Kentish Man

13 minutes ago, AdamG said:

I have my eye on the smokeware one once mine needs replacing. Love how its stainless steel and no rain can get in. Seems like the best design to me.

I personally dont like the look of the kamado joe one since its powder coated. I also dont like the new Monolith one since rain can get inside due to the design.

Thanks - I agree on the powder coating - I'll order the smokeware one and let you know how I go.

The daisy wheel on my 2020 AK has reached the end of it's useful life. It's got a bit corroded around the pin it pivots on and now doesn't sit flush, meaning I don't get the airflow control that I want. 

Could anyone recommend a replacement? Was thinking maybe the smokeware option for KJ (https://www.bbqandsmoke.co.uk/collections/smokeware/products/smokeware-vented-chimney-cap-for-kamado-joe) or a KJ Kontrol Tower (https://www.bbqs2u.co.uk/kamado-joe-accessories/943-kamado-joe-kontrol-tower-top-vent-kj-kt.html). 

Guess it might make sense to redo the gaskets at the same time. Are their any recommendations for the tape I should get for that?

Cheers in advance.

12 minutes ago, Claremont said:

Hi All, I received my AK this morning and it arrived in almost perfect condition.  The bottom of the fire box had a small chip in it, but no cracks, so assume it will be fine.  Other issue is with the brackets for the side shelves. Thought I was being dumb (which I may be) but looks like it included three brackets for RHS and only one for LHS    So can only attach one shelf.  Any suggestions on whether I should contact Aldi or just best to go direct to  La Hacienda.  TIA

My firebox cracked (2020 edition) about 6 months in and I contacted La Hacienda - they were excellent and sent out a new one immediately.

This is my long winded way of saying I would go to La Hacienda in the first instance as it's them that can remedy the issue. 

Nice one - thank you.

I'll exercise some caution if searing or cooking pizza at high temperatures, but at the moment the Kamado is on wheels anyway, so if cooking anything using very hot temps I can move it even further away from the fence

We've had a fair bit of building work done on our house since the start of March, but the end is in sight and I'm looking forward to being able to set up my new barbecuing area on the patio.

Long term, the plan is to put in some kind of outdoor kitchen area, but for now, the kamado and weber spirit will be freestanding. The patio is square, boxed in on two sides by the walls of the house, and the neighbour's fence and our lawn on the other two sides. 

Really, the best place for the barbecues is down the side that's bordered by our neighbours fence. How far away from the fence do I need to keep them though? I see a few barbecue shacks made of wood housing similar grills, what is the normal approach taken to fire proofing the wood, if anything? 

30 minutes ago, Grue666 said:

Yes I think that’s the way to go. Part of my learning curve. I’d read about doing it that way but stuck with (modified) old habits - nothing like learning by mistakes  

My approach with a kamado is always to be cautious getting the temp up, because it's much harder to cool it down than heat it up!

On 4/19/2021 at 11:19 PM, YorkshireSmoke said:

It does thanks... good to know a big temperature difference is normal

I never really look at the temperature reading on the dome thermometer, just rely on the inkbird reading from the grill. That's the most important one, isn't it, given that's where the meat is sitting?

Also, I back my inkbird to give a more reliable reading than the cheap dome thermometer.

On 4/19/2021 at 11:17 PM, YorkshireSmoke said:

Skin not too crisp so maybe higher temp is the way to go.  Thanks for the suggestions 

Personally, I think cooking spatchcock over direct heat will give you the result you're after. I've done whole birds on mine and it's good, but as you say, it's not dramatically different to oven cooked.

Give spatchcock a go, (dead easy to do yourself with a decent pair of scissors, in case you've not done it before), get the temp at the grill up to about 180 / 200 ish, then stick the bird on bone side down. My approach is then to leave it until the meat is about 5 degrees below the temperature I'm after, then flip it over and cook skin side down until it's done to get the crispy skin. I cook more or less every sunday roast chicken we have this way now, it is superb.

19 hours ago, HantsKamado said:

Finally got our AK last week and have done 3 cooks so far:

Foolishly started with direct heat to do veg/halloumi (my step daughter was over and is veggie), MAN that is hotter than a normal BBQ! We had some very burnt halloumi! 🤣Also did tin foil wrapped salmon which turned out perfectly, really tender and not dry at all!

Saturday we made pizzas, hardest bit here was keeping the temp up, but by the 6th one(!) started to turn out okay, and still loads better than oven pizzas! We were sitting around 300c and think we could have done with being about 50c hotter if not more. 

Sunday we did a low and slow pork shoulder which was the best cook so far, was perhaps a little dry as we didn't realise the water had dried up. Have to say that was never really an issue with our old smoker and was easy to check on the water levels, this is a little harder to see. Very tasty and has lasted us 3 meals, first night we had lettuce wraps with sesame oil and salt, then soft corn tacos and we're having bbq pulled pork baps tonight! Was super easy to keep the temp steady for 6+ hours. Super impressed.

Would love to do a spatchcock chicken next and want to work up to beef brisket. 

Any recommendations for a thermometer? Would you recommend InkBird?

Are you measuring temp at the grill? That's the critical one I measure for direct cooking, and indirect come to think about it!

I've got an inkbird (forget which model, 4XS I think?), but I actually prefer the thermopro (TP20) that it replaced.

49 minutes ago, Grue666 said:

Hi, I’m no expert and as I said this was done as a learning exercise as much as anything else as it is such a different beast to the MT I’ve previously used.
I bought a cheap rolled boneless shoulder - 2.5kg as currently on offer in Tesco @ 3.50/kg (rather than risk an expensive Butt if it all went pear shaped). I trimmed and salted it the night before with about 2 teaspoons course sea salt and left it in fridge. Early rise and nearly filled the fire bowl but wouldn’t do that next time as so little charcoal was used, I lit a handful of charcoal using my Weber chimney starter and put that in the middle of the firebow then sprinkled some Apple chips around the coals - not sure how much 100g or so and closed the lid. I rubbed the meat with Meatheads Memphis dust - 2or 3 tablespoons and rechecked the Kamado. This is when things went wrong as the temperature rose faster than expected so I closed all vents and crossed my fingers. As it happened the dome thermometer was reading high as already mentioned so things weren’t as bad as feared when I get the meat on and temp was soon OK. 

I then did very little other than play adjusting the vents periodically to try keeping the temp around 107ºC. I didn’t open the lid during the cook/add more chips. 

What would I do differently? Use less charcoal (not that it was wasted as closing the vents at the end left loads unburnt for next time), work out how to add wood chips mid cook as smoke flavour was lacking because not all had been used up/ not enough used - I’m still coming to terms with just how efficient this thing is. Give myself more time - I’d now be confident to start it the night before and leave it with little or no intervention.

Am I on the right track?

This looks good! 

Only comments I'd add is there's no need to use the chimney starter, just put a lighter wooly (or whatever you use) on top and let it heat up steadily. For a low and slow, I think using the chimney starter, even with only a little charcoal, runs the risk of lighting too much charcoal up and overshooting the temp you want.

I don't actually ever use a chimney starter, I just don't find it necessary. The Kamado basically operates like one anyway so there isn't any significant time saving, it's not like lighting briquettes for a different type BBQ.

Again, no right and wrong, just my experience on the AK.

I bought an Aldi Kamado last year and I still love it, use it at least once a week all year round. Once you've had a spatchcocked chicken cooked on a kamado you'll never go back to oven cooked.

Where is the best place to pick up accessories? I'm thinking about steel grill plates for this summer. Any other recommended accessories?

On 7/29/2020 at 6:36 PM, sotv said:

I set my grill  with stone on it at 600F and make sure that temp has been maintained for at least 15 minutes before putting the pizza/parchment onto the stone

I use this recipe as it easy enough to do by hand or mixer and doesn't have all those multiple steps, that some have and works for me (I use the grams measurements)

The parchment paper I cut a disc or square that is no more than 2 inches bigger around the edge(s) of the pizza, whichever shape I have made the base into.

They paper may singe and go brown, but it doesn't catch fire on the grill/stone and the base has always given me a crispy cooked base.

There are multiple recipes out there for pizza bases, just find some that suit you and give them ago. All part of the fun, till you find one you can settle on.

Got a sourdough starter that I have been feeding for nearly a week and starting to bubble nicely, so hopefully can use it for some homemade bread and pizza bases next week.

 

 

Thank you - I've been giving this recipe a go and I've been getting very tasty results. 

Might start experimenting a bit with the sauce once I've got the base mastered, getting the thickness right seems to be the key to me, and I'm not quite there yet everytime.

On 7/27/2020 at 2:43 PM, pmba said:

Result 👍

Good service - replacement arrived yesterday

44 minutes ago, sotv said:

I stick my pizza on parchment paper now and put it on the stone around 550-600F although the base feels if it has stuck to the paper sometimes before cooking, it always lifts from the paper once cooked with no sticking and less mess on the stone.

I like the Caputo Blue Pizza 00 Flour started using it when flour was scarce a few months back so had to use the 1kg packs which can work out expensive, but you can get it for just over a £1 kg delivered if happy to use a big bag. Good stuff though, if you like making your own bases though.

Nice one - thank you.

I presume the parchment paper doesn't stop the base getting a nice brown crisp to it? I had read that the Caputo Blue 00 flour needs to be cooked on a stone at 700 degrees plus, again, I presume that's not your experience? I think their website says that the red flour should be used if cooking at 500 - 700.

I love making my own bases, it's not something I'd done before, but now I've tried it, I can't imagine ever going back. Do you have a special recipe that you use?

I did a couple of pizzas at the weekend using my new pizza stone. Didn't take the temp too high (c. 400f), and the pizzas took about 15 mins ish to cook, I possibly had the base too thick, but the results were great.

Today, I tried to go for a more neapolitan style pizza. I cranked the temp up higher (c.650f), went for thin bases and minimal toppings. The top of the pizzas and the toppings were perfect after 90 seconds ish, but the bottom of the pizzas were burnt. I think it was the flour that was burning. I found that I was needing to put a reasonable amount on the pizza peel in order to be able to slide the pizza off on to the stone.

What am I doing wrong? Is it the type of flour I'm using (strong white bread flour)? Or is there a different method for getting the pizza off the peel that solves the issue. Or did I take the temp too high?

Feedback would be gratefully received because but for the burning on the very bottom, the pizzas were absolutely excellent. I can't imagine buying a pizza in the supermarket ever again to be frank.

2 hours ago, Kentish Man said:

Great - thank you. I'll do that

Update - contacted them this morning and a replacement is being sent 👍

37 minutes ago, tedmus said:

Rain/snow wont get in through the top, tapered vents for better temp control and you don't lose your vent settings when you lift the lid.

Thanks - looks good!
 

My kamado is under shelter so the elements are less of a concern. The better temperature control is interesting, keep us up to date with how it goes

16 hours ago, tedmus said:

I left the original gasket on as it was still in decent nick.

Please excuse my ignorance, what is the advantage of this over the stock daisy wheel?

19 hours ago, pmba said:

I've just had my firebox replaced for the same reason. Contact La Hacienda on the number on the Aldi warranty page and if they have in stock, they'll send it out. I may attempt a repair of the cracked one to keep as a spare. 

Great - thank you. I'll do that

I've got a crack in my firebox. It runs down below the gap in the top section of the firebox. The crack goes all the way through, top to bottom of that part. 

Obviously it doesn't impact the operation of the kamado, is it worth contacting Aldi and seeing what they say? 

As a fall back, is it possible to buy a new firebox anywhere?

On ‎6‎/‎7‎/‎2020 at 6:33 PM, guinnessaddick said:

Had another go at brisket, use a water tray underneath ( not sure if this was good idea) the bark never got really hard. Stalled at 158 after about 4 hrs, wrapped in foil with some coke, took it off at 205 about 1 hr in the foil. Had a good smoke ring, didn’t pass the flop test. What am I doing wrong?

I did a brisket today, ended up with a similar result to you. Mine seemed good when I took it off the grill, at which point it had a good flop to it, but it seemed harder when I came to carve it around 2 hours later.

Where did you buy your brisket from, and was it just the flat? Looks it from the photo. That's what mine was, and I suspect that was part of the problem. Possibly a bit too small a cut of beef (about 2kg) and not enough fat on it.

For me it's a bit of a catch 22 situation; I don't want to spend a lot on a brisket until im confident in my cooking method, but on the other hand, using a brisket that would normally be rolled and roasted (whether from a butcher or otherwise) with most of the fat trimmed off is unlikely to be give a great result and leave me thinking there's something wrong with my method when it might just be the meat....

Hopefully some experts will come along soon and point us in the right direction!

Where did you buy the brisket from? I'm keen to give one a go, but don't want to break the bank when there's every chance I'll ruin it....

1 hour ago, paulinportsmouth said:

Did anyone get a larger heat deflector for this kamado in the end? If so where from? 

My personal view is that it isn't necessary, and others seem to agree. I'm still new to mine though, have you been having problems with yours?

I bought a load from riversidegardencentre.co.uk a couple of weeks ago. Worked out as £56 for 39kg delivered

Anything under £1.50 per KG seems like a good deal at the moment. I doubt you’ll find better than £30 for 2 x 12kg 

1 hour ago, Adi dassler said:

This is the drip.pan. seems solid enough and came next day

Yours is a very different colour on the inside to mine! I must need to use it more!