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Butcher has some beautiful pasture raised tied lamb legs that I could not pass up. Dry brined over night, doused with EVO2 and a light coating of Lebanese 7-spice (Allspice, cinnamon, black and white pepper, cloves, nutmeg, fenugreek, ginger, and coriander. Yes, it’s 8, but that’s the version I was given LOL). Next time Persian using adveih. Roasted in oven 15 minutes at 450 with the fan on to set some color and the into Big Red at 350. 1:45 later it was 135 and on its way to a perfect, tender, and succulent 140. GF quinoa tabbouleh, house made tzatziki, good feta, vine ripe tomatoes, soft nan bread, and an earthy Red Mountain Syrah. Happy Sunday all.

This was my attempt to reimagine Tacos Dorados de Birria on a Kamado. I slow cooked beef short ribs (with a mix of salt, pepper, paprika, and celery seeds over a binder of mustard) at 275 until probe tender. In the meanwhile, I made a consommé with beef stock, yellow onion, fresh garlic, chipotle peppers and adobo sauce, and fresh cilantro. I blended the mixture and placed in a 5 qt dutch oven. After smoking the beef short ribs, I slow cooked them in the consommé, also on my Kamado. I put my dutch oven on my spider accessory over direct coals (middle rack of divide and conquer). The temp was about 300 but I cooled it down to about 250 after a few hours. It was too spicy, so I poured in a can of coconut milk, which tamed the dragon. Sorry I do not have pictures of the process, but as you can see, the slow cook did not ruin the smoke ring.

cook for a friend in town through Tuesday to take back Georgia way. On @8am, cooked @275°, off @3:15pm. Resting to pull later.

July didn't start out very well for me. I decided to do a cleaning burn on my KJC July 2. I had started the cleaning burn and then about an hour into the burn something made me look at the base of my KJ. Here is what I found: I immediately shut down the fire and any plans to cook over the weekend. I still haven't ordered a warranty replacement since I'm not sure how I would get it from my driveway to the deck. I was also unsure of my ability to take the old top off and replace the bottom with the new one and reinstall the top. I also was unsure how long I would be without a grill before the replacement arrived. Therefore, I began researching alternatives. I was looking at possibly getting a Primo grill. I found two places near me that sold Primos. One had sold its last Primo and was going to start selling BGE's. The other place was closed on Sat, Sun, and Mon due to the July 4 holiday. I saw an ad for Ace Hardware, who offers free delivery and setup. I visited my Ace Hardware on July 5 and purchased a BGE, unfortunately they were unable to deliver it until July 15. Another week and a half without being able to grill. My wife commented that she didn't realize how dependent we were on the grill. On July 15, I received my new grill and got it set up. I even paid the guys who delivered my new grill to move my KJ into the garage. I then began the process of getting the grill ready to use. This included taking the KAB and D&C from my KJ and putting it in the BGE. They fit like they were made for the egg. Time to fire it up. I did some different cooks to get used to how it handles and how to control the temperature on the new grill. Some of the cooks were hot dogs, cheese burgers and corn on the cob, and baby back ribs. I was at my local grocery store and they had some beef short ribs. I decided that this would be my cook for this challenge. I seasoned up the ribs and then started the grill to cook them low and slow at 225. I was worried that I might have waited too long to start the ribs so that we could eat at a reasonable time. The grill held the temp nice and steady for the entire cook, which took about five hours. This has been a long-winded post at the beginning, but I was celebrating my new grill and my first attempt at cooking full sized beef short ribs. The ribs came out great.

Third time is a charm. Set the vent with a round wooden toothpick as a gauge. Ran four hours at 225, bumped it up to 250 and holding that also.

I am gonna try the Birria Tacos sometime soon.

Taking the guts out will lighten it some what Sorry i can't offer more than that. When i had my deck built i asked the guys to help move mine from in front of the garage to the new deck. One of the Amish guys picked it up in a bear hug and i had to run after him with the stand as he went up 3 steps across the front porch( 30 ft) through the living room through the dinning room and on to the deck, then he lowered it on to the stand didn't even break a sweat. I'm not suggesting you try this just a slight humor side note. Good luck with your move. I keep my joe covered with there cover and it works out pretty good.

Pork brisket, on the bone. Local pig purveyor here that finishes pigs with hazel nuts and sells boned pork briskets. They make fantastic pastrami. Fat melts in your mouth. Nothing like it. Well, except maybe the secreto, the wagyu of pork.

It’s pork AND has a bone. It has to be good!!!

I haven't but, I must admit having a man crush on anyone who walks into a meat section, grabs the first thing he sees, with no idea of what it is and says, "I can cook this darn thing!!!"

When I am in a pinch for time, this is my go to method. I use an 'instant pot'. The pressure cook setting for about 25-30 minutes is a cross between a steam and a boil. I finish them off on my Akorn and I have ribs in about an hour. They are marvelous and even look like the real deal. Again, only when I am pressed for time do I use this (i.e. called on for a last minute party, quick mid-week dinner, event potluck, frozen ribs, etc.) As with John, "you would be hard pressed to tell the difference". I have passed them off as "authentic" to a lot of people. This method does take some trial and error time to get them down the way you prefer them.

This is the sole reason I am a fan of unsauced ribs...

I wrap mine and finish in the oven with a cup or two of broth or stock. When done I save the oink juice and use it when i reheat the pulled pork. At church we use electric roasters and crock pots to keep warm and add the juice.

I have shredded and vacuumed sealed with a bit of mop sauce (I'm in NC, so vinegar based) and it turns out well. What I do now, is break the butt into halves or thirds while it's hot (then you get to snitch some bark), and vacuum seal the larger portions. It seem to retain more moisture and smoke when I do it this, then just shred after it's reheated.

I use left over Brisket with Angel Hair pasta and Sunday Gravy (New York / East Coast style home made Italian Red sauce) You can find a number of recipes on line. Anthony Bourdain has a really good one, his Grandma's recipe. (I like this version of it) The smokey savory flavor of brisket goes well with this deep rich, silky tomato sauce. https://wineandrecipeparty.com/make-fabulous-sunday-gravy-ala-anthony-bourdain/ I cook the sauce with a few slices of thick cut bacon (for the pork fat) and add shredded Brisket ( I think the best flavor comes from using the burnt ends and shredded pieces with lots of bark.)about 30 minutes prior to serving. Comes out rich, very flavorful, and completely satisfying. Great on cold snow days. PS. Gotta have some garlic bread on the side to sop up the gravy after the pasta is gone

I grilled chicken thighs today, and the skin was crispier than usual. Several weeks ago, I made Chinese roasted pork belly (siu yuk). If you search for crispy pork belly recipe, most of the recipe/video will tell you to poke the skin. The skin would blister, and very crispy. I tried without poking, and it did not work. The skin will blister better with more tiny holes. I thought this may work with chicken. As usual, I left the chicken uncovered in the fridge, and used baking powder (Kenji Lopez's tips). This time, I poke the skin. It turned out well. I smoked slow at 230F, and then cranked it up to 400F, and do a very quick direct grill, just 15/20 seconds. I am almost happy with the result, the chicken thighs were moist with crispy skin. I wish I poked it more.

Final product, a bit spicy, we like it. We'll enjoy this over the next few weeks for lunches. Will try something a little different again.

Does your dough have sugar in it? Oil? My stones in the DoJOE get hotter than the dome temp but usually not by more than 75-100 degrees max. With any simple flour/water/salt/yeast dough at 65% hydration there should be no problems. You also need to confirm your 65% hydration by weighing ingredients. If you are not weighing the flour and water it's really easy to end up 10% or more off your target hydration. It could also mean that you are putting too much topping on the pizza...

yeah kind of like this guy. Doing this all wrong btw, Love to see someone try to do this with a Big Joe

why wouldn't we remember you? welcome back! I was going to post on this a few weeks ago. Saw that same contraption but, I felt uneasy with the threaded rods for some reason. Probably would feel even more so with straps between the wood. Also, it seems putting straps under the base would be difficult to remove once in the stand. Anyway, the second vid I found was this one. I think I am going to try it this way.

That is the beauty of sous vide...time does not directly translate into the final cook level as much as it plays a role in tenderizing or breaking down tissue - ie. the final texture of your cook. Another way of looking at it is, how "tough" or how much you need to tenderize or break down the food really dictates the time needed. So, if you set your temp for 130 and the time for 1 hour, or set it for 20 hours...the final product will still come out at 130 degrees regardless (still pretty rare). But the product at 1 hour will still remain firm and hold much of it's original texture, while the 20 hour cook will be more tender (or perhaps even mushy depending on what you are cooking). "Delicate" foods need less time, and tough cuts can need as long as 48 or even 72 hours. So, for sirloin filets (and yours look like a nice quality product!) we would probably do 4 hours at 130 (if you prefer a little extra tender - my wife prefers a much more tender beef), but if you like the firm, solid meatiness of sirloin, then even 1 hour would be adequate. If they are pretty thick, then a happy medium of 2.5 hours may be where I would start. Just hit them with that scorching final sear at the end and good to go! Enjoy. Edit...just a final edit...if you like a little pan sauce or gravy with your steak, there will be a residual liquid from the sous vide in the pouch...this makes a great base (adds a little beefiness) as you won't be searing in a pan (I assume) to get a fond to build the sauce on.

I haven't found it necessary to get my joe up that hot for steaks. The 400°'s and 500°'s seem plenty to me. I've even done great sears in the mid 300°'s because temps are mostly irrelevant, imo when cooking direct. That said, even though I threw mine away, a chimney is a great tool for getting hot quickly.

A follow up from the previous i picked up an akorn jr , almost new for half the price it is fantastic for doing steaks , im personally not a real steak fan but enjoy them a lot better now and the wife agrees a mini weber chimney of charcoal into the jr and its at 700degrees in no time a couple of mins per side and great steaks we will be moving house soon and ive been thinking about it for a while and more and more am thinking about selling the kj classic i dont think a big joe will ever be a purchase for me but definatly on the lookout for a weber summit kamado

There are many way to light a kamado/grill, but for searing steaks (or pork chops, or chicken thighs/legs etc) I light a lot of coals at once with a chimney, get the coals coals red hot and whited over, and then dump underneath the area I use for direct searing. Don't bother to heat-sink the entire kamado. I don't even cook with the lid closed until I get a nice sear, then I move them over to the "cool" indirect side to let them come up to my desired internal temp. So, basically using a red hot coal bed and then indirect...don't really care what the actual thermometer reads....but after you dump a load of hot charcoal in, it spikes up very quickly.

I just did these tonight - I think you can go for more black bark!!

Hello Everyone - I am new to smoking and grilling with a Kamado style grill and have really enjoyed it. I have been lurking here a bit and decided to join. I really appreciate the community forum away from big tech sites. So far I have smoked some pork butt, ribs w/tips, chicken wings, bacon. In the middle of my second bacon smoke as my first was a little too salty from some mistakes made, was great rendered into things. I am excited to expand to many other things and use this wonderful piece of equipment all year. Here are some details of my setup. grill: KamadoJoe Classic III fuel: KamadoJoe Big Block XL flavored fuel: apple wood chunks/chips temp monitoring: ThermoWorks Signals (had the iKamand but the fan made too much smoke for my small area to cook and close proximity to neighbors (city living am I right.)

Instead of the rendered fat, try a couple strips of bacon on top as you smoke/cook them... mmm mmm good!

I agree with you as my soapstone is my favorite piece followed by rotisserie. They will replace it and they should have some in stock. The reason I say that is they gave me a 2nd one about a month ago because I have been waiting so long for a ceramic part. You could probably still use it if you just lay it on the grill. Not perfect but it should keep your rib eyes coming. I’d pursue with KJ.

I had ribs there once from their location that is closed near my home. The ribs had a greasy taste. That is the last time I ate ribs at that location. Other locations have been better, but not the greatest.

They caught me on very short notice however. Brought the butts by at 10:30pm Sunday night. I put them on first thing in the AM so, I discovered that I didn't have everything on hand to season the finished pulled pork exactly as I prefer. But they seemed very pleased...

Estoril4. You might check out ceramicgrillstore.com. Many members, myself included, have equipped their kamados with CGS products.

Bet he's going to enjoy them, they do look good.

I’ve been reading the forums and finally joined. I’m located in Indianapolis and have been cooking on my Costco Pit Boss K24 for a couple years now but really ramped it up during the pandemic.

@mike echo I don't dispute anything you have posted here. I am also not trying to claim that boiling is the optimal method of cooking ribs As for pork broth, introduce yourself to Tonkotsu Ramen some time My boil here may have, at some level, taken flavor out of the meat. BUT... I did some rather intense seasoning in my water with salt, onions, garlic, barbecue rub, and some hot sauce. I should have added a small amount of sugar as well, but my BBQ rub had a little sugar in it.... I made video of this cook that I'll publish on Friday... this was sort of an homage to the ribs I had when I was a kid at home. My parents, through some ugly trial and error, learned to make ribs this way. My attempt at the process here was an upgraded version of the way my parents did it. They never seasoned the water. The'boil' also should be more appropriately called a slow simmer. There is a difference....

I still have jars and jars of pickled peppers and cowboy candy from last year. Shouldn't have planted twice the number of plants this year as last

Jalapenos are pretty thick, so it may take a good long time to dehydrate. I've done much thinner walled super-hots (Ghost peppers and hotter) that way. Cut off the top/stem, slice in half. Smoke on the Big Joe (on 16" pizza screens) for a couple hours. Move to dehydrator to finish, usually 24 hours @ 120-130. The only reason I stem and halve them is because of the potential for mold. Getting a look at the inside of the pepper lets me know that I'm not wasting effort on a bad pepper. I don't know if that is as much a concern for Jalapenos.

What a fortunate find to come across this site. Recently purchased an 18" Kamado grill from one of our grocery chains here. Not a big name brand, but price was perfect to expand my grilling game. So much to learn and I can see that this site will be invaluable. Looking forward to the adventure. Tim

John Thanks for the good memories! That's the way my Mom did them when i was growing up, I think she called it parboiling , before going on the grill she put paprika on them. Those are nice looking ribs you made and I agree with the blind taste test. I can only imagine what that bite you took tasted like.

I hear you! My greatest challenge with brisket is timing. I still haven’t cooked one on my KJ, but am starting to plan a pool party and brisket will be on the menu! While I’ve never changed the way I serve brisket, I do try to vary the sides from time to time. My wife once made a spicy Brazilian tomato slaw that was really good with brisket. Definitely different from the traditional baked beans or mac and cheese. Caprese salad works, too, especially with a good balsamic glaze. I’ve also served a diced grilled drunken pineapple and jalapeño mix, which was more of a topping than a side dish, but it was a hit. Glazed dill carrots… you get the picture.

@K-Daddy55 thank you! Just got it yesterday and that was a perfect suggestion. I do believe the 12.5 would be ever so slightly too big. Can't wait to test it out

Yeah can't find the article at the moment but some time ago I read that the fat rendered into a form of glycol (lol, or some other 'ol'– Erythritol or sorbitol) which is a type of alcohol sugar.

First time stretching looks like a reasonably good job and they look tasty.

A little bit of it may drop through but it's still gonna burn and make heat if it does.

I don’t use a drip pan unless I’m trying to capture juice. I just flip the deflectors every other cook to burn off the grease.

Just got my Jr and was going nuts looking on web for a table. The money that these BBQ sites want are triple of what the should be way over priced! I didn't want to make a summer project out of a jr table so bought a JD whiskey 1/2 barrel and flipped it !

Is this the Norwegian version of our big foot? Nice looking cabinet.

You have hit on a subject here I have been doing a little writing and thinking about for a Man Cave Meals post in the near future.... I do not believe that the perfect kamado would be ceramic. I believe it's an outdated mode of operation in the modern pitmaster's arsenal of tools. Ceramic kamados have one advantage over everything else but in the greater scheme of things, that advantage is negligible. I believe the advantages of a LOW THERMAL MASS and light weight kamado outweigh that negligible benefit of heavy ceramics. Smoke on THAT for a while....