I see people making burgers where the patty is an inch and a half thick and just, no.
Thin pattys squished flat and caramelized on both sides with salt and pepper and some thick cut yellow cheese and apple smoked bacon with spicy pickles and sriracha mayo on the grilled buns.
Yes Please.
First I placed a thick cut ribeye in a plastic bag with salt, pepper, garlic salt, finely chopped rosemary and EVOO and let it sit for a couple of hours in the fridge coated in love.
Next set up the kettle for reverse searing by filling a charcoal chimney half full and once the coals are ashed over dumping them into the charcoal baskets which are pushed over to the left side of the charcoal grate.
Closed the bottom vent about half way and once it got up to around 250F I placed the ribeye on the opposite side of the kettle so it was not under the coals and placed the Thermoworks probe into the middle of the steak.
I was in a hurry so I let the kettle grate temp to go at 350 degrees. Normally for a reverse sear I’d choke the vents down so I’d have grate temps around 250-275 but not a big deal either way.
Once the Thermoworks Smoke remote sensor read 100F for the internal temp of the ribeye I pulled it off and loosely tented it in foil, opened the lid and bottom vent all the way and let the steak rest off the grill for around 5 minutes while the coals in the charcoal basket get fired up really hot with the introduction of all that oxygen funneling through the charcoal baskets.
Once those coals were really going placed the steak directly over the charcoal baskets and seared each side for about 1.5 minutes. Taking internal temps with the Javelin Pro instant read thermometer. Once it hit 120 internal I took it off and placed it back in the tented foil to rest for 5 more minutes while I melted a couple of tablespoons of butter to pour over.
It was delicious.
I’ve had a Maverick 732 dual probe thermometer for years and it’s worked fine. Only problem are the preset alarm ranges are a pain in the ass to reprogram and it constantly goes off driving everyone in the house or at work nuts. The Thermoworks Smoke is a next level remote thermometer. The build quality is far superior. The display is far superior. The ease of setting or turning the alarms on or off are superior. For just a few dollars more you’ll wish you sprung for the Smoke over the Maverick if you’re serious about your Barbeque.
My lovely wife Kate got me a Slow N Sear for my 22 inch kettles and I’m finally getting around to reviewing and using it.
To purchase and read other first hand reviews- click here
Here’s the video-
The first thing you notice about it when you take it out of the box is the build quality. It’s made out of heavy duty stainless steel and won’t be rotting away any time soon.
The main reason for getting the Slow N Sear for my purposes is for cooking large hunks of meat that take up a lot of grill space. For this cook it was two large seven bone chuck roasts that if I was using the snake method, after about five hours the snake would wrap around and end up directly under the meat, causing fat to drip and meat to burn- no bueno.
The Slow N Sear keeps the charcoal contained to one side. It also protects the porcelain coating on your nicer grills from having lots of coals banked up along the side with it’s heavy stainless construction. It also keeps a nice moist cooking environment with it’s removable water pan (in the 2.0 version). The water pan can also be removed giving you more room for coals and longer cook times without refueling.
For this cook I tried to follow the manufacturer instructions closely. I lit a Weber starter cube in one corner and arranged about 7 coals around it. When placing the coals around the lit starter cube be careful to not snuff out the starter cube. I didn’t snuff it out but I could see how it could happen if you weren’t careful.
After the coals were going sufficiently I filled the rest of the Slow N Sear 2.0 with briquettes leaving a little space for some peach wood (thanks Joe Ball) and cherry wood chips.
Next I boiled a quart of water and carefully poured it into the water pan. it sizzled (just like the manufacturer said it would) so I’d recommend you pour it using a oven mitt in case of splatter.
After that closed the lid and let the kettle come up to 175 degrees before adjusting the vents. I closed the top vent 1/2 way and the bottom vent about half way and later adjusted the top vent to closed about 3/4 of the way.
I started at 7:40AM and she was hovering around 225 when I put the two six pound chucks on the opposite side of the grill with foil and foil pans lining the opposite side of the charcoal grate to catch the liquid gold drippings which we’d later reincorporate into the pulled beef.
At 10AM she was rocking along at about 250-260 and at 12:30 the temps dropped a little to the 210 range. I still had spent coals and some that weren’t lit yet in the end of the Slow N Sear opposite the end where we initially started the coals with the starter cube. The charcoal grate temps dropped to 210 and then 200 right around the time the chucks were entering the stall at 160 degrees F internal. scratching my head I figured out why. It was dropping because the spent ash needed to be knocked down. It was restricting air flow. This is shown in a video by Baby Back Maniac in a YouTube who shows that you clear your spent ash when you refuel.
So I added about a third of a chimney of unlit briquettes to the Slow N Sear after knocking down the spent ash and we were back on track.
At 2:30 the chucks were at 173 degrees F internal and I wrapped them in double foil and placed them back on the kettle and opened the top vent all the way and the bottom vent about half way letting the kettle climb up to around 270-280.
Once the chucks reached 205 I pulled them off, put them on a cutting board, poured the drippings from the foil pan and juices from inside the foil wrap into a bowl and mixed it with the beef as I shredded it. The chucks rendered down perfectly and were all jiggly and moist and incredibly flavorful. The guests devoured the pulled beef on rolls made by my friend Susan Lipsett and mango slaw from my Sister Felicia and Sweet Baby Rays Vidalia Onion BBQ Sauce.
The Slow N Sear is an excellent piece of equipment. It is well built, well designed and helps maintain temps for long cooks with large cuts of meat weather it be ribs or brisket of big slabs of chuck.
I recommend it if you cook a lot of large cuts of meat like full packer briskets or multiple pork butts.
To purchase and read other first hand reviews- click here
Northeast BBQ 