Search the Community

Morning everyone. Reporting in on first cook. Made a homemade rub for the spare ribs I’ll be doing today for a small crowd (no pressure). Used the left over rub to season these beautiful loin chops. Ingredients: brown sugar, salt, black pepper, celery seed, fennel seed, sweet paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, cinnamon,mustard powder. I sprinkled a very light amount of salt, pepper, and garlic powder before rubbing on some mustard followed by the bbq rub. Had a bell pepper. Instead of roasting it I decided to STUFF IT. had some goat cheese laying around so I diced some tomatoes, onions, crumbled the cheese. Splashed a little olive oil in there with oregano, salt and pepper. SO DAMN GOOD! Beautiful cut.

Today was our first cook on the new 23" Ultimate. We're in the middle of the burn in (lots of venting ) so we threw on some Bratwurst and buns around lunchtime. Was delicious!

Well, I finally got back from Vacation and was finally able to work through my first cook. I had lots of idea on what to cook but I thought I'd keep it simple and go with a beer can chicken but with a slight twist. I went with an 8 Lb. oven roaster. I thought that would be a nice size for five adults and two small children. I also wanted to end up with some leftovers that could be enjoy later in the week. At the end of the day, that worked out perfectly. Now on to my first cook. As I always do, I brined my bird overnight in a saltwater, spice and aromatics bath. This goes a long way in enhancing the flavors, while also producing a very moist bird as long as you don't overshoot your targeted internal temp. I always pull my poultry when I hit an internal premature of 160-deg. I also give it a good 20 to 30 minute rest before I go cutting into it. The results are always spot on for me. Okay, now on to the cook. This being the first time I would ever fire up my KK 32, or any Komodo style cookers for that matter, I started about three hours before my scheduled cook time. I should also add in that it was a brisk 34-dergs outside when I got started. I gave myself three hours because the one constant in everything I've read about Komodo cooking is to take it slow and at all cost, don't overshoot your cook temp or you will have a long wait getting back to where you want to be. I loaded the basket full of hardwood lump charcoal and hit it in three or four places with a propane torch. She fired right up. With the dampers wide open and the dome three full turns opened, things started heating up fairly quickly. By the time I was 30-mins in, I want to say I had the bottom damper opened about 1" and the fine adjustment on the smallest setting. The top was opened to maybe 1 1/2 turns at this point. The temperature was still climbing but very slow now. At this point I knew I had control over everything and would have everything dialed in shortly. I left the bottom dampers where they we set and started closing the top maybe an 1/8 turn at a time until I hit and held at 325. I was shocked at how easy it was to dial into my desired temperature. In less than an hour, I hit my 325-deg mark. Still being nervous and unsure, I intensely watched that dial thermometer for the next two hours. With a slight tweak or two, she held steady the entire time. Wow, was I impressed. Things went exactly as everyone on this form said they would go. I was very impressed. I should also mention that I also monitored the temps with two Maverick 73s. I attached a probe to the grate and one to the KK dome thermometer. I would eventually use a third probe to monitor the internal temperature of the meat. I was very impressed to learn that the KK’s dome thermometer was dead-nut-on. I've never had any grill thermometer I’ve ever owned be worth a crap. Again, I was very impressed. Next, I loaded my beer can chicken onto the top grate with a drip pan underneath and let the KK 32 do the rest of the work. I planned on cooking my bird for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours at a temperature of 325-degs. As mentioned above, I would be shooting for an internal meat temperature of 160-degs. Two hours and 45-mins. into the cook I hit my targeted internal temperature and pulled the bird off. Needless to say, I was very happy with the result. Oh, I almost forgot to mention the "Twist" I mentioned above. Instead of using a regular old can of beer, I decided to go with an Angry Orchard cider beer. I also poured 1 ½ cans of Angry Orchard into the drip pan. I complimented that with apple wood chunks for smoking. Man oh man did that turn out to be a good idea. You could smell the cider and wood smoke aroma coming out of the dome of the KK. It was awesome to say the least. Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure: