Red River Smoke

Agreed, I think we've all got a bag or a batch that can be anecdotally off, smell or heat or whatever, but they all seem to cook the same to me.

I posted this on the Facebook page a couple of weeks ago and someone asked for the recipe, better late than never I guess. If you have a recipe of your own for traditional chili that you like and want to try this method, just separate the meat and spices from the rest, make the meatball and cook accordingly. This one is a pretty big hit, even with my wife who claims she doesn’t like smoke that much. An enameled Dutch oven is recommended, but if you have a well-seasoned cast iron or other heavy pot that is ok to go in the kamado, that would be fine. One other side note, I won't say the Oktoberfest was the best pairing, but it's what I had. Normally I like a Negra Modelo or Sol with chili. Over the top Chili (Giant meatball chili) 2 lbs. Ground beef (we like 90/10 you can go less lean if you like) 1 lb Hot Italian bulk sausage 1 tube of Chorizo (I get the Supremo from Costco, think it’s about 8 oz.) 3 T Chili powder 2 t cumin 1 T Garlic powder 1 T Onion powder ½ t Black pepper 1 large onion, diced 3 bell peppers chopped (I like to use red, yellow and orange) 1 Jalapeno chopped 3 or more garlic cloves, diced 2 14oz. can diced tomatoes (I had frozen diced cherries that I used this time) 1 14 oz. can tomato sauce (I had homemade this time) 2 cans of Rotel 2 cans of chili beans 12-20 oz of beer or broth (cheap beer, I usually have some High Life around for just such an occasion, Modelo works, I imagine an IPA would too) 12oz or so of frozen corn It’s all to taste, if you want it heated up can add more jalapenos, rotel, chili powder, cayenne whatever. Bring grill to 275-300 F with heat diffuser in place with some kind of spacer for the Dutch oven to sit on, I use ½” copper elbows. I usually just have 1 or 2 chunks of wood in my lump for this, that ground meat will take on smoke flavor pretty easily. Sauté onion and peppers in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil until starting to soften in Dutch oven over medium heat on stovetop, add rest of veggies and cans except for the corn and transfer to kamado uncovered. Mix all of the ground meats together in medium mixing bowl with all of the dry spices, try to get a fairly even blend, form into a giant meatball and place on wire rack that will fit over the dutch oven in the kamado. (I use a bowl that will pretty much be the right size for the ball, so I just kind of plop it onto the wire rack.) Put meatball directly over DO on grill and bring to an internal temp of 150 F, (should be a couple of hours) remove meatball and chop into bite size chunks, add meat back to DO with the corn. I usually decide to add more liquid at this point and will generally have a pounder of cheap beer to throw in, I imagine chicken broth would work nicely too. Cook an additional 1-2 hours or you could eat it now, bring back to the stove and skim any fat off the top, add any spice you think it needs. Fits pretty perfectly in my 6 qt. DO.

Agreed, for an omelette it would be nice to have a less sharp corner to get under it a little easier, but once seasoned it makes for a really slick cooking surface.

We have been needed a new omelette pan for a while, (favorite weekend breakfast are chorizo and cheese omelettes with guac and salsa) the finish on my hard anodized pan that I like to use is getting thin and with all the talk of cast iron on here I started looking down that road. We have a glass top stove, and I know you can use cast on that, but I had recently got a carbon steel wok and really enjoy that, so I thought that might have the benefits of cast, but lose some of the weight. Ordered the Matfer Bourgeat 10 1/4" black steel pan from Amazon http://a.co/d/efh3tAs and seasoned it up last week. I did a good soap and water scrub then wiped down with oil and then upside down on the gasser that was running close to 500 F, probably a little hot, after an hour I scrubbed it down again, reseasoned with oil and back on the grill for another hour at around 400 F. Came out pretty dark, but slippery, my first omelette stuck a little, but I think I let it go too long before I flipped, the second day it worked flawlessly! This should really be a forever pan and it can and may go into the kamado with a steak or something.

I did a spatchcocked 17 pound bird and an 8 pound breast (on the top rack) in an Akorn last year so you should have similar realestate on your Classic. My trouble with turkeys in the kamado is getting the skin to crisp up, I had better luck with a dry drip pan when I ran one with liquid in it to make gravy the skin came out kind of rubbery.

I would probably start with my random orbit sander and do like 120 grit and then 220 then 320 grit. Wipe it down with a tack cloth, put a coat of finish on then use the orbit sander with like a 320-400 grit, wipe down with tack cloth then do 2 to 3 more coats of the finish using some 00 steel wool or one of those 400 grit sanding "sponges" wiping down with a tack cloth after sanding. it's up to you if you want to get the frame super smooth but you'll at least want to rough it up a couple of times to help the finish bond. Otherwise looks like a good solid table, congrats!

The adjustable rig from the Ceramic Grill Store is super nice, will do what a KJ Divide and Conquer will do and the quality can't be beat. I also got one half stone and a half rack to do levels for veggies or whatever. My next purchase for the grill will definitely be an ash basket, probably Kick Ash, but I'm not opposed to going cheaper. I also have it in my head I want a big soapstone for smash burgers and that would also double as a pizza stone. I'm less inclined to want a rotisserie, I feel like they cook pretty evenly with the deflector in place, but it would be a fun toy to have. Oh I also have the spider from CGS mostly to hold my wok, but I haven't used it yet.

@ckreef first I need to build a grilling patio, the decks out of room!

It seems to come up fairly often, people looking for table ideas or plans, so I thought I'd share this. It's on buildsomething.com, which is owned or sponsored by Kreg so nearly everything uses a Kreg jig in some way and it's a pretty nice looking table. If you're building for a different Kamado, measurements may need to be adjusted. https://www.buildsomething.com/plans/P1A4791A1C9AD93CC/Big-Green-Egg-Grill-Cabinet

Welcome and usually when people say a full firebox, they mean right up to the heat deflector tabs. Also, most won't use a chimney to start their lump unless they are doing a high heat sear on steaks or something. For doing a brisket or something low and slow I will make sure all the ash is out of my grill, put a "full load of lump" in the firebox, use one cottonball soaked in alcohol to light it in the middle, then after about 10 minutes when I just have a glow from the coals I'll put the heat deflector in and close the lid with the vents fully open, after another 5-10 minutes I'll start closing vents down to anticipate, but not go past my desired temp. Some cook with briquettes on here, but most use lump charcoal and that's usually what the kamado manufactures recommend, it produces less ash and I think it has a cleaner taste than say blue bag Kingsford. Hope that helps.

@bko Here is a picture I took for another purpose, but it should help you as well, so the ceramic is 24" side to side and those ears the tables attach to are probably another inch and a half on either side. I can't remember if you can easily remove those from the band. The hinge probably sticked out 4 inches from the back of the grill and the handle is about 3 inches in the front. Hope that helps!

@ckreef I was super skeptical too actually, because I also don't care for liquorice but I was pretty happy with the results. Looks good, glad you like it! I may need to make it again soon.

Papa Murphy's is our go to not frozen or homemade pizza, we like it better than most of the delivery options in town, and way cheaper! Are you aiming for around 425 on your dome temp? I remember making one on the gasser with a pizza stone and it was kind of a disaster, have not tried one in the kamado. I bet it would work better on the elevated rack because you wouldn't generally cook on a stone in the oven. Also love the calzone idea!

Anyone see or heard of these before? On sale on Amazon today, although the regular price would be pretty reasonable if they work. A few questions asked and answered on Amazon, but no reviews so far. Link: http://a.co/d/0jm8Hyb

Yeah I paid $599, it sold out before it discounted here, I know a few stores dropped down to $499. I've said it a few times, I would rather have gotten one than not, but I did hold on until July to see if they would drop in price.