Jon B. Posted November 30, 2015 Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 I'm almost embarrassed to post this.......but had to share. Was invited to my daughters house for Thanksgiving. Volunteered to bring a ham. Bought a couple 6 lb. spiral slices hams from Sam's club. Decided to lightly smoke them while warming them up in the KK and then crank it up to glaze on the supplied topping. Simple, right? I put both hams in a 1/2 steam pan on top of a metal cookie sheet on top of the main grate. I put in just a cup or so of apple juice into the steam pan which lightly covered the bottom of the pan. I smoked the meat uncovered for 1 hour and then covered the pan with foil. The meat was taking longer than I expected, so I let the cooker temp climb to 375*. When the internal meat temp reached 125*, I planned to take the meat off, apply the glaze while the cooker temp climbed to 425*. This is where things went totally bad.......................... I grabbed the main cooking grate handles and started to lift the entire grate & food containers out the the KK, onto a table next to the grill. The foil covered the steam pan and the cookie tray, so I could not see into the steam pan. As I was lifting the grate & food out, I must have tilted the grate and about a cup or more of liquid poured down into the 375* KK. Down the front of the fire box and all over the heat deflector. Steam, smoke, cuss words were flying. I never dreamed that the steam pan would totally fill up with liquid and overflow on to the cookie sheet. Both were covered with foil and I didn't think to look. Rookie move!!! As a long time ceramic kamado owner, my first thought was......on my third cook........I ruined the KK firebox!!!!! I know for sure that any of my other ceramic fireboxes would have shattered at that temperature difference................liquid vs. ceramic. After calling myself every name in the book, I did a quick inspection.........the fire box was stained, but OK. The heat divider was covered with baked on apple & ham juice but was also still intact. I finished the cook, closed the vents and went to my daughters. After Thanksgiving dinner I headed home to thoroughly inspect the cooled down KK. The dried on liquid removed about a 1/16 inch from the top of heat deflector, when I scraped it off. Other than that and a few stains, the deflector was fine. I gently wire brushed the surface of the fire box to get the dried juice off the surface and other than a few stains, it also looked no worse for the wear!!! I cleaned out the ashes, put a new load of lump in and cranked the KK up to around 500* to burn off any remaining crud. The next day you could hardly tell some dumb$hit was trying to cook on it!!!! Moral of the story....be careful cooking with liquids inside your kamado and never ASSUME! and .................the KK construction difference shines through.............I'm 100% sure a standard ceramic firebox would have been in multiple pieces after a spill like mine. Humbly yours, Jon B. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckreef Posted November 30, 2015 Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 Great story and a lesson we can all learn from. Charles - Prometheus 16.5", Cassiopeia 19" TT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjs Posted November 30, 2015 Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 Good cautionary tale, never assume. You are also correct the KK is very forgiving...that's good design Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted November 30, 2015 Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 Jon, I am just so happy that no damage was done. I bet I know what was on your mind all through your dinner at your daughter's. BTW, how was the ham or did you notice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon B. Posted November 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 BTW, how was the ham or did you notice? MacKenzie.............the ham was MOIST...........despite leaking all that liquid. Where did it all come from???? And you are correct....could not wait to get back and pull the heat deflector out for a closer inspection!!!! Now the inside of the cooker looks broken in................but I don't recommend THAT method Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisLinkletter Posted November 30, 2015 Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 It's the brine that dripped/leaked out.. I make the mistake of cutting off a corner of a big ham I had just taken out of the grill because it smelled so good I just had to try a nibble.. It was like I cut the corner off a bag of juice because over the next hour more than a full cup of beautiful salty, smoky juice leaked out.. I even tried turning the meat and putting the cut corner at the highest point.. Argh lost lots of valuable fluid but the ham was still juicey and great.. Go figure? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinyfish Posted November 30, 2015 Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 Glad you didn't get burned Jon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeramicChef Posted December 1, 2015 Report Share Posted December 1, 2015 Jon, All's well that ends well! Thank goodness you weren't scalded! Last night I was cooking a meatloaf and had a similar experience. I cussed a blue streak for 30 minutes. Now I have to burn off the spilled sauce during tomorrow night's cook. I'll post before and after pics of my heat deflector. It's ugly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted December 1, 2015 Report Share Posted December 1, 2015 Been there, done that! Just part of the KK experience, Jon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon B. Posted December 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2015 Last night I was cooking a meatloaf and had a similar experience. I cussed a blue streak for 30 minutes. Now I have to burn off the spilled sauce during tomorrow night's cook. I'll post before and after pics of my heat deflector. It's ugly! Here is mine after the spill, burn off and scraping with a putty knife............ ">http:// Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted December 3, 2015 Report Share Posted December 3, 2015 A piece of art! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon B. Posted December 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2015 A piece of art! You know......It sorta looks like a map of the world! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted December 3, 2015 Report Share Posted December 3, 2015 Doesn't it:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
