KJH

You don’t say if the steel was on the grate, or if it was on a stone with spacers. Putting the steel on the grate without a defuser will certainly burn the bottom of the crust. Even when cooking pizza on a stone, I put my deflectors under it, with some ceramic pottery blocks to keep the stone an inch above the deflectors.

I have the Joetisserie on a KJ Classic III, and have gotten a 21 pound turkey on it, two 5 pound chickens, 2 pork loins and the baskets of wings. I have not found a case where the Joetisserie was too small. If you are cooking for a huge crowd, the 22" might make sense, but I have not needed that much area.

My daughter who is a professional chef, and my wife bought me a complete set of the Mercer Genesis knives. The weight and balance are incredible. My daughter only uses Mercer knives. They are not super expensive, hold an edge and are better than any knives I have used in the past. I am not affiliated with Mercer in any way, nor are any of my family members.

You don’t say what temperature you are trying to hit. Where to set the vents depends on what temperature you want. If you can provide a little more info, I am sure someone can help.

Try banking the charcoal to the back of the firebox, and put the starters at the front of the firebox. Make sure you can see some of the tines of the bottom of the charcoal basket. If you have the front of the basket empty and can see down to the ash catcher, you should get plenty of air flow. I can easily get to 500 degrees very quickly. Leave the lid open for 10 minutes with the vents fully open. Once you close the lid, the temp will climb very rapidly, and you will have to throttle back the vent settings so you do not over shoot your temperature.

I did a turkey on the Joetisserie last year. I cooked at 350 degrees, and it was perfect. I will be doing that again this year. At a slightly lower temp, the interior will cook without burning the outside. You can increase the temp at the end of the cook to brown the skin more if necessary. You really cannot cool it down if the skin is getting burnt.

Granted I have a Classic III, but I load the basket with what I think I will need for the cook, and push it all to the back of the basket so there is no charcoal in the front near the lower vent. I empty the ash catcher. I put one fire starter in the front of the basket and put charcoal over it so it is standing like a pyramid over the starter, and I light it with a plumbers soldering torch until it catches. Leave the lower vent open completely, and the top vent open completely. Leave the lid open until the fire catches the charcoal and it begins to burn. This takes about 12 minutes on average. Close the lid, and leave the vents open until you get to 50 degrees of your target temperature, and then set your vents. I can easily get to 500 degrees using this method within half an hour. If I need it to start faster, and electric lighter buried in the charcoal and plugged in for 9 minutes will get me there in less than 15 minutes.

I have been a big fan of B&B lump for some time now. My local Ace Hardware always has B&B in stock, and the price is good. A few weeks ago, they had a sale on B&B Competition Char Logs. It was a 30 LB. bag for $19.99. I could not pass up a good deal. The Char Logs cook very well, and create a nice flavor, however they create a ton of ash. I empty the ash tray after every cook, and when I finished the bag, I took the basket out of my KJ Classic III, and realized I needed to do a full scale ash cleaning. It is crazy how much ash was created, but it did cook well. Has anyone else experienced this? I am thinking I will just go back to regular B&B lump. I have a bag of it left in the garage, and unless I see a screaming deal on the Char Logs, that might be a one time experiment.

It is the only charcoal I have used for the last year. Ace Hardware is two miles away, and for the money, it is as good as anything I have used. Our Ace carries several brands including FOGO, BGE, B&B, Royal Oak, and a couple of others. B&B has become my favorite.

What I tried with super results on chicken thighs, and it will work with wings is out the cast Iron flat KJ griddle plates in, spray with cooking spray, and put your flour dredged chicken on, and hit the top with a little cooking spray. Rotate them every 10 minutes. They get crispy, and take on a deep brown color. Like frying without the oil.

Smoked cheddar is incredible. 2 hours 45 minutes seems to be the sweet spot. Mozzarella for 4 hours 45 minutes is also incredible. If the outdoor temperature starts to climb above 45 degrees, a try of ice cubes can allow you to smoke cheese into the spring and again in the early fall.

It is called California Chicken Barbecue Roll. There are several version of the recipe on line.

We had enough turkey and needed to make pizza. I tried the steel deflectors in the DoJoe, and it was the best pizza ever. A much better cook than with the ceramic deflectors in the DoJoe. I am sold on the steel deflectors for $42. A great value and indestructible. They clean very easy as well. I cannot find a negative so far.

I bought two 15 plates from the seller on eBay. They got here in six days. They are exactly the same diameter as the ceramic ones and tried them today. They held 275 perfectly with the Fireboard 2 Drive, and held 300 when I increased the temperature. Overshot by a couple if degrees. I am impressed, and they don’t break. I will try them on the DoeJoe next.

I have gone 27 hours at 190. There was no charcoal left, but it cooked a perfect brisket.