CeramicChef Posted October 26, 2014 Report Share Posted October 26, 2014 in OKC when CeramicChef put on a 10# bone-in pork butt for tomorrow's feast during the OU/texass game.. It was the first public cook on his new Komodo Kamado 32" Big Bad and the world waited with bated breath ... Ok Gurus, here are pics of the first public cook on the Big Bad. And YES, HECK YES, it is cold and wet here in OKC. Here you see the basic setup for all my low and slow cooks ... heat deflector, ALWAYS a drip pan, cooking rack. As an aside, note how much room is around that drip pan. Drip pans of that size almost filled the Primo XL. Here is the 10# pork butt about to go on the grill. Note the first shot of courage in the left foreground. Woodford Reserve OTR. Smooth as a baby's touché. Here's our cooking temp ... a bit over 225F but I'll live with it at this point .... Time to button up the KK Big Bad until tomorrow morning. You can see a bit of the coffee wood smoke coming out of the Top Hat vent .... Another closer view of the smoke coming out of the Big Bad .... Gurus, that's about it until tomorrow morning when we'll probe for tenderness. You guys know the drill, all the action takes place out of sight and very slowly. I just went outside to check the temp. I've got the Top Hat cracked 1/4 turn on top and the lower vent is using the 1/8" diameter hole on the air control manifold down below and we're holding rock steady at 235F. This is my first time using the Coffee Wood for the smoke component of the cook. Dennis Linkletter was gracious enough to send 2 boxes and I've gotta say the smell is absolutely incredible! This is gonna be fun. I'll see all y'all in the morning. Right now, it's time for another 2 fingers of Woodford OTR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeramicChef Posted October 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2014 Well Sportsfans ... It was indeed a very dark and stormy night. The Big Bad came through with shining colors. We had an 11:00 AM pull for a 1:00 pm feast. Pics follow ... Here is the Big Bad when I put on the beans on to join the pork that was cooked overnight ... Beans consisted of chopped cilantro, diced tomatoes, chopped hatch chilies, garlic, onion, bacon and bacon fat, and ham hock. CIlantro floats very well! Here's the pork butt pulled at 11:00 CST. 17 hours in the 250F heat of the Big Bad. It's about to be wrapped, toweled, and coolered. Here's the butt safely ensconced in the cooler and about to be tucked in for a 2 hour rest. Here's Kitty Cat guarding the resting pork butt ... Here's the final result of a couple of days of hard dadgummed work ... All in all a very successful cook! Everyone took some leftovers home with them ... all except my strictly vegan brother, but what the hell does he know, right?! When all is said and done, I'd have to give the KK Big Bad an A on this cook. Never had one lick of trouble. Temp was rock solid at 235F - 245F all cook long. I'd get up in the middle of the night expecting trouble from laying in the charcoal as I did. That was wasted effort ... the Big Bad was as solid as solid gets. I'll take a 10F deviation and walk away happy and doing the Spunky Monkey Dance every step of the way! When it came time to crank up the temp to cook the beans, just a quarter turn of the Top Hat Vent and opening the bottom airflow manifold to the next largest hole, about 3/16ths of an inch, sent the Big Bad to 400F in about 10 minutes. The Big Bad never ceases to amaze me. I don't use a BBQ Guru or any other puffer. There is no need for such on this Beast. The wind was all over the place last evening, rain coming down hard all night, and not one temp transient worth mentioning ... 10F is nothing at all! My brothers were over and couldn't get enough of the Big Bad. They just stood back and looked it over. I told 'em go ahead and open 'er up and take a gander in the inside. They were very hesitant to do so ... If you're looking you ain't cooking ... but we had the top open for about 3 minutes, buttoned the Big Bad up, and they watched the temp clilmv right back up to 400F in under 3 minutes. Both were amazed at the thermal stability. Thermal mass is a great thing for cooking! So, it was a very successful first public cook. The Komodo Kamado Big Bad rightly deserves all it's positive press. This thing is easier to control than any cooker I've ever had. Hands down. The KK BB simply want to cook and it wants to cook the way you tell it to cook. I'm convinced that anyone can successfully cook on this Beast from day one. There is simply real no learning curve. It's almost intuitive how to cook on this Beast. The airflow manifold makes cooking low-n-slow on this Beast a no brainer. Even I can't screw up this deal! Anything that CC-proof is something that anyone can do! Oh, my alma mater, THE University of Oklahoma beat texass! It wasn't pretty, but the Boys in Crimson and Cream put it to the poor texass shorthorns wearing burnt orange. That made the pulled pork taste that much better! BOOMER SOONER! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeramicChef Posted October 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2014 Well Good Sunday Morning KKers! As promised, a follow up on yesterday's cook with respect to charcoal usage. Here is a pic of the charcoal basket before the cook ... And here is the same charcoal basket after the 17 hour cook of the 10# pork butt at about 245F and a 3 hour burn at 400F for the beans ... As you can see, only about 1/3 of the CoCoNut Charcoal was consumed in the cook ... Here is a photo of the ash left behind in the firebox ... Here is a pic of the amount that was swept up in the dust pan ... I have to say that I am quite surprised that I could get a 17 hour low-n-slow and a 3 hour burn at 400F and have so very little charcoal consumed and such a small amount of ash produced. In my experience this is about a third less ash than I would anticipate from a 17 hour cook at 225F never mind the 3 hour burn at 400F. This is a lot better than I had anticipated. People who have used the CoCoNut have said it produces less ash and lasts longer, but I'm a skeptic. No longer. This stuff more than lives up to its billing. I'm glad I bought 800#s (40 Boxes). I'll be doing all my low-n-slow cooks over the CoCoNut charcoal. It has little if any detectable odor compared to my regular lump, and burns more efficiently. Linkletter and others suggest using the CoCoNut for low-n-slow because above about 350-400F the heat burns off any volatiles left in regular lump. Besides, regular lump is cheaper! SO, there it is KKers. The first public cook on the Komodo Kamado Big Bad. I'm one happy camper! In fact, this Beast more than lives up to the hype! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisLinkletter Posted October 26, 2014 Report Share Posted October 26, 2014 Great post.. actually charcoal burns the same by weight.. not volume. Because of it's density the coco char burns longer. But yes the remaining ash is always a surprise.. I think most of the charcoal now shipped is only 2.5% ASH... LOL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted October 26, 2014 Report Share Posted October 26, 2014 Hey CC, a big fan of Woodford's myself, particularly partial to the double oaked. But, we seriously need to upgrade your choices in beer to match your taste in fine bourbon and wean you off the Miller Lite! Need my fellow homebrewer, BGrant3406, to have my back on this one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeramicChef Posted October 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2014 Hey CC, a big fan of Woodford's myself, particularly partial to the double oaked. But, we seriously need to upgrade your choices in beer to match your taste in fine bourbon and wean you off the Miller Lite! Need my fellow homebrewer, BGrant3406, to have my back on this one! LOL!! tony, if you saw my waist line that I'm trimming, you'd understand the Miller Lite! Don't fear, I'm not completely given to the dark side, or the Lite side, if you will. I've always got a few bottles of Guinness at the beck and call! Thanks for looking out for my health! LOL!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted October 26, 2014 Report Share Posted October 26, 2014 Try the new Guinness Blonde. Beats the crap out of most "lights." But, it's a bit heavier - 149 cals. Here's a bit of trivia for you - Despite its heavy appearance, a bottle of traditional Guinness has only 124 calories, or just 14 more than a Bud Light. No excuses, mate! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeramicChef Posted October 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2014 Try the new Guinness Blonde. Beats the crap out of most "lights." But, it's a bit heavier - 149 cals. Here's a bit of trivia for you - Despite its heavy appearance, a bottle of traditional Guinness has only 124 calories, or just 14 more than a Bud Light. No excuses, mate! tony - i just got a mixer of that new Guinness Blonde in my refrigerator cooling down now. I finally found some ... it seems to be a BIG hit for Guinness based on what I hear for the owner of the liquor store where I do all my shopping. Also picked up some Harp and a mixer of regular Guinness. That's all my private stash ... only my very close friends know about it. Everyone think's I'm all over Miller. Save the best for family and very close friends! And yeah, I know Guinness is a diet beer! Here's looking up your old address! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted October 27, 2014 Report Share Posted October 27, 2014 Also picked up some Harp and a mixer of regular Guinness. My crystal ball sees "black & tans" in your future! LOL!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeramicChef Posted October 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2014 My crystal ball sees "black & tans" in your future! LOL!! Damn! Am I THAT obvious! LOL!! Yeah I guess so. Darn the luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
