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Haven't been here a while - but been using the grill a lot right through all seasons. I love it, every time. I didn't really know where to post this - but seeing as it was the Sous Vide thing that got me looking for a simple solution this is where i have posted it - admin feel free to move it. I believe Sous Vide and the KK are a match made in heaven. Numerous uses. However often I found myself just wanting a quick finish, and firing up Yoda was just too much and too long. Enter spying a Sportsman Grill by Lodge - gee that looks like it would fit in my KK 23. Shop around $60 delivered to my door. I love it, I mostly use it inside the KK unless i already am using the KK, but as more of a grill style BBQ it's an ideal solution. The KK serves as a great repository, i can have this little thing flamed up and settled down in 20-25 minutes, sear, finish, grill whatever I want for 10 minutes - even smoke it by closing up the KK with everything inside for the last 5 minutes (or less). It's perfect if you've done Sous Vide Steak, lamb, or chicken filets. I'll post next time i use it - but I thought I'd show some pic's of how it fits in - it may not sell any more KK's but i think it will extend how we all use the KK, it's one of my best hacks, period. Excuse the stae of the grill in the pic's it was snowing outside when i cooked 2 nights back.

A head's up, I didn't realize at first that one could buy 4 mil chamber vacuum sealer pouches. They're not as widely available. In use, I can see no disadvantage whatsoever to 4 mil over 3 mil, and many advantages. They're subjectively far more durable. I've seen 3 mil bags fail because an air bubble pierced in the freezer, causing me to lose chicken stock into a water bath. I've seen 3 mil bags fail because a large salt crystal pierced through, packaging salt cod for a chest freezer. I still use bone guards on occasion (6 mil squares one adds for extra protection) but they're needed much less often. And did I say that after you get used to 4 mil, a 3 mil pouch in a hot sous vide water bath just feels flimsy? They cost about a nickel each, I can't imagine anyone here going through quantities where the unit price becomes an issue. Rather, the main issue is that one buys 1,000 bags at a time. They come in four packs of 250, an easy pallet share if one were so motivated. (I'm too busy to make promises.) I own a VacMaster VP115, and my working set of four bags are 6 x 8, 6 x 12, 8 x 10 and 10 x 12. One could scrimp by leaving out the 6 x 8 and cut down 6 x 12 as needed, but the small bags are very convenient for small items. One wants to standardize on a single bag thickness (4 mil for me) to avoid having to reset the sealing time each use, often forgetting. I also use these bags with a $30 impulse sealer, usually the 6 x 12 size. Liquids, and anything hot, can wreck a chamber machine. One can squeeze/burp nearly all of the air out of a bag, hanging off the impulse sealer, if the contents are wet enough. We put up our year's partially dried tomatoes this way. Having tried absolutely everything for storing stock, I try not to be judgmental in other people's kitchens, "oh yeah, that was me twenty years ago", impulse-sealing a chamber pouch of stock is the ideal storage and reheat solution. (To be fair, other people are just trying to achieve "good enough" and get on with their lives, they're probably thinking that I'm Dennis-grade OCD. But hey, I'm here talking to the cult of Dennis.) Some people will note that a chamber vacuum machine can be used just fine with liquids, if one takes care, and they take umbrage that one wouldn't use a chamber vacuum machine for everything, after ponying up the bucks. I'd love to enter a $1,000 stakes race, filling bags with stock. The impulse sealer is much faster. Pay attention while entering the site, for a 15% coupon, then buy everything on one order: VacMaster > BAGS, ROLLS > CHAMBER VACUUM SEALER POUCHES > 4-MIL

I have some pork shanks with no cure on them that I need to cook at some point soon. I was on a kick because our football bar sold "pork wings" and I tried to re-create it with a different batch a while back. Fast forward, I would like to do a combo SV-KK cook with these and am looking for advice. I have done 70+ hour short ribs before but for some reason this one is stumping me. Some thoughts are do do a 48-60 hour slow cook, then a hard sear on the KK followed by a broth-veggie braise in the KK in cast iron. I am open to any suggestions-

I had my nephew Shaun over for dinner this evening. He just finished pilot training down in San Antonio after graduating from The United States Air Force Academy last May. He's staying with my brother, the one who lives about 100 yards down the road. You know him, he's the BBQ Mooch who has recycled the same bag of chips for the last nine months! So I decided to use up a Tri-Tip that I'd had in the refrigerator. I also decided to give Shaun a taste treat ... he's a bachelor. I found out today that all he eats every evening is steak, generally NY Strips. So, I'm thinking it time to put on the dog and impress Shaun, or at least try. Sous Vide here I come! I decided to use up some rub I'd had left over from a rib cook this weekend. It was Runnin' Wild's Peach Rub and my brother developed a real like for it when he was over for the rib cook. Here's a pic of the Tri-Tip on the cutting board with the Runnin' Wild Peach Rub. Here is picture of the trimmed and rubbed Tri-Tip after sealing it up with the FoodSaver. It's now ready for the Anova Sous Vide. Here are the Sous Vide parameters as shown on the Anova Sous Vide. Fast forward 8 hours and here is the Tri-Tip just out of the water bath and ready to meet Beauty! at 600F. Notice that there is more liquid now after 8 hours in the Sous Vide at 132F than there was in the previous picture. More on that liquid in a bit. No pic of the Tri-Tip on Beauty! as All us boys were kibitzing and I forgot to take a pic! You simply can't trust some people! Here is picture of the Tri-Tip on the cutting board ready for carving after a 5 minute rest (The natives were getting restless!). And here is the Tri-Tip after I made my initial cut at the bend. That's a perfect Medium Rare if I do say so myself. And finally, here is the money shot. We had Mexican rice, refried beans, and guac. For those who wanted, we had warm whole wheat tortillas for tacos, burritos, etc. for those so inclined. Sorry, no pics of that either, but I'm told they went down really well! And here is a pic of the aftermath of the carnage! Now here is the story of the "Astounding" part of this cook. Shaun cooks his nightly steak on a round griddle with raised runs that he calls a grill! He also said he has never had Tri-Tip and he likes his beef cooked Medium Well! Yeah, I know ... Kids, what are you gonna do with 'em, right? So I told Shaun to trust me and he would be pleasantly surprised. I took a slice of the Tri-Tip, dipped in the au jus, and gave it to him. I said go ahead, take a bite, and if that isn't the best bite of beef you've ever had, I'll cook your share Medium Well. He took a bite, chewed, took another bite, chewed again, and got this HUGE grin on his face. "This is the most astounding flavor! Can I have some more?" Yeah I said, you can have all you want. He ate his Tri-Tip just sliced and with the au jus drizzled on the top. He was too polite to ask for seconds, so I just dished up some of the remaining Tri-Tip on to his plate and he finished off the au jus. He asked me how I learned to cook like that. I just smiled. Shaun is coming over tomorrow evening for a lesson on how to cook a NY Strip properly. I'm also rehabbing my Lodge Hibachi as a gift to him as he travels to his new duty station in New Mexico. He is one very fine man and I am proud to know this office and gentleman.

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.