Howdy again Meathead Maniacs!
I promise this is the last post that will be general in nature. The reason is that above all, before we light lump and get after all things dealing with various techniques of smoking, grilling, braising, roasting, etc., we need to be mindful of safety, at least in my mind. Safety is one of those things that you have to have thought about and practiced WAY AHEAD of time. When the time comes that you need to employ some safety measure, it's way too late. You need your prearranged safety protocols to automatically set in when the time arises..
I want to say that I think safety is the most important thing in kamado cooking. First, we need to have an ABC Fire Extinguisher close (no closer than 5 feet and no further than 10 feet) to our kamados. That should be obvious but all too often isn’t. We should also make certain that we check it yearly to insure that the dial reads such that the needle is in the green. That means it is ready to be discharged. You need to inspect your fire extinguishers at least twice a year. Just as the local fire departments suggests that you change the batteries in your smoke alarms at changes from Daylight Savings and back to regular time (every Spring and Fall), so too I suggest you take that opportunity to inspect fire extinguishers. You can get these extinguishers at Sam’s, Costco, Home Depot, Lowe’s, and just about any office supply store. Here are couple of pictures.
Here is a close up of the trigger and meter. I'll probably be replacing this extinguisher in the fall as the needle is getting close to empty.
The second important tool in my safety tool box is a simple First Aid Kit. Here is the one I use. It's not meant to be comprehensive.
Now that we have hit the basic for any home, let's deal specifically with kamado safety.
From the very first day you light your first load of lump, you need to know that a clean kamado is a safe kamado. I ALWAYS use a drip pan under my cooks that will render a lot of fat for a variety of reasons. First, I don’t want grease building up in my kamados. Butts, briskets, and to a lesser degree other fatty meats will render a lot of fat during the course of a 12-15 hour cook. That fat can atomize in the interior of the cooking chamber. When we open the lid, a rush of oxygen rich air into the cooking chamber can cause a flash fire that can lead to some serious burns. Nobody wants that to spoil a weekend or worse. I’ve seen it happen and it’s flat dadgummed scary. Here is a YouTube Video by The Naked Whiz to graphically show you what a flashback is and how dangerous they can be. Note that while The Naked Whiz video shows really high temps, these types of flashbacks can happen all the time in dirty kamados during a low-n-slow.
http://youtu.be/6fJZpaNWGKs
There are two ways to minimize the possibility of a flashback. First, always keep your kamado clean. We’ve discussed this above. Second, always "burp" your kamado when opening it. To "burp" your kamado, all you do is lift the lid about 1/2â€-1†and hold it there briefly, about 5-7 seconds should suffice. Then it’s safe to go ahead and open your lid all the way. NOTE: I always wear my welders’ gauntlets on the hand I’ll be using to open the lid and I stand off to the side just in case. Better safe than sorry!
The other reason to use a drip pan is to keep fat from accumulating in your kamado between cooks. The fat can turn rancid in a hurry and spoil cooks with foul fumes, ruin a load of lump, and as was pointed out above, can be a real hazard.
Drip pans are simply too inexpensive/affordable not to use one on each and every cook that will be rendering fat. They are readily available from Sam’s, Costco, Wal~Mart, and any restaurant supply stores. Some folks call them Steam Table pans. They are essentially pressed thick aluminum foil and work wonderfully. I just set them directly on my heat deflectors underneath the main grate. The first is a half steam table pan and measures 12.75†x 10.375†x 2.562â€. I use these for any number of reasons: drip pan duty, baking cobblers, cooking beans, serving dishes for slaws, potato salads, etc. Here is a picture.
Here is a picture of the full sized pan. It measures 20.75" x 12.81" x 3.81" and is really useful for placing under briskets, ribs, and other big clods of meat. I also use these when applying rib to butts, ribs, briskets, chickens, etc. Here is a picture of the full sized steam table pans.
I use these pans under briskets, double butt cooks, ribs, chicken and turkey cooks, etc. I'll also use this size of steam table pan when I'm applying rub to these those proteins just mentioned. For really large parties, I'll use these for dump cakes, cobblers, etc. just as above. I make certain that I keep a good supply around the house. I consider both these size pans to be indispensable.
Alright, let's talk about handling hot items. I'm talking cooking grates, heat deflectors, smoke pots, cooked food, (supposedly) cold ash, etc. Let's start off with moving hot food. When moving hot food from the grates to either the slicing board or to wrap in foil and rest in the faux cambro, I use a pair of pretty well insulated rubber gloves. Here is a picture.
These gloves are simply indispensable to me. They are protection from the hot food, but just as importantly, they are so easily cleaned when you're finished with them. Simply wash your hands with liquid dish soap while you are wearing them and it's game, set, and match! Another great plus for these gloves is that they are impervious to hot liquids. If you're moving a half steam table pan of baked beans and some liquid sloshes over onto them, you don't get burned. There are gloves available that can handle really high temps, but they are made from woven material and are of absolutely no protection against hot liquids. These are. I know from experience.
Here are the gloves I use for moving really HOT items. They are Nomex lined heavy duty welders' gauntlets. These gloves have been in my BBQ box for a LOT of years and they have seen a lot of use in handling lump and anything really hot. I use these to move hot grates, heat deflectors, smoke pots, etc.
At this point, I want to tell you that these gloves, while great, are not impervious to heat. I haven't met the glove that is. These gloves give you a good amount of time to get things moved, but you don't have forever. You need to have your plan for moving something hot well thought out ahead of time and practiced so that you're not left holding a very hot piece of metal or ceramic. THINK AHEAD! Have a backup plan of where you'll be placing the hot item. Plan for everything to go wrong and have an alternative. Think about the safety of your children and pets. Get them out of the danger zone before you even pop the lid to grab something; have the path clear to take things from your kamado to the kitchen in the house. This means not only are kids and pets out of the way, but their toys are not in the way and no carpets are curled and pose a trip hazard.
Okay, now let's talk about how to start a fire. We've done this before, but not with an emphasis on safety. Please indulge me here. Many of us use starter cubes to light out fires. Good! All you do is place them in the lump, light them and walk away for a few minutes. The same goes with cotton balls soaked in 91% isopropyl alcohol and cooking oil soaked paper towels. Let's talk about torches of every stipe ... weed burners, MAPP, and propane. Keep the out of the hands of children. They are an invitation to disaster, especially with kids 6-10 years of age. They are fascinated with fire, especially fire that makes a lot of noise with it. I had a friend whose 8 year old son wanted to play with Dad's MAPP torch. The poor child didn't have the strength in his fingers to trip the trigger and ignite the torch, so he turned it around and used his thumbs. He ignited the torch and seriously burned his neck and upper chest. Nobody wants that kind of accident.
Everyone who uses an electric igniter, please rethink this choice. I hate electric fire starters. First, an electric, while "handy" is a rather blunt instrument in igniting lump. It ignites way too much lump for any low-n-slow that I've ever done. Second, if you use it to get to searing temps, you're not saving any time; you can get there just as quickly but lighting multiple spots in the lump pile. Why do I hate these fire starters? I've seen small children badly burned on 2 occasions because they grabbed a hot electric fire starter by reaching up to grab it off the BBQ table. Nothing ruins a great BBQ like a trip to the hospital and subsequent surgeries. I've seen a deck catch on fire from an electric starter than tipped over and started the deck on fire. These are the single most dangerous fire starters I can imagine. Here is a picture.
Okay, I'm off my soapbox.
Finally, never use your kamado under an eave of your home and most certainly never leave a lit kamado unattended during the initial phase of getting your fire up to speed. I had a buddy down in Houston who left the lid up on his kamado as he had seen me do countless times. The kamado was under an eave of his house. He forgot that the lid was up, the kamado went nuclear, and he just about burned his house to the ground. Thanks be that he was 2 blocks from a fire house. Nothing in the world is more dangerous than an unattended kamado with its belly full of lump and a small fire. You can't believe how quickly that kamado can go nuclear. If you must leave your kamado, set an alarm on your watch for no more than 7-10 minutes and shut the lid to no more than an inch opening.
Okay, that about does it for SAFETY. Thanks for reading.
Questions? Comments? Thoughts?
I promise this is the last post that will be general in nature. The reason is that above all, before we light lump and get after all things dealing with various techniques of smoking, grilling, braising, roasting, etc., we need to be mindful of safety, at least in my mind. Safety is one of those things that you have to have thought about and practiced WAY AHEAD of time. When the time comes that you need to employ some safety measure, it's way too late. You need your prearranged safety protocols to automatically set in when the time arises..
I want to say that I think safety is the most important thing in kamado cooking. First, we need to have an ABC Fire Extinguisher close (no closer than 5 feet and no further than 10 feet) to our kamados. That should be obvious but all too often isn’t. We should also make certain that we check it yearly to insure that the dial reads such that the needle is in the green. That means it is ready to be discharged. You need to inspect your fire extinguishers at least twice a year. Just as the local fire departments suggests that you change the batteries in your smoke alarms at changes from Daylight Savings and back to regular time (every Spring and Fall), so too I suggest you take that opportunity to inspect fire extinguishers. You can get these extinguishers at Sam’s, Costco, Home Depot, Lowe’s, and just about any office supply store. Here are couple of pictures.
Here is a close up of the trigger and meter. I'll probably be replacing this extinguisher in the fall as the needle is getting close to empty.
The second important tool in my safety tool box is a simple First Aid Kit. Here is the one I use. It's not meant to be comprehensive.
Now that we have hit the basic for any home, let's deal specifically with kamado safety.
From the very first day you light your first load of lump, you need to know that a clean kamado is a safe kamado. I ALWAYS use a drip pan under my cooks that will render a lot of fat for a variety of reasons. First, I don’t want grease building up in my kamados. Butts, briskets, and to a lesser degree other fatty meats will render a lot of fat during the course of a 12-15 hour cook. That fat can atomize in the interior of the cooking chamber. When we open the lid, a rush of oxygen rich air into the cooking chamber can cause a flash fire that can lead to some serious burns. Nobody wants that to spoil a weekend or worse. I’ve seen it happen and it’s flat dadgummed scary. Here is a YouTube Video by The Naked Whiz to graphically show you what a flashback is and how dangerous they can be. Note that while The Naked Whiz video shows really high temps, these types of flashbacks can happen all the time in dirty kamados during a low-n-slow.
http://youtu.be/6fJZpaNWGKs
There are two ways to minimize the possibility of a flashback. First, always keep your kamado clean. We’ve discussed this above. Second, always "burp" your kamado when opening it. To "burp" your kamado, all you do is lift the lid about 1/2â€-1†and hold it there briefly, about 5-7 seconds should suffice. Then it’s safe to go ahead and open your lid all the way. NOTE: I always wear my welders’ gauntlets on the hand I’ll be using to open the lid and I stand off to the side just in case. Better safe than sorry!
The other reason to use a drip pan is to keep fat from accumulating in your kamado between cooks. The fat can turn rancid in a hurry and spoil cooks with foul fumes, ruin a load of lump, and as was pointed out above, can be a real hazard.
Drip pans are simply too inexpensive/affordable not to use one on each and every cook that will be rendering fat. They are readily available from Sam’s, Costco, Wal~Mart, and any restaurant supply stores. Some folks call them Steam Table pans. They are essentially pressed thick aluminum foil and work wonderfully. I just set them directly on my heat deflectors underneath the main grate. The first is a half steam table pan and measures 12.75†x 10.375†x 2.562â€. I use these for any number of reasons: drip pan duty, baking cobblers, cooking beans, serving dishes for slaws, potato salads, etc. Here is a picture.
Here is a picture of the full sized pan. It measures 20.75" x 12.81" x 3.81" and is really useful for placing under briskets, ribs, and other big clods of meat. I also use these when applying rib to butts, ribs, briskets, chickens, etc. Here is a picture of the full sized steam table pans.
I use these pans under briskets, double butt cooks, ribs, chicken and turkey cooks, etc. I'll also use this size of steam table pan when I'm applying rub to these those proteins just mentioned. For really large parties, I'll use these for dump cakes, cobblers, etc. just as above. I make certain that I keep a good supply around the house. I consider both these size pans to be indispensable.
Alright, let's talk about handling hot items. I'm talking cooking grates, heat deflectors, smoke pots, cooked food, (supposedly) cold ash, etc. Let's start off with moving hot food. When moving hot food from the grates to either the slicing board or to wrap in foil and rest in the faux cambro, I use a pair of pretty well insulated rubber gloves. Here is a picture.
These gloves are simply indispensable to me. They are protection from the hot food, but just as importantly, they are so easily cleaned when you're finished with them. Simply wash your hands with liquid dish soap while you are wearing them and it's game, set, and match! Another great plus for these gloves is that they are impervious to hot liquids. If you're moving a half steam table pan of baked beans and some liquid sloshes over onto them, you don't get burned. There are gloves available that can handle really high temps, but they are made from woven material and are of absolutely no protection against hot liquids. These are. I know from experience.
Here are the gloves I use for moving really HOT items. They are Nomex lined heavy duty welders' gauntlets. These gloves have been in my BBQ box for a LOT of years and they have seen a lot of use in handling lump and anything really hot. I use these to move hot grates, heat deflectors, smoke pots, etc.
At this point, I want to tell you that these gloves, while great, are not impervious to heat. I haven't met the glove that is. These gloves give you a good amount of time to get things moved, but you don't have forever. You need to have your plan for moving something hot well thought out ahead of time and practiced so that you're not left holding a very hot piece of metal or ceramic. THINK AHEAD! Have a backup plan of where you'll be placing the hot item. Plan for everything to go wrong and have an alternative. Think about the safety of your children and pets. Get them out of the danger zone before you even pop the lid to grab something; have the path clear to take things from your kamado to the kitchen in the house. This means not only are kids and pets out of the way, but their toys are not in the way and no carpets are curled and pose a trip hazard.
Okay, now let's talk about how to start a fire. We've done this before, but not with an emphasis on safety. Please indulge me here. Many of us use starter cubes to light out fires. Good! All you do is place them in the lump, light them and walk away for a few minutes. The same goes with cotton balls soaked in 91% isopropyl alcohol and cooking oil soaked paper towels. Let's talk about torches of every stipe ... weed burners, MAPP, and propane. Keep the out of the hands of children. They are an invitation to disaster, especially with kids 6-10 years of age. They are fascinated with fire, especially fire that makes a lot of noise with it. I had a friend whose 8 year old son wanted to play with Dad's MAPP torch. The poor child didn't have the strength in his fingers to trip the trigger and ignite the torch, so he turned it around and used his thumbs. He ignited the torch and seriously burned his neck and upper chest. Nobody wants that kind of accident.
Everyone who uses an electric igniter, please rethink this choice. I hate electric fire starters. First, an electric, while "handy" is a rather blunt instrument in igniting lump. It ignites way too much lump for any low-n-slow that I've ever done. Second, if you use it to get to searing temps, you're not saving any time; you can get there just as quickly but lighting multiple spots in the lump pile. Why do I hate these fire starters? I've seen small children badly burned on 2 occasions because they grabbed a hot electric fire starter by reaching up to grab it off the BBQ table. Nothing ruins a great BBQ like a trip to the hospital and subsequent surgeries. I've seen a deck catch on fire from an electric starter than tipped over and started the deck on fire. These are the single most dangerous fire starters I can imagine. Here is a picture.
Okay, I'm off my soapbox.
Finally, never use your kamado under an eave of your home and most certainly never leave a lit kamado unattended during the initial phase of getting your fire up to speed. I had a buddy down in Houston who left the lid up on his kamado as he had seen me do countless times. The kamado was under an eave of his house. He forgot that the lid was up, the kamado went nuclear, and he just about burned his house to the ground. Thanks be that he was 2 blocks from a fire house. Nothing in the world is more dangerous than an unattended kamado with its belly full of lump and a small fire. You can't believe how quickly that kamado can go nuclear. If you must leave your kamado, set an alarm on your watch for no more than 7-10 minutes and shut the lid to no more than an inch opening.
Okay, that about does it for SAFETY. Thanks for reading.
Questions? Comments? Thoughts?
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