coat on the way from overseas. Any word?

Good Saturday Morning, KKers! Yesterday I did a turkey for a little get together here at Chez Chef. This was my first time using the CyberQ WiFi controller. I brined the turkey overnight and cooked it to an internal of about 155F. I injected a mixture of butter, garlic, thyme, rosemary, and a tad bit of maple syrup. Here's the guest of honor for the dinner party, Tom. Tom, meet the Gurus! Here are the contents of Tom's giblet pack and various other pieces/parts. From left to right we have the heart (i'm always amazed at how small the heart in any animal is relative to the body!), neck, (now from top to bottom), the plastic thing that keep the legs trussed up, trimmed fat & Pope's nose, and the single most useless invention of the late 20th century, the pop-up thermometer, continuing left to right we have the liver and finally the gizzard. All gone. I HATE giblet gravy and I HATE giblet dressing. Here's Tom joining the Polar Bear Club by taking a swim in some brine I made up especially for him ... salt, sugar, peppercorns, crushed cranberries, citrus peel, thyme, and rosemary. Tom all dried off after his overnight swim and about to be injected with the butter injection mentioned above. Two views of Tom all greased up, trussed up, and ready for his cook. Here's a pic of Tom with his new best plate friends ... roasted rosemary potatoes and roasted brussels sprouts that will be soon swimming in a nice mustard sauce. Here's the money shot! "Pete the Pink Pig" will ALWAYS have a place of honor at my table. Not shown is the Apple Cider based Cole Slaw that people rave about. I'll post that recipe in the recipe section. Finally, a shot of the surviving nit of desert ... a Blackberry Wine Cake. All in all a nice cook and a nice send off for Tom. Not one single tidbit left over for sammies during today's football action. Y'all have a great weekend!