dirty6

I had good success with this and plan to repeat

When you say that your smoke wood died out, how did you observe that effect? Did you previously see white smoke, and then stop seeing it? I ask b/c I have learned over time that the visual indication of smoke is only one cue that smoke is being produced. Usually when I place a chunk on the coals, it smolders and produces white-ish smoke for 30-90 minutes (depending on the size of the chuck) and then keeps burning, but without the visibly obvious smoke. My biggest clue that the wood is still smoking is the smell coming out of the vents. When that apple wood is smoking, it sure does smell sweet and fragrant. When it stops producing smoke...the vent smells like charcoal burning (or pork cooking).

Not sure is this is wise or not....so take this as a story, not as advisement. My kontrol tower ended up closed tight bc of gunk. The cap would twist open but the entire apparatus would not pivot. I tried adjusting the hardware screw but no luck. So one day when getting the grill hot for a quick clean, I just lifted the whole cap off the dome and placed it inside the grill on a grate. 15 minutes of high heat burning later...it pivots just fine.

For what it’s worth, my understanding is that a bone-in strip steak in the heartland is a Kansas City Strip. Obviously a localized name....but also, a good steak wherever you name it.

Bravo. This is bananas. And it looks fantastic.

Some internet sleuthing suggested that my cure was complete. We fried some cured-but-not-smoked bacon last night and it was neither too salty nor did we keel over and croak. I smoked (hickory) it all this afternoon. Some of my pieces are way more lean than others. We taste tested a very lean section and it was decidedly in between a bacon flavor and a Canadian bacon flavor. I don’t know what to call it. Nor’Dakotan bacon? It’s good. Unless it makes us sick, it will make for happy bellies at breakfast for a fair bit of time. So I guess the bacon crisis has been upgraded to just a bacon...event.

That is correct.

I have a KJCII. I’ll say up front that most all of my cooking on it has been less of the “whole meal on the grill” variety and more of the “I cook something outside while momma cooks something inside and we’ll put it all together on the table” variety. But I have done the former a couple times. It’s cramped (I cook for 5: wife and I plus 3 kids from 8-14). Couple quick pics. Full chicken w corn on the cob and a few side shrimp skewers. The bird is sitting on a cast iron skillet full of diced red skin potatoes. This is easily the most food I’ve crammed on the grill so far. Skillet of fajita veggies flanked by 6x chix breast. And about 30x wings on the extender with 5x potato/onion/butter foil packs underneath. My biggest issue with cooking a whole meal on a grill this size is whether I need two cooking zones. If I do, it’s probably too cramped. If I can get away w cooking at one temp, then it’s much more doable.

Attempting to make buckboard bacon. 9 days ago I absolutely mauled pork shoulder to get the bone out and ended up with many small pieces of shoulder. They all went into a ziplock individually with various salt/sugar/seasoning combos plus the requisite amount of Prague #1. I rotated the bags and massaged them every day in the fridge. When I pulled them out today I was alarmed to see that the brownish color on the exterior didn’t extend into the meat very far. I panicked a bit and cut every piece in half to see what they looked like. So....for those of you who know bacon, would you say that these are cured? Or not cured?

I don’t think you’re asking too much at all. I wonder if costco would be willing to manage a delivered replacement. Worth a shot.

The wings were great. Slightly over done. When I took that pic, it was just at the end of the 350 degree phase. They were reading 170-185. I probably should have pulled them then. Instead, I cranked it up to 425...and it ran to 470 or so. I only left them on 10 more minutes and they crisped up perfectly, but they also lost a lot of moisture and mass. None of them were actually dry, but they were clearly past proper. I imagine if I had reduced the time at 350 by about 15 minutes I would have been solid. Just need to play around with it and lock in what works with my grill setup. But there’s no doubt, the method works great. Wifey sauced em up with some Sweet Baby Rays Buffalo cut with pure maple syrup. Best wings I’ve made on the kamado, and I’ve tried about a half dozen different efforts.

......allllmost there

I’m going to try and duplicate this tonight on the kamado. I understand I’m going to have to mess with the temp and times a bit b/c 165 isn’t a temp i’ve ever sustained with this grill...probably more like 200-215 for 30 minutes and then 325 for 45 and then ramp it up. As I’m imagining doing this, in order to best replicate what you achieved on a pellet grill, I should be planning to cook indirect the whole time? Correct?

Bravo for the Westy. I got to visit a friend stationed in Belgium a few years ago. He went to the monastery as frequently as authorized and bought their beer by the crate. There’s a whole system to their sales process. Anyway, he had hundreds of bottles in his cellar. Made for some memorable tastings.

Thanks! Good suggestion...so far Fred’s doesn’t have any but that might change as they shift gears for not-winter. I’ve found RO recently appear at Wal Mart as well as some generic off brand I’ve never heard of before, so my options are picking up.