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That looks really yummy. And congrats on the 18 years. I'll have 22 come January, and if everything goes to plan, thats as far as I'll get

A new grill always calls for a celebration. or several How nice that the KAB and D&C fit so well.

Last August my oldest daughter, her boyfriend and their dog piled into their Honda CRV to drive across the country to Philomath Oregon, where she is in grad school at OSU, probably for the next 5 years or so (PharmD program). We didn't know when we would see her again, first Thanksgiving came and went, then Christmas, and the pandemic not letting up. Finally this month my wife and I and our youngest daughter flew over to Oregon. It was a wonderful 10 days, and every day was a celebration. The last three months before she left, my daughter had taken 'lessons' from me for on how to use the Akorn. How to light it, control the temps, etc. She wanted to learn how to cook all her favorite things that I cooked for her. Within three weeks of arrival last year she and her boyfriend were proud owners of an Akorn Kamodo, and have been using it several times a week since. So I planned to do this cook with her when we visited, a family favorite of grilled chicken thighs and cheesy hasselback potatoes (from John's Kamado Joe video ) We started off with the potatoes, as we wanted them on the grill for an hour before we put on the chicken. I'll refer you to John's video as it has more details. We loosely followed it with what we had (red and russet potatoes, heavy cream, lots of parmesan, cheddar, onion). We baked it in the pan we gave her at Christmas, she had wanted a nice ceramic pan just for the grill. After an hour we took off the foil and put on the chicken thighs, dusted with her favorite rub, Tsunami Spin from Dizzy Pig. Rounded things out with some green beans and sourdough bread. Here is her grill setup, small deck with room for her grill and a potted garden: Potatoes ready to go on: Chicken ready to go (Cora approved of them): Tending the grill: Almost ready: Table is set: Dinner is served Link to Johns You tube video (https://youtu.be/hoyiDbk3F_k)

Those look good! Chicken thighs always a favorite at our house. I've used Oakridge brines but haven't tried their rubs. Just looked at their website i think I might need to try a few

Wood scraper if the grill is hot, or a Char Broil cool clean nylon brush if its not.

Your first? You're a natural lol, looks great. Did my first on a kamado too, albeit an Akorn. You and your family will love that grill!

I like it a lot. Picked up the last three bags at my local Ace the last day of the sale. To go with a couple bags I still had left from an earlier purchase.

Lol, well maybe so because the materials that come with the grill (Char-Griller 980) make no mention of seasoning or even burn-in to burn off manufacturing oils etc. (as noted by Tom Horsman to his surprise in one of his videos). Maybe we don't need instructions because we already know all about grills, and of course, you always season everything not just cast iron But I've been googling the heck out of this grill since I got it, and came across some generic seasoning instructions from Char-Griller. Weber on the other hand specifically states in one of their FAQs no need to season porcelain coated cast iron. And burn in is just something I would normally do, even though its not mentioned in the grill materials. So just wondering if anyone else would normally oil coat the interior surfaces (and exterior too) of a grill to 'season' it. Maybe it doesn't apply to stainless steel, but honestly never crossed my mind to season anything but cast iron, or a carbon steel pan.

I've never considered seasoning the interior surfaces of a metal grill. But Char-Griller recommends wiping down the inside of the lid and body and even the porcelain coated grates with oil and then running at 250 or so for a couple of hours and the repeating. Is this really worthwhile?

well pittmab y'all sure have the coolest name for the grill!

These are hard to find, but found a Lowes that had some. It is a really nice looking grill. Much bigger in person than comes across in the videos. Honestly, almost too big...could probably do two turkeys at once for Thanksgiving! Didn't stop me from bringing one home with me though 10% off paid for the cover. Probably won't get it setup till this weekend. Spent the afternoon cleaning up my grill area. I think I will be happy with my current setup. I have small, medium, large with the Akorn Jr, full size Akorn and now the 980.

There are so many things that can impact local wifi performance. What sort of antenna is on the grill? I had a Green Mountain Davy Crockett that struggled to connect to wifi. It had a small little wifi antenna, easily replaced with a high gain antenna from Amazon (about 10" long), instant connection after that. <$10 as I recall. Since then I've upgraded to mesh router and have a node in the sunroom by the deck. No wifi issues any more

That looks beautifully roasted! Yum!

Chargriller has a new gravity feed grill. Looks pretty nice. Will be some competition for the Masterbuilt series. $599 at Lowes https://www.chargriller.com/pages/gravity980-landingpage I've been wanting the MB560 since it came out, wife even says I can get one...usually followed by 'which grill are you going to get rid of?' And she is right, I don't really have the space and I do really like both my Akorn and Traeger 575. I talked my sister in law into getting the MB just a couple of weeks ago, before I saw this new one. Interested to see how it compares.

My wife just got her first dose with moderna Friday morning. My group not available yet. 24 hrs later she feels fine, not even much pain in her arm. Now down at the OBX for a short anniversary weekend away