Upper Deck Warming/Smoking/Grilling Accessory For 22 inch Kettles

Teaser for my review- (I haven’t even taken it completely out of the box but initial impressions from the quick peek are how thick and sturdy the build quality is)

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Found on Amazon Here-

Stainless Steel Warming Rack and Grill Grate- For Use with 22.5 Inch Weber Kettle- Charcoal Grilling Accessory

As I said before the build quality is thick like Weber’s Gourmet Grate System.

Here is how I started out.  A regular smoke set-up using the snake method.  The Country Style Pork Ribs offset of the coals with apple chunk and cherry wood chips.

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Next to add the Upper Deck.  It fit right in place and there were no issues with clearance of the lid.

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The Upper deck provides a whole lot of extra space.  it is billed as a warmig rack but I think where it will shine is with that huge amount of extra space it affords you when smoking.

Next I dropped onto the Upper Deck a porcetta roast and set up the Maverick remote thermometer.

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When the country style pork ribs had the color I wanted I slid a Weber disposable tin pan under with some Sweet Baby rays and coated the ribs, then covered with aluminum foil to let them braise for about 40 minutes. The tin pan fit perfectly under the Upper Deck unit allowing a continuation of indirect cooking while still having the porcetta roast unfazed on the “Upper Deck”

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My Sister Topped The Smoked Porcetta with Her Carrot Cake Marmalade, Yum!

Find the recipe for that on her website www.sistafeliciaskitchen.com

Carrot Cake Marmalade

smokedporcetta

Would not have been possible to cook both things at the same time on my kettle without the Upper Deck.  Obviously with the incredible build quality and huge cook space increase, this is an absolute no brainer purchase.

 

#Porkribs 7/22/16 on the @WeberGrills Kettle with assistance from the Performer

Results

Obviously I love BBQ cooking.  I love the versatility and ease of using two kettles but if I were only going to own one it would have to be a Performer.  That cart just makes everything so simple and convenient.  Being able to rest your tray of prepped food of hold your remote thermometer sensor makes things so simple.  When you factor in the gas assist for starting your coals, to me, it’s a no-brainer to go with a Performer.

When you consider the fact that unlike gas grills , a Weber Kettle can easily last you over 20 years with the bare minimum of care and you divide out the cost of ownership over all those years, I’d recommend you buy a Performer every time.  It’s only a couple hundred more and when you think that you probably only get 5 years on average out of a gas grill, the Weber Performer Charcoal grill with gas-assist will outlast a gasser by 4 times as long.

Anyway here was my set-up for some pork ribs that went on at 7:41 AM to be ready for lunch!

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Snake method charcoal set-up with apple chunks and cherry chips. Ribs slathered with frenches yellow mustard and then rubbed with the Paul Prudhomme rub.  Wait til pit temps hit 225 and then toss the ribs on offset the coals.  Then let er rip.  The top vent wide open bottom vent wide open.  Because we are using the snake method, only a portion of the coals are hot at a time as it works it’s way around the bowl.

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Results:

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#Beef #Ribs Hit The @WeberGrills Kettle At 6:04AM @CaptJoeLobster

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Picked out some nice meaty Beef back Ribs At Stop and Shop East Gloucester

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Changed Up the rub from my usual Beef Rub of just Salt and Pepper.  Went with Paul Prudhomme Blackened Magic, Some Turbinado Sugar, Steakhouse Seasoning (It’s just like Montreal Steak Seasoning) Atlantic Saltworks Salt and some Black Pepper.

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Set up the Kettle using the snake method with Kingsford briquettes, Mesquite chunks and cherry wood chips.

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3.5 hours she ran between 250-300 and I didn’t adjust the vents once.

Done-

It was quite a session yesterday on one of Smokin Jim’s old smokers

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#bbq Bitches!

A post shared by Joey C (@captjoe06) on

 

Live Smoking- #Beef #Ribs Hit The Freshly Refurbished 2008 @webergrills One Touch Gold Kettle at 5:20AM @CaptJoeLobster #GloucesterMA #BBQ

4:40AM Light The Chimney with about 12 Kingsford briquettes and set up the pit for snake method smoking using mesquite chunks and cherry wood chips.

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Outside conditions 39 degrees with a light drizzle.

I’m trying a little something different as the beef ribs are so rich and I wanted to cut back on the salt so I put together a beef rub consisting of-

3 tbsp restaurant grind black pepper

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp sugar

2 tsp granulated garlic

2 tsp ancho powder

1 tsp cayenne powder

At the dollar store I picked up this $1 sugar shaker to use to disperse the rub.

First a light slather of yellow mustard for the rub adhesive and then  I applied ground Himalayan salt to the ribs as if I was seasoning a steak ( a lot less salt than the 50/50 pepper salt ratio I was using before).  Once the salt was on I shook on the rub using the sugar shaker.

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5:20AM Ribs Hit The Kettle-

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6:57 Update: Temps have fluctuated from 250- 325.  I’m not sweating the temps, they’ll be done when they’re done.

9:40AM.  Probably the first time ever that I didn’t lift the lid once start to finish.  The temps within the first hour varied from 250-325 but after exactly two adjustments she settled into a much tighter range of 270-289.

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They were fantastic but probably could have benefited for spritzing at 20 minute intervals during the final hour.  I also will absolutely use this rub again as they had a much better pepper/salt flavor.

 

 

 

Live Smoke- Texas Style #Beef #Ribs On The @WeberGrills Kettle On www.northeastbbq.com

Follow along the live smoke all morning at www.northeastbbq.com

5:30AM Set up the kettle with a aluminum pan filled with water and briquettes set up snake style around the bowl for a low and slow sesh.  Lit 12 briquettes inn the chimney and dumped them on the left end of the trail of briquettes which we’re looking to gradually catch and provide steady even heat between 275-300 degrees.  using cherry chips and mesquite chunks.

I’m not sure if it’s just our local Stop and Shop market that pre-cuts the racks of beef ribs or if it’s done elsewhere as well.  I buy what’s on sale usually and they had 2.4 lbs on sale for $2.24 per lb so I couldn’t pass them up (you can’t see the sale tag in the first picture).

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Slathered them up lightly with yellow mustard and applied a generous coating of coarse salt and black pepper (Texas Style rub).

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The pit set up and getting up to temp.  Water in the pan to keep a moist smoking environment-

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6:24 The Beef Ribs Hit the pit.

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8:39AM Cranking along Grate temp 284 degrees. Only adjusted the vents once since 6:24AM  Got a ways to go.  Haven’t opened the lid once.  “If you’re looking-you ain’t cookin.”

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9:54AM 3.5 hours in-

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11:45AM- They’re all jiggly and the probe slides right in so it’s time to take ’em off-

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Holy Crap I Can’t Believe I Promised Everyone Smoked #Ribs In A Snowstorm Live Blog

All month long I’ve been looking forward to the first Patriots playoff game to smoke up some ribs for the crew.  Babyback ribs were on sale so I picked up three racks and looked at the forecast yesterday which said the rain and snow was supposed to stop between noon and 2pm today.

Well fast forward to today and there’s no rain at all, instead it’s a full on sideways huge wind snowstorm.

Not to be deterred by the weather we forge ahead!

Babybacks were on sale at Stop and Shop yesterday but they didn’t have them in yet and would be frozen so I went to Market Basket, paid a little more from them but they were in the case unfrozen.

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Took the ribs out of the cryovac and gave them a thorough rinse.

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Next piercing the sinewy membrane on the bone side of the ribs and peeled off the membrane.  This is not difficult at all.  just carefully slide your knife under the membrane til you get to the other side and once you have enough lifted away from the meat take a paper towel to help you grip the membrane and pull it away from the rib.  It may take one or two trys to get it all off but this step should not intimidate you.  It’s alot easier than it looks.

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Once the membrane is off pat the ribs down with a paper towel to get them dry of any excess moisture from when you washed them.

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Next slather a small amount of yellow mustard on the ribs which is used to help adhere the rub to the ribs.  You won’t taste the yellow mustard it’s simply used to aid in adhering the rub so there’s no need to go out and purchase some fancy expensive mustard for this.

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Now for the rub.  I use the Paul Prudhomme rub for just about everything.  It’s fantastic.  Apply liberally on all sides and let the ribs rest for a couple hours.

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Next to set up the Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker.

The wind is driving the snow sideways .  Going out for ten minutes my sweater is completely drenched with wet snow.  Took about ten minutes just to get the chimney lit.

Set up the smoker using the minion method with the charcoal basket at the bottom of the smoker hollowed out and the inside circumference of the charcoal basket lined with briquettes, cherry wood chips and apple chunks.  Once the 1/3 of a chimney of briquettes got going I dumped them into the center of the charcoal basket, looking for a gradual build up in temperatures to 225-250.

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So now that the pit temps hit 200 we toss the Ribs on

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Luckily last weekend I bought a nice plastic cover for the Maverick remote temperature gauge/  These things don’t like to get wet and today probably would have fried the unit if it wasn’t in the plastic housing.  $2.99 cents at Ocean State Job Lot was a good insurance policy for the sensor to stay dry.

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Two hours in I wasn’t satisfied with the color, and the Weber Smokey Mountain had been cruising along at 225.  I opened the fuel door and saw quite a bit of charcoal had been used up.  Figuring we needed another two hours of heat and looking for a little more heat I fired up 2/3 a chimney of briquettes and added them to the charcoal basket.  I also mixed up a container of a couple of tablespoons of Stubbs BBQ sauce, a couple of ounces of apple cider vinegar and a tablespoon of tabasco sauce and spritzed the ribs.

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The snow has stopped, it’s just raw and cold out but the extra lit charcoal has helped the temps on the pit climb.

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2:45PM Pull the ribs off the pit and foil them.

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A drizzle of honey, a drizzle of Sweet Baby Rays and a light sprinkle of brown sugar. Ribs foiled meat side down and back on the smoker.

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3:30 Update Unwrapped the ribs and put them back on the pit.  Was careful to collect the drippings from the foil to add into the final BBQ sauce for an extra kick. Dipping my fingers into the drippings all I can say is OMG.  Difficult to have patience but we’re gonna let the bark firm up for another 45 minutes or so. Pit temp is 350

3:40 Update Just gave the ribs the final spritz with a combination of the drippings from the foil, The stubbs, the tabasco sauce and apple cider vinegar mixture.  Opened all the vents to try to get everything to caramelize as much as possible.  Will pull off at 4:00PM

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The money shot-
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Country Style Pork Ribs On the @webergrills Kettle

Live Smoke Follow Along At http://www.northeastbbq.com

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One Hour In Pit Temp 260

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Two hours in pit temp 250 internal temp 162
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2:45 IN MOPPED WITH BBQ SAUCE
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Pulled all but three ribs off when they hit 150 degrees internal temp.  Wrapped those three ribs in foil and let them on for an additional hour.

The ribs when unwrapped were wet from the moisture contained so I tossed them over the coals and flipped a couple of times to firm up the bark.

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Live Smoke- Beef Back Ribs And Pork

Follow along this morning at www.northeastbbq.com

External Temp 36 Degrees

5:10AM Set Up Smoker using minion method. Looking to get a controlled temp around 275.  Using Kingsford Briquettes, Apple Chunks from Russell Orchards in Ipswich MA and Cherry wood chips for smoke.

Lightly slathered ribs with Texas Pete Hot Sauce and used Paul Prudhomme Blackened Rub.

Once pit temps hit 180 degrees closed two out of the three bottom vents and left one wide open.  After climbing to 200 degrees closed bottom vent a third of the way looking to not let the pit get too stoked and fight temps on the high side throughout the smoke.  Aiming for 275 degrees.

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6:00AM Meat Hits The Smoker- Current Weather Conditions-

current temp

 

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7:15AM Update  Looking Good Pit Temp 250 Opened second bottom vent halfway to get pit temps up just a bit.  Developing some nice color on the ribs.

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Smoke billowing out makes me happy 🙂

8:15AM Update:

Nice Bark Forming On The Beef Ribs.

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Pork Burnt Ends Ready To Come Off To Sauce

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10:55AM Update beef Ribs Are Probe Tender

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#Bark

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#SmokeRing

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