Right up front, no pics.  I was so happy with the results of my cook that I couldn't wait to get in carve this up and give it go.  Maybe next time.
 
Spatchcocked the chicken, rubbed with a home made rub of salt, pepper, paprika, onion & garlic powder, celery salt and put in the fridge to dry the skin.  Bird went on for about 45 minutes around 225 to give her some smoke (and I still have a little trouble getting up to 300-325 anyway so thought I use it to my advantage), than on up to 350 to an internal of 165.  Removed and rested for about 10minutes, just couldn't wait any longer.  It was super tender, great flavor, juicy and super easy to make on the Vision.  Only disappointment was the skin could have been a little crispier.  A baked potato for me, sweet potato for the CFO, along with a tossed salad and warm popovers.  Oh yea, a nice white wine to wash it all down.  
 
Super pleased with this cook.  Can't wait to try some bread on it this weekend.

Assembly of the akorn jr was easy. Especially with help from my 9 month old son lol  First cook on the acorn jr. Two cornish hens. I rubbed them with olive oil and cowboy rub. When they were almost finished I put a little homemade bbq sauce a friend gave me on them. They were very good. Fell off the bone. I let the grill get too hot at first, but I brought it back down to between 300-325 and watched it until it got to 165 on the probes. I do not trust the akorn jr temp gage at all. My probes were saying it was 75-100 degrees hotter than the gauge on the dome. I used the bbqube for indirect cooking. I think it was a great investment. I plan on using a pie pan or something to put liquid under my meat sometimes. 

Thanks to Kismet Kamado for putting me on to the technique detailed by keeperovdeflame on how to cook an easy spatchcock chicken.  I changed up my recipe by mixing my homemade basil pesto with some butter and putting that under the skin of the breast, thighs and legs.  Also, the veggies i used in the tray under the chicken were potato, carrots and parsnips from my garden and some little purple shallot onions.
 
I was travelling quite nicely at 400 - 410F when I walked away and returned for it to be up to 450.  I tried closing the vents right down and it did work, so I took it all out after about 1 hour.  You will notice in my photos that I have two probes, one in the the thigh and the other in the breast.  Something seemed to go awry with what I thought was a good plan because the beeper started beeping on the weber temperature thingo after about 10 mins, alerting me that the chicken was finished, which it obviously wasn't.  Not sure what I did wrong with the positioning, so would appreciate any feedback about that.
 
The chicken turned out  absolutely deeeeelicious!!!  The skin was lovely and crispy and all parts of the bird, even the breast, lovely and juicy. 
 
Unfortunately my lovely veggies didn't turn out so well, with the majority being too far on the charred side of things, with the bottoms quite burnt.  The parts that did turn out well, were really delicious because of the chicken and pesto flavoured drippings, so I will definitely try this method again.  I was a bit reluctant to use my expensive staub in the kamado, so had used a metal tefal baking dish but think that perhaps placing it directly on the diffuser might have been the issue?  Maybe I should have used a trivet as a spacer??  
 
Another thing I realised afterwards was that I shouldn't have  removed so much of the excess skin from around the neck because of the inevitable shrinkage.  It's all learning! :-)
 
Suffice to say, we all really loved the meal and the Christening of my beloved new Kamado Joe Classic II.   It was a pretty small bird but I tell you what, that chicken and pesto smelt absolutely amazing 10 mins into the cook!!
 
LOL, nothing against my Pro Q 20 elite but when my husband saw how quickly the kamado got to 400F with absolutely no mess or fuss, he was astonished and suitably impressed! :-)
 
I actually wasn't going to share details of this first cook because it isn't my best work but I am confident that I - like everyone else - will learn lots along the way.  
 
Thanks for reading my first post on my first cook.  Have a great day! :-)
 

We’ve reach 60* out.  It’s a little overcast, but supposed to clear as the day goes.  So I get the butane torch out and start to light the grill to do some BBQ chicken.  
“What was that I felt on the top of my head?  Wait, what?  Holy cow, it’s pouring now!!!  Mother Nature, you won’t foil my plan for the day.”
Going to get it up to 325-335*, hold her steady, throw on some pecan wood and put this little beauty on.

Most of you who’ve been around a few years know this is the time of year that I go Full Griswald so I haven’t got a lot of cooking in recently. Well I was finally able to get in a cook this weekend. Every year I host our family Christmas get together. My 2 brothers that live out here in California, come down from the L.A. area with my niece and nephew. We like to vary the meal menu each year. One year we will cook Tamales, (A So. Cal. Christmas staple) the next we’ll do Turkey, then a nice Honey Baked Ham. Well last year we decided to try a Ribeye Roast and it was a big hit so we did it again this year.
My preparations started the night before when I made up some Horseradish Sauce. (This pic is from last year but it’s the same as what I did this year)



Horseradish Sauce Recipe: (Tweaked from Chef John on Food Wishes)

1/2 cup sour cream or crème fraiche

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

pinch of cayenne

2 teaspoon thinly sliced chives. (I like to use Dill)                                                  
2 tablespoons extra hot (Atomic) pure horseradish (not horseradish sauce)

 
I had this nice boneless Ribeye Roast in my freezer that I started thawing last Tuesday.



Early Sunday I made up a Rosemary and Garlic rub / paste to use on it.



Rub Recipe: (From Larry of BEER-N-BBQ by Larry)

1/2 cup chopped fresh rosemary
3+ Tbsp crushed garlic
2 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp black pepper
OO




 

I unwrapped the roast and trimmed off most of the hard fat.



I applied the rub (paste)



and then covered it with plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter for the next 4 hours to come up to room temperature.



Around noon I set up my kamado for direct / indirect cooking. I let it come up to 250 degrees before I put on the roast.



While it was cooking we set the table from our guests.



After it reached an internal temperature of 124 degrees I pulled it off and covered it while the kamado got up to searing temps. (Note: many of my guests wanted it well done so the best I could talk them into was cooking to medium)

Once the CI grate was nice and hot I put on the roast for 1 minute per side.



Here are some pics of me slicing it.




 

On the table on the Christmas platter.



And here it is plated with a Stone Brewing “Pataskala Red X IPA” on the side. Both are waiting to be devoured.



Even though this was cooked to mostly medium it was still delicious. The rub / paste developed into a nice crust that was absolutely delicious.

Thanks for looking.