Hello from another new Bay Area owner

[tnt]

Just received an email from Dennis, looks like my new grill just shipped which will put us about 5 weeks away from trying to cook something on this beast. I have a Silken Matte Black GEN 2.2 Ultimate 23" OTB on the way as we speak. Sorry no pictures cause I can't take a picture of something I just ain't got yet....

I have a stoker on order, hopefully it will be here before the grill arrives (and I hope it comes with some kind of manual since I have no idea what I'm doing).

I found the 17.5" X 8" E-Z Que baskets. If your looking and not finding try eBay "home and garden/outdoor cooking and eating" search for E-Z Que and look for "Weber Charcoal Grill Kettle E-Z Que Rotisserie 8" Wide".

I have no idea about lump charcoal (I do have a BGE store nearby).

My big fear is simply not knowing how to cook on this grill. I haven't tried anything other than my Weber and this seems very different.

I did manage to find a cook book "Addicted to BBQ" written by some guys that swear by ceramic grills and cook on Primo's.

hope this all turns out..................

Tony

[jdbower]

Welcome aboard. I live in the Bay State, you must be nearby

Excellent choice of colors, you'll love it so much you'll want another like me!

Regarding the Stoker, it's pretty easy to set up and use - a 5CFM blower is probably enough but for my 23" I have a 10CFM (and I like it enough I'm getting another one for my kitchen to control a proofing box and to monitor my oven cooking). You can download StokerLog now and be fully prepared, but if you run into any snags we're here to help.

For Lump Charcoal there is no better source than The Naked Whiz. However, most of the time I just end up using what's cheap and close - Cowboy from Lowes. BGE I think has Royal Oak lump which is a decent step up but not too expensive - if I had a BGE store nearby I would use it. Of course Extruded Coconut is great for low and slows but it's a bit hard to find these days.

Cooking on a KK is, if anything, easier than the Weber I also previously had. The kettles are OK for high temp grilling, but can't hold a candle to a KK for low and slow - especially in Massachusetts winters.

Another great book is Chris Lilly's Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book - a fantastic read.

[LarryR]

Greetings from down the 5/99 freeway,

As Jeff said the Stoker is pretty easy to setup. I have the 5 cfm fan on my 23" and it works great.

Regarding lump, you're in luck, there's a place just outside the City that sells direct LAZZARI I've used their Oak Lump a couple of times and had good luck with it. I wish I could get it locally but Bevmo only sells the Mesquite.

Lots of good info here on cooking with the KK, I've only had mine a few weeks and it's been pretty easy getting up to speed.

[tnt]

Oops,

I guess I've been in northern California too long, by Bay Area I meant the San Francisco Bay Area. Santa Clara to be precise.

Not sure where the 5/99 is.

So stupid question:

If you use the stoker do you close the bottom draft door??

What do you do with the top vent ??

And where do you run the probe wires??

I guess that was a group of questions....

Thanks

Tony

[jdbower]

I kind of figured that Bay Area was the greater San Francisco area - no want wants to live in Massachusetts...

Yes, with a Stoker you close the bottom draft control. I leave mine open a bit during lighting but once I get the fire going I close it off.

The top vent is cracked open just a tad. Depending on how hot you want it, maybe a crack and a half - if the temperature plateaus too early you'll probably want it open a little more, if it isn't stable you'll want to close it down a bit.

There's a hole just under the lid on the right side for the probe wires.

[tnt]

Thanks,

That's great to to know. It's going to be a long 5 weeks!!!!

I grew-up in Chicago so I was amused when I first moved out here, they refer to San Francisco as "the city" Like in the whole world there is only one and lucky us it's right up the road....

[tnt]

Jeff,

Do you find that you use both grills a lot??

I noticed that Dennis has a 19.5 in stock here in California but I wondered if I would really use it...

Tony

[jdbower]

I have the 23" set up for low-and-slow while the 19.5" is for high heat (for l&s I use extruded coconut fuel, high heat is lump). If I had to do it again I may have gone for two 23" grills in a similar setup; the 19.5" is a fine grill and fantastic if you're space constrained (for example, if it's going on a balcony in an apartment) but since I've got space I haven't found any downsides to the 23" other than being a bit more expensive.

I think of it like my double oven. I never thought I'd want a second oven, and then I needed to cook two things at different temperatures. Once that happened I figured out that I could use one to keep things warm or put a light in there to use as a low temperature proofing box - all sorts of things came to mind. But hopefully I won't be in the situation I'm in now with my ovens, one is on the fritz and now I've only got the lower oven until my new one comes in.

[Loquitur]

Re: Hello from another new Bay Area owner

My big fear is simply not knowing how to cook on this grill. I haven't tried anything other than my Weber and this seems very different.

Welcome, Tony, and congrats on your purchase!!

You don't need to be concerned about being able to cook on this grill. I came to the KK/Stoker last fall with ZERO experience cooking with charcoal and I'm doing great. My husband and I think the KK steaks, burgers, chops and poultry are spectacular. I struggle somewhat with the L&S pork shoulder and ribs but this is a seasoning issue. I'm not used to cooking with dried spices and the rubs/sauces I've tried haven't "wowed" me yet though the texture of the pork is lovely. And the Stoker controlling the low temps works like a dream!! Now that spring is coming I'm looking forward to lots of L&S pork experimentation. Just make sure you get a weed burner style torch which makes lighting the charcoal fast and easy.

Susan

[vkl]

Congrats Tony! So cool that we both bought KK's at the same time and that we're neighbors! Our KK's can talk to each other on the journey over. LOL!

[Syzygies]

Yes, the Lazzari factory is nearby:

Lazzari Fuel Company

http://www.lazzari.com/

Brisbane, South San Francisco

11 Industrial Way Brisbane, CA

(415) 467 2970

I generally load up my VW GTI with 8 40# bags of oak lump, and perhaps a bag of hickory or apple chips or chunks. The price is right. If you're going to go with one smoking wood, choose apple. Not too aggressive, everyone loves it.

[tnt]

Thanks for the pointer to Lazzari. Seems close enough so we can make a trip and stock up for the summer.

[mguerra]

First Cook

TNT, other forum members are probably sick of hearing me saying it over and over but... The pinnacle of use for your KK is low and slow pork butts. I humbly suggest you make it your first cook, rather than grill something. I mean you already grill stuff on the Weber, so let your KK shine! Tons of pork butt info here in the forums, search it.

Oh, hell, here's the quick tutorial:

Fill your charcoal basket, start a small central area of lump with a torch and let your fire spread from there. Open the top and bottom vents all the way at first. Put a little smoke wood if you like, and then the heat deflector on the charcoal basket handles. Rub your pork butt with any rub you have. Put it on the top rack. Stick the Stoker meat probe in the butt not touching bone if a bone-in butt. Put the pit probe about an inch away from the meat, not way out at the edge of the grill. Shut the lid. If using the Stoker, set it to 250. Shut the bottom vent and crack the top just enough to let a little smoke out when the fan is off, and a fair bit of smoke out with fan on. Don't open the lid til it's done at 185-190 degrees. Take it off, wrap in foil, wrap in towels, and let rest for 20 minutes or longer. You can rest it for many hours in a cooler. Pull it apart by hand, scraping off the fat and connective tissue with the side of a fork or a knife. I put a big piece of construction paper or a brown grocery sack cut open down on the counter to make clean up a snap, and wear disposable latex gloves.

And welcome!

[Beeps]

Hey! Another Bay Area KK!

I'm sure you'll be fine. I was nervous at first too, and my wife thought I was nuts. But it's pretty easy to get going and it was a lot of fun for me to experiment and practice. Everything that comes off the cooker tastes great! There is a lot of good info here on the forums for you.

Congrats on the cooker!

[Conodo12]

Welcome to the forum and Congrats on the new KK!! Please feel free to post a pic so we can see what is on the way to your house!

[LarryR]

Greetings from down the 5/99 freeway

Sorry, I'm in central Cali., down the 5 then 99 freeway from ya.

[tnt]

OK Komodo Kamado #647 is hooked up and running.... They delivered it at 12:30 today so I thought why not try to cook dinner for tonight... Come on how hard can this be he asks..

Well by the time we take the top off and get it up on the deck and then put back together it now 2:30.. Still time to try something simple so I decide on ribs..

Clean out the inducer port to plug in the new stoker so I can fire this puppy up and run to the store.

The adapter they sent me for the stoker does not fit.......javascript:emoticon(':mad:').

This is starting to become a problem. So I jump in the car and head out to Newark to visit the nice folks at Rocks BBQ. Get a new part head to the store buy some ribs and dinner should be somewhere around 8:00.

Not the way I planned it but it just might work.