Grillin' in the dark of winter

jdbower · Dec 14, 2008

I got a new toy recently, and the first picture ties it back to the tractor which did a wonderful job bringing it up the long driveway (stay tuned for the small crate!)

Ever since this thread I've been fixated on this ceramic cooking thing when a now-fellow MA resident introduced me to the Big Green Egg (who make excellent cookers if you don't mind the looks

). I fairly quickly discovered Komodo Kamado who filled a much needed gap in the super-premium ceramic cooker genre by providing innovative tiled cookers with great customer service (lurking on the forum for a similar competitor turned me off from a customer service and quality standpoint - they've apparently gone downhill in recent years). And they survive clumsy truckers who break the pallets

The best part is that, unlike my previously beloved Weber (how deluded I was!) I can actually use it in the winter in MA thanks to heavy refractory walls. It was <26F last night and I was still able to do a really juicy pork tenderloin:

The boxes of stuff in the first picture are an interesting extruded charcoal made from coconut shells. It burns pretty evenly with a very mild odor/taste. I'll have to stock up on some local lump to compare. Can you tell I'm excited about this thing? Almost time to start the turkey for dinner!

scott_vt · Dec 14, 2008

Good Mornin Jeff,
Lookin good !!! I will be following along, to see how the other half live !

Obviously Im envious, so if by any chance, someone gives me a pocket full of cash I could be a convert !

Im sure you will enjoy and I will be salivating over each and every smokin adventure !

arrow · Dec 14, 2008

Well, we seem to be of the same mind and almost in the same vicinity. I was also grilling in the dark some bourbon soaked steaks a local guy sells up here. I don't eat much red meat but these were a real treat but I digress. What grilling in the dark did was save my vision in my left eye. As I was grilling, I noticed a flashing happening in this eye. Couldn't understand what was happening. I thought it was the new grill. I turned around and could still see the flashes so I knew it was in my eye. Turns out it was the beginning of a vitreous tear that was starting to detach my retina. If I hadn't been grilling at night, I wouldn't of noticed it because I couldn't notice it during the day. There is a moral here somewhere but I can't find it. At the very least its one more argument for the stuff we buy. "Honey, but this could save my eyesight" All I have to do now is find that correlation to a new tractor.

DocHeb · Dec 14, 2008

Mighty nice grill, but they certainly aren't inexpensive.

Chuck52 · Dec 15, 2008

Hey, that thing looks like R2D2 in armor. Does it even need an operator?

Chuck

jdbower · Dec 15, 2008

It is ridiculously temperature stable once you set the dampers. Cooked a small turkey last night for four hours without needing to touch a thing and it was great!

jeffinsgf · Dec 15, 2008

Did you get the model with the gas starter? I've been a Big Green Egg user for close to ten years and now have two. I've lusted after the Kamado for most of those ten years. When the ship comes in, that'll be one of my first stops.

jdbower · Dec 15, 2008

Yes I did get the gas option (it's one of the only things that's not standard), but the gas portion should be here shortly (in the mean time my chimney starter works just fine). Just FYI, this is actually a KOmodo Kamado, you can tell the difference by the unique shape (and that it only took a month to be built and shipped to me instead of a year or more, but that's another story

).

riptides · Dec 15, 2008

arrow said:
Well, we seem to be of the same mind and almost in the same vicinity. I was also grilling in the dark some bourbon soaked steaks a local guy sells up here. I don't eat much red meat but these were a real treat but I digress. What grilling in the dark did was save my vision in my left eye. As I was grilling, I noticed a flashing happening in this eye. Couldn't understand what was happening. I thought it was the new grill. I turned around and could still see the flashes so I knew it was in my eye. Turns out it was the beginning of a vitreous tear that was starting to detach my retina. If I hadn't been grilling at night, I wouldn't of noticed it because I couldn't notice it during the day. There is a moral here somewhere but I can't find it. At the very least its one more argument for the stuff we buy. "Honey, but this could save my eyesight" All I have to do now is find that correlation to a new tractor.

Totally off topic, curious as to how the eye is doing? Did they fix you up? How?

arrow · Dec 18, 2008

They've got me going back every three days to make sure there is no additional pulling at the retina. There is nothing to be done other than to watch it. As we get older, our vitreous humor gel that is iin the eyeball gets liquified. Of course now this liquid is seeking its own level and sometimes there is still a gel part that gets tugged as this liquid sinks down into your eyeball. This still attached gel pulls on the vitrify of your eye and sometimes begins to detach the retina. They can laser it back up if that happens but it has to be caught early hence my going back to the docs so often. Thanks for asking