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Baguettes De Tradition, crust very crisp. Taste very good. Crust, crumb and texture very good. Recipe based on Baguettes De Tradition located in straight dough section in Jeffrey Hamelman book ‘Bread’, a Baker’s book of techniques and recipes 2nd edition. Each week I do one recipe from the book, my goal is try and make all the recipes in the book. I am happy with this result, but I still see area for improvement on my shaping and scoring skills. This recipe is meant for baker’s with experienced hands to expand a baker’s skill and repertoire. I would not recommend this one for a beginners baguette. Scaled down from 17.855 kg to 1.5 kg.

Painted a rock today based on a line from one of John Gierach's books. Thought it was pretty cool.

Followed John's easy whole chicken recipe in the Book of Knowledge. This was my second use of the KJ Classic ll. Best chicken I ever had.. Never been a huge fan of Roasting chickens because of dryness, particularly the breast, but this was different.. it retained it's juices. Delicious!! Also quite surprised at how easily I held the KJK at 350 degrees. I thought i'd have some trouble, bouncing up and down and constantly playing with air settings. Not so, stayed steady at 350 with only minor tweaking.. I'm hoping this bodes well for the future. I know there are probably still pitfalls out there, but I think I'm off to a good start..

A bistro classic that seems to have fallen out of favour over the years.... First off melt a load of good French salted butter and add a load of sliced onions. Let these cook down and caramelise for several hours. This was at about 340F for three hours. Then stir in some plain flour, some fresh thyme, balsamic vinegar, and cook for a few minutes. Then gradually add in beef stock and hard cider. Preferably Normandy cider if you can get it. Let this all simmer for an hour of so stirring occasionally. Once that's done, slice up some baguette and toast lightly on both sides. Then rub each side with a split clove of garlic. Spoon the onion soup into bowls, float a couple of croutons on top of each one then cover in grated cheese. I used Gruyere and Compte. Then put the bowls under the grill until the cheese is melted and bubbling. In fairness, it's not the most photogenic of soups but it does taste most excellent. Especially with a nice bottle of Cote du Rhone or similar.....

Yeah thanks its made a bit different than most of you are used to The dough is a high hydration (more water than usual) and uses bread flour The dough is really sticky and soupy, once you mix it and let it rise a bit you spread it in a well oiled pan and once its to shape you let it rise in the pan for a few hours. A nice layer of pepperoni goes on the bottom. The thin sliced stuff. The juices from the pepperoni soak into the crust while its cooking, making the crust nice and crispy but soft (not too fluffy). Then the cheese goes on (traditional Detroit style uses Wisconsin brick cheese, or you can use a mix of low moisture mozz and young jack cheese. The cheese goes all the way to the edges of the pan, this is critical since it melts between the crust and the pan giving the crust an unbelievable light crunchy cheesy texture Detroit pizza is so famous for Then you can add toppings like onions pepper etc. Then the sauce goes on. Thats why its sometimes called Red Top pizza. It's a very simple sauce made with crushed tomatoes sugar and a few spices. Some cook the pizza warm up the sauce then spoon it on top before serving. If prefer to add it before baking. Then you finish it with some good pepperoni with the skin on so it cups like you see it in the pic. Baked in the Big Joe III with the heat deflector on the star rack middle position on the D&C rack and the pizza on the grates on the top position running around 475-500F for about 15 mins Here is another pic of the dough in the pan. Oh forgot about the pan! Its a special pan made just for this with high sloping sides and is black in color to help it give that crisp crust. You can actually buy these special pans on Amazon. The original pans when this pizza was first created in 1946 were made in old pans from the Detroit auto factories, they held auto parts. Some of these pans are still in use today at the original Buddys pizza, they are prized possessions. Probably more then you ever wanted to know about Detroit style pizza but there it is lol

I'm trying to decide between replacing my old worn out stock gasket with either a mesh one (this one) or the Rutland gasket. Both are thicker and so I would only replace the bottom gasket with either one of those options. Any comparison between the two for durability/longevity or anything else? I do use a Joetisserie occasionally too if that makes any difference. Thanks

Hearty and warm, a perfect meal to enjoy under the stars. Pintos Onions Bell peppers Sweet corn Garlic Smoked Beef sausage Spices including ground mustard, oregano, cilantro, cummin and chili powder. Served with cheese and crusty bread. Cooked in a genuine cowboy bean pot (circa 1875) over an open hardwood fire. simmered over the fire for many hours, even the kids are looking for more as I type!

I have been wanting to make some green chili for a while. I used to make it regularly when we lived in Colorado and grew chilies in our garden. We live in a townhouse now, and don't have a vegetable garden; therefore, I had to visit a local farmer's market to purchase the chili peppers. Mostly pablano peppers with a couple of jalapenos and a hot banana pepper. First thing I did was char the peppers and then put them a bowl covered with cling wrap to allow me to easily remove the skins. The rest of the ingredients included some cubed up pork stew meat, the last of the panchetta that I used in the last challenge cook, a can of fire roasted tomatoes, one box of chicken stock, and a whole white onion. The peppers were diced up to add to the stew. Next I added the panchetta to the dutch oven to start to render its fat. There was not enough fat, so I had to add some extra virgin olive oil. I then added the pork and the onion to get some browning on the pork. Ready for the rest of the ingredients. Here it is ready to take off the grill and serve. And here is a nice big bowl along with a whole wheat tortilla to dip in it. I cooked enough that I was able to get three meals out of it. It got spicier the longer that it sat in the refrigerator. I also took some over to my neighbor.

Sometime over the years we started adding chicken to this basic pasta e fagioli recipe, and it popped into mind when I read this month’s soup challenge. So here goes: First, I spun a chicken on the Joetisserie. Simple injection of melted butter, salt, and garlic powder, and then sprinkled outside with salt and pepper. Smoked at 325°F with three small chunks of cherry. While the bird was spinning I gathered all my soup ingredients, chopped the onion, and boiled my pasta. When the chicken was done, I dismantled the Joetisserie, added more lump to the firebox, set in the deflectors and grill rack, and put my cast iron pot in to heat. While the grill came up and settled at ~350°F, I shredded half the chicken (and vacuum-sealed the other half for another day), and got everything set up in easy reach of the grill. First, sautéed black pepper, red pepper, and garlic in olive oil Then added the chopped onion, and cooked until tender Two cans of great northern beans, plus the cooked pasta Three cups chicken stock, plus the meat With the lid on the pot and the dome closed, I let it come to a boil, which took about 30 minutes. Then I moved the pot lid sort of cockeyed and (again) with the dome closed, let it simmer for another 10 minutes. Finally, I stirred in parsley flakes, grated parmesan cheese, and a tablespoon of lemon juice. Served with some leftover greens and Brussels sprouts, and a good chunk of bread. Here’s the original recipe, from Fine Cooking magazine: SPICY PASTA E FAGIOLI SOUP 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 to 1 ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper 1/4 tsp. dried red pepper flakes 1/2 cup finely chopped onion Two 15 oz. Cans Great Northern or other white beans, with their liquid 1/4 Lb .ditalini or other small pasta (about 1 cup dry), cooked 3 cups vegetable stock, chicken stock, or water 1 Tbl. Lemon juice 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves ½ cup grated parmesan Salt to taste In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Saute the garlic, black pepper, and red pepper flakes for 30 seconds. Add the onion and sauté until the onion is soft and translucent, about 2 min. Add the beans with their liquid, the ditalini, and the stock. Let the mixture come to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 5 to 10 min. Just before serving, stir in the lemon juice, parsley, and ¼ cup parmesan. Add salt to taste. Serve hot, passing the remaining Parmesan at the table.

Hahahaha. Yeah, both are good points. Thanks guys. KJ II it is! Supposed to snow this week though....next week I hope!

That makes a lot of sense, thank you for that information.

If by "cover plate" you mean that plug that fills the hole once the iKamand is removed, in theory you can just cook as usual with the plug in place. I have seen posts where since this plug as about 50% plastic it has melted from higher temps cooks. But from what I was reading you are supposed to leave the top vent open when you shut down to allow excess heat to escape and not melt this plug. Once it has cooled down some you can close everything off This is not explained anywhere in the documentation I have for the iKamand, its all from reading on the internet about it. So I am not really sure since I have never done it that way Common sense says to make the plug completely out of metal or some high temp material so it wont melt. Dont know what happened there...

Sigh, I know I know thread resurrection but I'm going through this right now..... The price difference here now in Canada is 300 bucks and man that'd buy me a temperature controller or heat deflector and a pizza stone and a peel and other stuff but dammit if I don't want those three upgrades. I really think I'll defer the temp controller and get the KJII.

you have to change out the vent slider since the new one is also the adapter plate the iKamand attaches to. I have an iKamand, its ok, jury is still out on it as far as I am concerned I actually left the original slider in place and put the iKamand on in front of it like a lot of people do. It works but its more difficult to adjust since now you have 2 plates filling the gap where there was one originally. I have an old Auber that I adapted to the KJ before I got this, I made an adapter plate for it out of some shim stock and its much easier to use is easy to attach and remove. Similar to other makes of blowers. This is my home made one I wish they would have come up with something like this for the iKamand. I like all the features of the iKamand but I miss the simplicity of the Auber. I may at some point go back to the Auber and sell the iKamand, I dont know

If I had to offer any other advice, I would say experiment with higher temperatures....I prefer chicken roasted in the Kamado at 450 - 500 degrees....crisper skin, more roasted goodness!

Awesome! Doing my first cook later today. I ended up buying a kamado after having chicken cooked in a Josper oven. I’ve never had chicken that moist and delicious, so your experience makes perfect sense.

That looks very tasty! I haven't made Green Chili in a couple years, I may need to break out my recipe since the weather is getting colder.

It finally happened, we took a trip to celebrate 25 years of marriage. We booked a week long stay at Peach Tree Inn and Suites. This is a great place to stay with a historic twist. Highly recommended. Our suite had a full size kitchen, a large fire pit and a smoker/bbq so there was some opportunity to cook. On arrival day we walked to Main Street and ate at Fredericksburg Brewery. We ordered a spinach salad to go. Pro tip, those are perfect for use in egg scrambles for breakfast. We were not prepared from a grocery perspective so we got creative (that's where all the fun is generated). Squeeze parkay from the front desk breakfast for cooking eggs as an example. Opas smoked meats was directly across the street so we grilled hatch pepper beef sausage for dinner one night. That worked really well when combined with bagel cheese and served on toasted dark Jewish rye and eggs. Here was another scramble I made, served this one with some bacon jam we found while shopping. That stuff is great! The food was delish but you have to have a good breakfast drink right? Enter the mimosa made from our champagne and orange juice from the front office. Yum! There is a ton to do in Fredericksburg and we did a lot of it. A good start was an all day winery tour where we not only drank too much but learned too much about the process. No worries, we had a chauffeured tour to keep us safe and comfy. In addition to several wineries we also enjoyed sizer and of course a good brew house. While out and about we grabbed lunch from a Thai joint. Very good, we shared red chicken curry and spring rolls. One of my favorite things we did was climbing Enchanted rock. We reached the summit at 11:30, sat and ate lunch together while we took in the view and wow, what a view. The final hurrah was a trip to Luckenbauch Texas for drinks and live music. Yes, it's a real place. We took a short side trip on our way home and had lunch on the shores of the Colorado River, it was a short visit but now we know we'll go back. Now I'm exhausted!

First congrats on the 25 years, it's something many don't achieve in these days and time. Second Thanks for sharing the enjoyable time with us. Looks like you all had a great time.

Looks good

Is that a real Northern Chicken or a neighbourhood Rock Ptarmigan? LOL. looks wonderful! Good job.

Agree wholeheartedly! You can tell someone isn't a fisherman when they think it’s all about the fish...

Wow must have been beef ribs week at everyone’s house. I cut the ribs off prime rib roasts when I buy up in bulk for cutting ribeye steaks. on sale - usually around 5$/lb so I like to figure I get a couple free rib meals lol. These were done 3 hours unwrapped and 2 hours wrapped @ 250°. Like butter!

Thats awesome and congrats on 25 years! Its a beautiful place to visit!

Confirmed!!! One of the closest vineyards is here: Grape Creek Vineyards 10587 E. Hwy. 290, Fredericksburg https://www.grapecreek.com

Wood peel for launching, metal peel for turning, removing also helps