Jon B. Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 First I have to say that even though our KK is named "Mac" in honour of MacKenzie...........that does not mean that her excellent picture taking and cooking skills are associated with the name and the new KK owner!!! For the first cook, we decided to do something simple so I could mess around with the air flow and temperature during the cook. http:// Nice ribeye roast with Williams & Sonoma Smoke house rub. http:// Hasselback red potatoes drenched with Tastefully Simple Italian Garlic Bread seasoning in butter and parmesan cheese. Filled the fire box 3/4 full with medium sized Wegmans lump (RO). Lit one spot in the center with the Mapp torch, vents wide open and let the fire get started for a few minutes. Tossed on some cherry wood pieces, put in the heat deflector, main cooking grate, drip pan, the upper grate and then the food. http:// I had to take this picture 4 times because the cherry smoke was so thick you couldn't see the food. I did not let the cooker warm up at all before putting the food on. I left the bottom vent wide open and adjusted the top vent open 1 1/2 turns. The cooker temp slowly rose to around 300* in 30 minutes. I had to open the top vent to 2 full turns to get the temp up to 350* http:// Question........I would have thought bottom vent wide open & top vent 2 turns would have been much hotter that 350*??? Does having the heat deflector in make a big difference? It stayed rock steady at 350* with that setting so I wasn't to concerned. (I haven't looked at how much lump was burned yet). It took Mac about 45 minutes to reach 350* and the meat about 2 1/2 hours total to reach 135*..... when we pulled it off the cooker along with the potatoes. http:// The meat was done perfectly for our tastes with a nice subtle cherry smoke flavor. Melt in your mouth tender!!! It also had a little different color/texture than previous roasts done in my other kamados..........meat or KK??? Guess I will just have to cook another one from the same hunk of meat in my other cookers for comparison. http:// The potatoes were tasty but slightly undercooked. I think next time I would let the KK heat up a little more before putting the food on???? (suggestions welcome). http:// (no laughing MacKenzie at my pictures ) Looking forward to the next cook so I can get a better feel for the vent settings (suggestions very welcome). Do not have wilburpan's talent with wood, so I bought a little rolling cart to hold at the accessories and grates. The teak side shelf is so pretty I'm afraid to put anything on it!!!! http:// Much fun was had and a few beers were consumed during Mac's first cook!!!! Thanks again for the warm welcome and all the help!! Jon B. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk1 Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 Fantastic! Keep on keeping on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckreef Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 Great looking 1st cook. Yes the deflector does make a difference but mainly in the heat soaking phase. When I go for 350*-400* with deflector (did 400* deflector last night). I would fill it full of lump (always fill it full). Light it good in one spot and let it go for a minute or so. Assemble your diffuser and grates. Bottom vent wide open, top vent at 3 turns. When it gets to 300* set top vent to 2 turns. When it hits your target 350* set top vent to 1 1/2 turns and bottom vent about 1/4"-1/2" open. Let it ride at 350* for 30 minutes. If it creeps up a little don't worry as temp will drop down a bit once you put all that food on. Put your food on then let it go at that setting for 15 minutes and see what temp you get. At that point adjust as needed with either the top or bottom or sometimes I do a combination of both. Biggest issue with the diffuser is letting it properly heat soak. Once fully heat soaked your temp will be very stable and even opening the dome to take a peak will only require a minute or two to recover temp. After a few cooks you'll learn just how fast you can bring it up to temp and then adjust to that temp. If I'm doing a Low-n-slow I don't slam it up to temp as I do when doing 350*+. The slower you bring it up for Low-n-slow the lower you can keep it. Charles - Prometheus 16.5", Cassiopeia 19" TT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRippley Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 I think your pictures are great Jon B. Tasty looking meal, I bet Redheaded Sue was happy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bosco Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 awesome first cook buddy!!! Cant wait to hear some more input as you get cooking more on it Also, have you done the initial burn in or will you do that later??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 Wow, that meat looks wonderful, Jon. I think the heat deflector would take quite some time to heat up. I have yet to use mine. I have used the serving tray AKA drip pan on some cooks but not the heat deflector. I'll say it again that meat looks lovely. I find I seem to get more colour on my meat that is cooked on the KK. I suppose you could have given the potatoes a bump start in the microwave. You could give the fire more air by not locking the lid shut, use the first catch on the lock. BUT don't go far from your grill and forget this or you might have a much hotter grill than you want;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon B. Posted November 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 I think your pictures are great Jon B. Tasty looking meal, I bet Redheaded Sue was happy! Thanks.........and she kept me supplied with beer while I watched every move the KK made during the 2 1/2 hour cook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRippley Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 Well, that's the most important part!🻠Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon B. Posted November 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 Also, have you done the initial burn in or will you do that later??? Going to do that on a weekend when I have more time. FYI - the vent setting on the KK were different than the Primo & KJ's but not hard to learn. You will have zero problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bosco Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 It is interesting to hear about the meat colour. Colour = Canuck spelling I have noticed that most cooks that I see with KKs have beautiful pink smoke rings and very deep. I have yet to hit a deep smoke ring like I see in a lot of KK photos. I am starting to believe that the KK may have some impact on the smoke ring of meat due to its design allowing for smoke to penetrate deeper. This I am starting to think has something to do with the vacuum that the dome vent creates with little airflow required from the bottom vent. Very interesting.... my curiosity had me thinking but I thought cant be... now you guys post this!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRippley Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 I agree about the color Jon B, can you describe more what you mean about a different texture? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon B. Posted November 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 I agree about the color Jon B, can you describe more what you mean about a different texture? The meat was bought at BJ's and was a full ribeye roast.. I cut 5 similar sized roasts from the same hunk of meat. The meat is what I always buy and cut up....so I really don't think the difference is the meat. I cooked the roast the same as I always do on my other kamado's (smoke, grill temp, meat internal temp, same type of seasoning and length of time on the meat also). Here is what both RH Sue and I noticed..........the roast color was more like the prime rib you would get at a nice steakhouse. Bosco.....I didn't use a lot of smoking wood...........so I wasn't expecting a nice smoke ring. The texture seemed to be different than our "previous" roast cooks...........more solid/dense...firm but still moist....texture more like a roast cooked to medium but it was still very pink & juicy. I'm actually going to cook another roast tonight at a friends house on his KJ ceramic..........will be interesting to see how it turns out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5698k Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 Was your entire cooking process on the KK exactly the same as you've done in the past? Do you always have the beef on during the heat up process? Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon B. Posted November 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 Was your entire cooking process on the KK exactly the same as you've done in the past? Do you always have the beef on during the heat up process? Robert Robert, Yes, exactly the same. I like to add a little smoke when the meat is cold, so I always do it the same way. I did notice that the KK took twice as long to get to 350*, which makes sense because of the mass of the cooker. Wondering if the slower heat up time/longer cook to internal 135* made a difference???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeramicChef Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 Jon - I bet you've stayed at a Holiday Inn Express recently because on this cook ... YOU NAILED IT! As for the heat up time issue, I always heat soak my KKs for about an hour before every cook. That hour given to time to prep everything and have it ready to go on. Try heat soaking PRIOR to the cook and while you're prepping and I think you'll be happier. Great first cook! Congrats and welcome aboard! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 Awesome 1st cook, Jon! Bosco, you will find that the KK retains moisture better than most other grills, which helps with smoke ring development. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryan Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 Does smoke affect smoke ring? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinyfish Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 Very nice first cook. Kk's like you say have lots of mass so some heat soaking does them well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjs Posted November 20, 2015 Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 Nice first cook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rak Posted November 20, 2015 Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 Congratulations on your first cook! Looks like it was a winner, and I was definitely very interested to hear your comparisons to your other Kamados, thanks for posting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
