Introducing BBQKaeding and Nimoy

[BBQKaeding]

Hi folks,

This is BBQKaeding, or you can call me Joe. I live in the Portland, Oregon area and just took receipt of my first Komodo Kamado - a 23" Dark Autumn Nebula Metallic Bronze Tweed. I noticed that many owners name their Komodo Kamado, so I did too: Nimoy.  She's a real beauty and really shines in natural sunlight. I purchased the SS side tables and most all of the accessories too. It was like Christmas in March. I probably spent 3-4 hours opening all the accessories and preparing the KK for it's move to the deck the following day. Opening some boxes made me smile and most made me grin. The workmanship is top notch and far beyond what Richard's Kamados sported. I was blown away when I saw the top of the dome with the spider assembly - WOW! Actually, I never get gifts this nice at Christmas!

Like many have said before, the impression in person is one of awe. Great pictures and complimentary write-ups don't come close to the personal meeting.

I had some anxiety about moving this unit and getting my old #7 Kamado off of the deck, but it was unwarranted. Dennis engineered this process to be simple and it was indeed straight-forward.  My crate had a corner post damaged at the bottom and the ramp that was installed in the top of the crate was too weak and brittle to handle the load, but the ropes and 2x4s worked awesome so we were able to just lift it out of the crate after removing the dome and anchors. I was especially pleased at how easy the dome was to remove and reattach - but you will want a ratchet for the spring tension bolt because you're going to be so anxious to get cooking. We had to navigate a few steps in the process but it was simple enough. One piece of advice is to survey the path and cut the 2x4's to a length that will allow you take any corners and still get 4 able bodies on the ends. Having the bodies on the inside with the cooker will allow you fit though most doorways.

I've attached some pictures of Nimoy for your viewing pleasure.

[5698k]

That's one beautiful cooker!! That tweed is one of the most unique finishes there is.

Rob

[MacKenzie]

Gorgeous, gorgeous grill and we have the first cook too. Tasty cook. You must be thrilled.    

[Geo]

Great looking meal & cooker. Looking forward to lots more pictures of cooks. Enjoy!

[PRippley]

Beautiful, and as a fellow Oregonian, welcome to the forum!!

[Rak]

Beautiful cooker and great pics!!  

[wilburpan]

Gorgeous grill! Also, glad to see you’ve put it to good use already.

[Newg4]

Wow! That looks amazing on your deck. The tweed finish is stunning! Congrats

[ckreef]

Great looking grill and fantastic pictures. Can't wait to see some more cook pictures.

Charles - Prometheus 16.5", Cassiopeia 19" TT

[tinyfish]

Welcome aboard! ! Excellent colour combination on that KK of yours.

[Jon B.]

That is one fine looking KK and it looks great on the deck full of food!!!!!!

[rogerfromco]

Excellent color choice on the tiles!

[Poochie]

Welcome to the club! Good to see that you didn't waste any time getting some good BBQ going on it.

[tony b]

Echo the others - beautiful grill and a tasty rack full of ribs, too! Well done, sir!

But, inquiring minds like ours really would like to know - what did you do with the POSK? 

[kjs]

Beautiful grill and great looking first cook. Kudos!

[BBQKaeding]

6 hours ago, tony b said:

Echo the others - beautiful grill and a tasty rack full of ribs, too! Well done, sir!

But, inquiring minds like ours really would like to know - what did you do with the POSK? 

Thanks for the post.

Well, if POSK stands for what I think it does (piece of s#!+ Kamado), then I have to say it wasn't a lemon like some. It was/is a fabulous cooker with thousands of hours of cooking under it's dome and it produced exquisite meals for nearly 20 years now - longer than KK has been around. Cold smoked cheese, jerky, smoked steelhead, crown rib roasts, briskets, 100's of Papa Murphy's pizzas (on the cardboard), prime rib, rib-eyes, beer wort, turkeys and even chocolate soufflé - it was all awesome. I took good care of it and it reciprocated. 

Within the last few years it started dropping tiles from the cap and the cap recently developed a rather large crack in the refactory cement. There is some delamination of the tile sheeting on the dome, although no tiles haven't fallen off the dome - yet. The base is still in great condition.

The only reason I got rid of it, really, is that I've been drooling over the KK since it was released, but I already had 3 working Kamados. So my desires, passion, a good bonus last year and my wife's permission triggered the transaction .  I sold my #7 to my brewing buddy for $1,200 with a bounty of accessories.  I still have 2 original Japanese #5 Kamados in working order, including the first one I got from my dad in 1985 (I couldn't convince him to give me his).

My friends and family would never label the Kamados as pieces of s#!+, nor would I, but so far everyone's been blown away when they see the KK. If it lasts as long and works as well as the Kamados have, then it'll be the last one I'll ever need (not want). I would like to solicit everyone's help to convince Dennis to offer a meat hanger for the KK though. I already miss that accessory. It works like a vertical rotisserie without the hassle of a basket & motor and cooks the plumpest turkeys I've ever laid my eyes on, or sunk my teeth into.

If POSK means something else, I'm sorry. If not, you just called my old baby ugly and you should be sorry .

 

[tinyfish]

9 hours ago, BBQKaeding said:

Thanks for the post.

Well, if POSK stands for what I think it does (piece of s#!+ Kamado), then I have to say it wasn't a lemon like some. It was/is a fabulous cooker with thousands of hours of cooking under it's dome and it produced exquisite meals for nearly 20 years now - longer than KK has been around. Cold smoked cheese, jerky, smoked steelhead, crown rib roasts, briskets, 100's of Papa Murphy's pizzas (on the cardboard), prime rib, rib-eyes, beer wort, turkeys and even chocolate soufflé - it was all awesome. I took good care of it and it reciprocated. 

Within the last few years it started dropping tiles from the cap and the cap recently developed a rather large crack in the refactory cement. There is some delamination of the tile sheeting on the dome, although no tiles haven't fallen off the dome - yet. The base is still in great condition.

The only reason I got rid of it, really, is that I've been drooling over the KK since it was released, but I already had 3 working Kamados. So my desires, passion, a good bonus last year and my wife's permission triggered the transaction .  I sold my #7 to my brewing buddy for $1,200 with a bounty of accessories.  I still have 2 original Japanese #5 Kamados in working order, including the first one I got from my dad in 1985 (I couldn't convince him to give me his).

My friends and family would never label the Kamados as pieces of s#!+, nor would I, but so far everyone's been blown away when they see the KK. If it lasts as long and works as well as the Kamados have, then it'll be the last one I'll ever need (not want). I would like to solicit everyone's help to convince Dennis to offer a meat hanger for the KK though. I already miss that accessory. It works like a vertical rotisserie without the hassle of a basket & motor and cooks the plumpest turkeys I've ever laid my eyes on, or sunk my teeth into.

If POSK means something else, I'm sorry. If not, you just called my old baby ugly and you should be sorry .

 

Could you not make a hanging rod and hang it from the three cross bars that the rain cap threaded rod screws into on the inside of the dome.

[Jon B.]

11 hours ago, BBQKaeding said:

I would like to solicit everyone's help to convince Dennis to offer a meat hanger for the KK though. I already miss that accessory. It works like a vertical rotisserie without the hassle of a basket & motor and cooks the plumpest turkeys I've ever laid my eyes on, or sunk my teeth into.

Okay.................I didn't ask what POSK meant but I will ask............what difference the "meat hanger" makes compared to having turkey (or other meat)  sit vertical on the cooking grate?????

I'm soooo confused 

 

[ckreef]

Could you not make a hanging rod and hang it from the three cross bars that the rain cap threaded rod screws into on the inside of the dome.

I've thought about this before. The problem with that is when you open the dome the turkey (or whatever) would then rub up against the back of the grill. Not sure I'd want that. Also the top cap (and spider) does not sit center in the dome, it's off to the back a little.

Charles - Prometheus 16.5", Cassiopeia 19" TT

[BBQKaeding]

10 hours ago, Jon B. said:

Okay.................I didn't ask what POSK meant but I will ask............what difference the "meat hanger" makes compared to having turkey (or other meat)  sit vertical on the cooking grate?????

I'm soooo confused 

 

That's a good question. I've done both the beer can style with a vertical roaster and the hanger and the advantages I've seen with the hanger are:

1. Orientation of the bird. Most vertical roasters have you place the bird feet-down with the cone-shaped rack in the main cavity of the bird. When I use a hanger, I truss the bird and hang it with the cavity facing up. I have carefully measured temps and the breast and thigh meat get done much closer to the same time than when using the vertical roaster.
2. Plumpness. I can't prove this, but I believe the head-down orientation on the meat hanger also contributes to the plumpness as gravity is causing the meat to relax toward the thicker parts of the bird as it cooks. This could be conceptualized and/or tested by taking 2 turkey legs and cooking each with an opposite vertical orientation and seeing if one gets plumper than the other (i.e. sag toward the foot or sag toward the thigh or not at all). Having the cavity facing up also makes it easier to stuff the cavity compared to a vertical roasting stand. I typically add a quartered orange, onions, apples, etc. (depending on the recipe) and very lightly pack them rather than using dressing. This too may contribute to the even cooking but I do it primarily for added moisture and seasoning.
3. Consistent browning. Using the same cooker, although not a KK yet, I've achieved better consistency in the 360 degree browning of the bird on a hanger than I do with a vertical roaster. I hang a wok under the bird and meat hanger to serve as a the heat deflector and invert the lid of the wok into the wok base to catch drippings for gravy. The air gap between the inverted lid and the wok prevents scorching of the juices. So there are no grills or other flat surfaces in the cooker - just the bird and the curved wok hanging below. In my old #7 Kamado, this provided more even temperatures all around the bird throughout the cooking cycle much like you'd get with a horizontal motorized spit. If I did want to rotate the bird for pictures or to even up the browning, it was effortless because the hanger is installed on a swivel.  It's a single naked finger operation rather than two-handed gloved operation, even for a 23 pound bird.
4. It's simple. The apparatus is really simple and collapses for easy storage. The only things to clean are the vertical rod, the star-shaped retainer upon which the bird rests, and the wok lid. I also find it much easier to transport the finished product than when using a vertical roaster. You don't have to worry about it falling over and don't need to even touch the bird.
5. It looks super cool. Aside from the practical advantages, there's something about opening the grill and seeing no grill at all. Just a beautiful piece of meat suspended in mid-air.

I'm not sensing much excitement about the idea so far and that's ok. I don't want Dennis to put efforts into this if there's such limited interest from owners.  I'll have decide if it's something I'll take on myself. If I could get Dennis to sell me a main grill frame without the grilling bars, it's a pretty simple project. Bending the hanger's base to the unique shape of the grill seat is the only challenge that would drive up the cost if I were to use a local fabricator.