First Kick Ash cook; Wings then Pizza!

KiterTodd

Put my new Kick Ash basket in today and did back to back cooks. I'm not sure I would have had as good luck with these two cooks, without lump management, like I did with the basket.

I had a lot of lump leftover from a prior cook, I took it out, put it in the new basket, and fired the egg up for some lunchtime wings.  I cooked them raised direct at 425.  They were delicious...


Then I cracked the vents and let the egg sit for a while in case I wanted to use it for dinner.
What to make...
Pizza!  There's been a lot of talk here about pizza and I hadn't cooked it on the egg for a while.
 
So out came the grate, I dumped new lump on top of the old, in went the stones, opened vents a bit for a nice soak at around 350 while I ran out for dough.

Didn't have the normal fresh dough I buy, so I had to settle for Whole Wheat Dough. In the past I have avoided WW as it has been been tough for me to get crisp crust.   Not today, though!  Damn this was good.

When I got back I cranked open the vents and let the egg sit at 550 for a while to get everything nice and hot.  It could've easily gone higher.  I had no hat on top and the bottom vent about 50%, little less.

Cooked 4 pies, each excellent!  They cooked in about 4 minutes.  Some of the best pies I've made in a while in that the bottoms and tops were both cooked perfect.  No issues with back to back cooks.

So, the Kick Ash benefit, I think...is that previously if I tried to do a high heat cook after a low heat cook...and a long sit...I would have had airflow issues either getting up to temp or holding it.  No issues tonight.  Can't wait to do pizza again.


This one was my favorite.  I made cheese and pepperoni for the wife and kids.  For me
Shitake mushrooms tossed with garlic and olive oil, red peppers, and some pepperoni for good measure. 
Only thing I forgot was crushed red pepper! 

blind99

As always, very nice cook. Looks great!

pgprescott

Agreed,^^^^^^ really nice stuff. 

KiterTodd

I know there have been a lot of Kick Ash threads...but the other benefit is for the first time since I bought my egg, I looked at my fire box from the top...  it was a lot smaller than I thought!  Made me realize that I should clean that out more often as even an inch of ashes would impact airflow.

I know, may be obvious to many of you but I haven't touched that CI plate since I assembled the egg a couple years back.

NewBerlinEggprentice

@kiterTodd Those pizzas look fantastic. I recieved a KickAsh basket for LBGE for Christmas (it was the top item on my Santa list). Adding that and a Smokeware cap has me relearning how to set the vents, but I'm getting there. I feel both offer signficant upside.

Ladeback69

NewBerlinEggprentice said:

@kiterTodd Those pizzas look fantastic. I recieved a KickAsh basket for LBGE for Christmas (it was the top item on my Santa list). Adding that and a Smokeware cap has me relearning how to set the vents, but I'm getting there. I feel both offer signficant upside.

On setting the vents for the SW cap, I pretty much so about the same size openings as did when I used a daisy wheel.  For L&S's I have the bottom vent open an 1/8 to 1/4 and about the same for the top when I catch the temp on the way up.

20stone

Those are great looking cooks.  You need to bring your talents to Salado in March

KiterTodd

20stone said:

Those are great looking cooks.  You need to bring your talents to Salado in March

Thanks.  I'm sure I'd be humbled by the other folks there, but would sure like to attend if the schedule allows it.  Would have a lot to learn from everybody.  (currently booked with a snow trip in Feb and a Vegas trip in March... have to see if the Mrs. would be cool with a cook trip!)