alanz

Actually I seal the butts whole. I don't think I've ever sealed it after its been pulled. Besides, pulling the pork in front of some guests is part of the fun of serving the meat < s >

hndapwrman, No, we just seal the butts, one to a bag. We simmer the bag in a pot of water to reheat. Pretty much foolproof, and the flavor stays in the bag, with no place to go... so it works out beautifully. If we're just keeping it a week, it stays in the refrigerator. Longer than that, it goes into the freezer.

hndapwrman, One thing to watch out for. When the internal temp of the meat reaches about 165 degrees, you'll find that it stays there for a long time, perhaps several hours, before the temp starts to rise again. It's at this point that the connective tissue is breaking down and liquefying, and it takes some time. When that's done, the temperature of the meat will begin to climb. Many folk who don't expect this start wondering if their meat thermometer is broken < s > Good things come to those who wait! One more thing to consider. It's the same effort to cook 2 or 3 butts as it is to do one.... and they freeze wonderfully once cooked (especially using a vacuum sealer, like a foodsaver). Enjoy.

I'm going to take a different view. A pork butt, in my opinion doesn't need brining. We do a rub, and then smoke over lump charcoal with cherry or apple wood for flavor. Typical cooking time at 225-250 degrees is about 14 hours for 7lb butts (brings the internal temperature up to 190-195, then let rest for a while before pulling). Also, because of the nature of my cooker (ceramic) I don't have to mop, so the rub stays put, forming a beautiful crust.

Mark, Yes, the gas option is available for either LP or Natural gas. It really makes lighting the coals a simple task. I usually turn the burner off after the coals are lit, and just use the coals for the actual cooking.

... After you've been havin' steak for a long time Beans, beans taste fine. An' after you've been drinkin' champagne and Chivas Regal You gonna settle for Thunderbird wine. He said "The world is funny, and people are strange, And man is a creature of constant change, and After you've been havin' steak for a long time Beans, beans taste fine." ... -- Shel Silverstein

Anything from "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift

For those folk who have never seen a #7 Kamado, here is the one I received 3 weeks ago. This cooker produced the pulled pork that we fed to Rachel and Jason on their recent visit. Tonight I grilled soft shell crabs... this was my first time doing crabs, and the results were great!

Nick, Actually they did find another substance that makes the ceramic dimensionally stable. However, it wasn't expansion causing the tile issues. The problem with the earlier tiled K's is that the adhesive/thinset used wan't cured properly and at high temperatures would bubble out through the grout cracks. The new design uses an improved adhesive, and now the K company recommends an initial low temperature firing schedule for the first few uses to cure the tile bonding and drive out any remaining moisture from the castings. For anyone who thinks tiles are a potential problem, Kamado also makes textured cookers in terracotta and black colors. Very nice too

Willow, I thought you'd be entertained to know that a #7 Kamado weighs in at just under 400 lbs

There were some tile adhesive issues with some of the early tiled Kamados, but those issues seem to have been resolved in the current product. I recently got a second dual-fuel #7 Kamado (3,000 1" cobalt blue mosaic tiles) and it's quite a piece of yard art, in addtion to being a great cooker. There have been several incremental engineering advances since I bought my first one 4 years ago, and I appreciate the effort the K company puts into improving its products. The Kamado company's cookers are, in my personal opinion, the next generation of ceramic cookers. In any case, anyone who has had a chance to cook on ceramics (BGE, Primo, or Kamado) usually sits smiling quietly to themselves. We know that we have the ability to cook anything from jerky to steaks, and because the cookers are so forgiving, they make us look good

Lauren and I will be there.

With the way my bride packs the refrigerator and freezers, I feel like I take my life in my hands whenever I open the doors. I'm always prepared to jump back as something cold falls to my feet < s >

fifi, Dealers for the Kamados are scarce. The company would rather keep their prices down by selling directly to the customers. Yes, it's an odd ts hing to order such a cooker sight unseen via the internet, but no one I know has been disappointed. Also, there are K owners all over the country so finding one locally to visit is usually just a matter of asking on the K forum. People are really nice about that kind of thing. If you appear undecided, some of us will even cook for you < s >

Dinner tonight was chicken wings done on the #7 cooker. My bride brined the wings and then coated them with a dusting of CharCrust Cajun spices. My job was what I call "heating up things on the K" At dinner, my older son (18) held up a wing and said "this wing... this particular wing, is the best wing I have ever eaten". I'm putting up three pork butts on my #7 Kamado tonight before I head to bed. Pulled pork for dinner tomorrow, with special mystery guests. The remaining butts will be vacuum sealed for a party this weekend.

I think some of the folk on the Kamado forum have used the "K" for naan, and perhaps some other tandoori style cooking. The walls of the cooker accumulate charcoal deposits, so I'd probably suggest leaning a pizza stone against the wall for a clean surface. That said, the K is one of the great pizza cookers out there. Because the dome has a lot of mass, you can think of it as a coal fired brick oven, where much of the heat actually comes from the dome.

I got a kick out of the Alton Brown show... very inventive. I'm not sure what the longevity of flower pots would be, but it was certainly a clever way of doing things. And of course, high temperature cooking is out with that approach.

Jason, Nice meeting you last night. The Kamado.com cookers are made in Sacramento Ca as well as in Indonesia (depending on the style and work loads). The cookers are quite remarkable, and lets me cook everything from beef jerky to prime steaks. I'm a volunteer administrator on the Kamado discussion forum, and have attended (and demonstrated at ) the last two Kamado Picnic-Cookoffs in CA (next one coming up in August) It would be my pleasure to chat with folk about cooking in ceramics. I've had great fun with it over the past several years and have met many wonderful people in the community. As mentioned last night... you are more than welcome to taste some pulled pork... I'm going to put three butts on the cooker this evening and they'll be ready tomorrow. I'm going to vacuum seal two of them for a dinner next week. The third one doesn't have a chance of getting near a freezer < s >

According to the manufacturer, the wire on the new probes are rated to 570° F (up from a previous 510°, I recall). I agree that the probes should not be used for high temperature grilling. I'm one of those odd people who cook outdoors on a Kamado ceramic cooker. The Kamado can be used at a much wider range of temperatures than any of the thermometers I own (remote, wired, dial, etc.) My cooking ranges from 170° F for beef jerky, to over 1,000° F for prime steaks. So, it's up to me to make sure I don't use a wired probe at a temperature higher than its rating. There are some folk who wrap the wires in foil or heat resistant glass fiber, but you still have to make sure that you don't exceed the rating of the thermocouple at the tip of the probe. Message edited to correct new probe temperature rating.--az

One strange thing about The Diner is that we found a guy with a camera asking if he could photograph our food for a web site. Odd, don't you think? < s > And yes, they did bring my mother's burger with the bun she didn't want, but perhaps they were acting as food stylist for Jason. We live about 2 blocks from the former Haglers, and have been there about 10 times since its new management took over. The chef, who is there to open the diner, prepared Toad In The Hole one day, and handed out small portions to people who happened to be in the diner for lunch... just as a taste. Very nice people running the place, we're happy they are in town.

Greetings all... this is my first post on this forum. I thought some of you might be interested in a new remote thermometer (made by Redi-Chek), geared towards the smoking/BBQ crowd. I got one of the prototypes a few weeks ago, and I'm pleased with the feature set. There are a few photos and a short writeup of it on one of my web pages. Note that I have no interest (financial or otherwise) in the company that makes these, nor do I sell them. However, some of the features of the new dual probe thermometer were implemented after some discussions I had with the manufacturer about things I'd like to see in a remote thermometer (backlight, low temperature alarms, etc) Click here for more information and photos Enjoy!