WoodieB Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 Hi All, Been away for a while, (dead laptop), and now, having had the opportunity to cook on my awesome Terra Cotta Blue OTB for a while, have some observations. First of all, thanks to everyone on the forum for all the knowledge & recipes. It's allowed me to be successful from the very first cook. And a big thanks to Dennis for making such a beautiful piece of cooking kit. And I guess I should thank whoever invented ceramic cooking in the first place. I'm just blown away at how well the KK excels at cooking at both the low end and the high end of the spectrum, (and the middle as well) Did a few moderate temp cooks, chicken, etc, that were good, but the first time I fired it up to 750 and seared some steaks, I was just blown away. I decided to do some buffalo steaks, since I have a bunch of it in the freezer. (Bought half of a young one this past winter) I invited my neighbors over, and the lady was pretty skeptical, (not of the KK, she says it's a piece of art) but of the buffalo. Anyway, I gave them a good rub with CharCrust, seared for 90 sec a side at 750, then moved them to the edge of the grill, shut the dampers and let them dwell for a couple of minutes. They looked great, but my neighbor said, "I'll just try a little piece, I don't think I'll like buffalo". I cut her a small piece of one, and the instant she put it in her mouth, said "OK, that one's mine!" Awesome steaks. I don't think I had ever had a truly seared steak before. But I'm from Kentucky, and I wanted some real pork bbq. Practiced once on a small piece, about 4 lb. bone in butt, for 9 hours to learn temp control. It was really good, but wasn't quite pulled pork. But I did learn how to regulate the temp quite well with just damper control, no Guru. OK, time to go for the big one. Went to Costco, and got a 14.5 lb. boneless butt. Cleaned the KK out (shop vac works great for that) loaded the basket up with mesquite lump, big pieces on bottom, then smaller ones. Lit in 3 places with a mapp torch, let'er get to about 200 then started closing it down. I found that with the top damper open 1/4 turn, and the bottom fine air controller open about 1/8", the temp settled down nicely at about 220-230 deg. F. A little dry rub, on goes the meat, with a few nice chunks of hickory on the lump. Cooked for 24.5 hours at 220-230. Rarely had to adjust the damper at all. Went to bed, slept all night, in the morning it was still 230 or so. I was really amazed. After 24.5 hours, the internal temp of the butt was 190, so time to pull it off. Absolutely awesome! Unbelievable! I had about 8-9 friends over. Now I hadn't opened the lid the whole time, so I had my fingers crossed. Everyone was blown away! The entire butt was consumed! Also made Dennis's Tidewater Coleslaw & Lexington Vinegar. Both are among the best I've had. One thing I did was to substitute Marukan Seasoned Rice Vinegar for the cider vinegar in both recipes, and it is REALLY good. A little less sugar may be needed since the seasoned vinegar is slightly sweet. So, I'm a truly happy KK camper and cooker. A check is on the way to Johnnyboy for a cover commensurate with the looks of my baby! I'll be sure to post some pics of my next big cook. Was too busy drinking good homebrew and eating pulled pork to do so last time. I've ordered a few Dizzy Pig rubs to play with now. Happy KK'ing to all, Woodie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curly Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 Nice heartwarming story Woodie, but there are rules around here. And we all have to follow them. If you don't have pics, it didn't happen. So lets see the pics. (I would never say exactly what the sign implies, but it's the only one they had, so I had to use it) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanny Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 ...If you don't have pics' date=' it didn't happen. So lets see the pics. [/quote']Hey, Curly, nice fantasy life Woody has, huh? He imagined two whole suppers and lotta friends! Sad for him, to have to have pretend food and friends, when he could have real ones of each. Well, I guess his stories COULD be true, but without pics, who's to say? I mean, we KNOW you had a kitty in the rafters, cause there was a pic, right there, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turtle Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 Re: Wow, what a beautiful cooking machine! ....I did learn how to regulate the temp quite well with just damper control, no Guru. OK, time to go for the big one.... Lit in 3 places with a mapp torch, let'er get to about 200 then started closing it down. I found that with the top damper open 1/4 turn, and the bottom fine air controller open about 1/8", the temp settled down nicely at about 220-230 deg. F. ... No pics, but WoodieB has been reading up on the forum enough to know that he might be able to get a pass from Pork Chop, for dreaming sans-guru! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodieB Posted July 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 Wow, tough crowd Ok, some pics to follow soon. And Curly, you're a good dude. I read the kitty story. I have two cats that are like kids to me and I'll have to say it brought a tear to my eye. Weird, I worked in equatorial West Africa for a few years (Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Gabon) and got so numbed that I could walk by a dead body on the street without a second glance, but I still get teared up going into the animal shelter to give them my food donation at Christmas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeDJ16 Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 This sounds like a very happy kamper post! I am gonna move it there so it won't get trampled on in the general section! -=Jasen=- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanny Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 Wow, tough crowd Ok, some pics to follow soon. Yah, tough love. How else will you learn? Good for you for doing the overnight pork. My first true pork butt success is in the freezer, waiting for neighborhood "fence raising" at Mother's next weekend. I'll make a little more raspberry chipotle sauce, pick up a bottle of "off the shelf" stuff at the grocery, for those who fear the good stuff, and Mother is in charge of slaw, rolls, and beverage. I know what you mean about the pets, Woodie. I didn't have a dog growing up (except the neighbors', and I did love Muffin a lot). But I adopted Livvy 12 years ago. She was an only puppy, just like me! I drove 15 hours to get her in Tennessee. I cannot imagine what I did without her. Or what it'll be like when she's gone. Vet says she's probably good for another 5. That is, if the lawn service quits leaving the gate open. I have fired TWO services (one after 3 years, one after 2 months). The terror at coming home from work and finding the gate open and not knowing if she'll come running is too awful. So far, she's been there. But there's always the chance that she'll be hit by a car or something. I'm certain she leaves the yard and has returned when I get there - I'm not naive enough to think that she decided not to leave the yard, when given the chance. oh yah... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fetzervalve Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 Good stuff Woodie, great picture also. Note to Dennis - get that picture up on the front page! Who wouldn't want one after looking at that?!?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodieB Posted July 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 Thanks Fetzer, Dennis, I'd be honored to have a pic of my OTB on your site. Have some pretty good ones. Just posted a few to the pics section. Sanny, all of my friends have told me many times that if they could be reincarnated, they would want to come back as one of my cats. The oldest is 11, the younger one 8. I hate to think about them coming to the end of their life span, (and I think they have quite a few more good years left) but one thing I know for sure, they could not have lived anywhere else where they would have been loved & pampered more. But this is a happy camper thread, and I'm indeed a happy KK camper. Now when my set of Kingsley-Bate teak furniture arrives, I'll have some photos to truly do justice to the KK. W Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
