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We need to see this!

Over here in the UK I’ve been seeking out and buying diamond crystal for years. My regular supplier was out of it when I restocked six months ago so I had to find a new one. Bought a case of nine boxes with the new branding shown above and it’s exactly the same salt as the old boxes, just with an easier to pour “spout”. really hope they don’t start sending me the new and “improved” version.

Interesting point - the ovens get very hot inside when they run this cycle so unless they have really good heat shielding I can see it being an issue. As a maybe useful data point, we had a Miele oven in our last place with pyrolytic clean - used it 2-3 time a year for fifteen years without issue. I wouldn't get one without it now as I'm so messy it's a lifesaver - I'd be very annoyed if I bought an oven that it started breaking.

I’ve had a combustion inc setup for a good while now and would definitely recommend them. My views on ownership to date, bad news first as it is far outweighed by the good: cons I’ve had a probe die on me, two in fact. One was an issue with updating, the other caused by a baked potato forcing the prob out and exposing the more delicate internals at the tip to a 400F oven. the app is still missing a couple of features I’d like - there’s no easy way to start a new cook in it, you have to put the probe back in a charger, wait a bit for it to shut down then force close the app. Also there’s no logbook feature for cooks, I’ve resorted to screenshotting the graphs and saving them in apple notes when I want to do this. Pros Way more good than bad. the product itself is very, very good. Predictions work well in most situations and the safe cook addition is hugely helpful. I can’t overstate how useful having a totally wireless solution is, it means I use the kit at least twice as often as I would do if I had to deal with a spaghetti of cabling every time. the app might not yet be 100% perfect but it has improved rapidly and is constantly getting new features. It’s fast, responsive and looks better than competitors. It can easily switch between a simple basic interface and a super detailed geeky view. Customer support is about the best I’ve experienced. Any issues get dealt with very quickly and they’ve been superb sorting me out when my probe died. I’ve had direct answers from Chris Young here and on their really good Reddit channel. they’ve just released gen 2 kit which adds WiFi connectivity and some other goodies. @Shel_B, if the price is within reach I would definitely buy a CPT - true wireless, great features and backed up by great service. It does what you need and does it way better than things like meater.

Utterly intrigued by the "dirty Santa" name... We call it secret Santa over here, yours sounds much more interesting 😂 In case you're still looking for ideas, how about some really good Jamon iberico and a dry sherry?

Just get one - you’ll love it!

An hour is plenty of time to get them up to heat. I’ve got a Big Joe which is the giant kamado Joe unit, depending on what temp I’m aiming for it’ll take between 30-45 mins to get the dome nice and hot on the outside. Funnily enough, it’ll often take a bit longer to get heat soaked if I’m aiming for a low and slow cook than grilling temps. The reason for this is that you have to be careful about not overshooting your target too much - once it’s hot it takes an age to come back down. So if I’m aiming for 200-275F I’ll light a single really small fire and take my time. If I’m going for 375+ I can happily light two or three places and crack on. but either way, an hour will be no problem.

I did exactly this on my big Joe rotisserie a few weeks ago. It was great, probably the best chicken I’ve done on my kamado. made the mistake of cutting my potatoes into chunks - lost a few of them through the gaps in the basket!

They definitely don’t seem to like making price comparisons easy - I’m sure they even block my cellular data in store so I can’t check if things are good value!

I haven’t tried the EVOO but the cider vinegar is available this side of the pond too. Over here it’s VERY good value - like £1-2 a bottle from memory. It’s decent stuff, especially at that price. We use a lot of it. Out of interest, how much is it where you are?

I'm sure you won't be disappointed! They're a great bit of kit and do the things you're after really well. If you're on reddit, the team (including Chris Young) are really responsive and helpful on the dedicated sub: r/combustion_inc

On my Ooni the back left portion is a lot hotter than the front right so rotating is a must - I’ll usually make about 3/4 turns to get it even. Not sure how the solo stove fares in this regard but a bit of trial and error will get there I’m sure. Temp wise I’m getting my stone above 400°C before the first pizza goes in so the base seems to cook nicely, I’d imagine a steel in an oven this hot would incinerate the crust! The one thing I’ve found really useful as a visual cue on the Ooni is that I wait until I’m just starting to see the beginning of some brown spots on the left side of the pizza, once this happens I’ll spin it 180° and let the same happen again. After that it’s just using a turn or two more to get it even.

It certainly is a learning curve - and quite a steep one too! What type of peel are you using to launch the pizza? I found a bamboo one with a good dusting of semolina to be the best to prevent sticking and accidental calzones. Judging temperature takes a bit of getting used to too. Not sure if the solo stove has its own temp gauge but getting an infrared thermometer is really helpful for checking the stone is ready to go.

You want a combustion inc predictive thermometer. Much better tech than the meater and is just as happy being app based as it is working with its LCD display. They have eight temperature probes in each device so can accurately find the core temp as well as tracking surface and ambient temps. time estimation is excellent for straightforward cooks (eg a steak or roast chicken), ultra low and slow things which have a stall are still a work in progress but the software is getting better all the time. www.combustion.inc

I did my favourite pizzas today - made the dough yesterday but it started pouring with rain so I tucked it up in the fridge overnight. I think it really helped as it was super tasty and so relaxed when I came to shape it. I’d seen a great video on Reddit of a calzone, something I’ve never managed to make well before. It turned out great and got top marks from the family - I’ll definitely be doing it again.