Before-
One of each of the following that can be found at any self respecting Hardware Store. This one was Ace Hardware at Gloucester Crossing.
1-1/4 Diameter 1/4-20 Female thread general purpose ball knob.
1/4-20 1 inch hex bolt.stainless
1/4 lock washer stainless
1/4-20 nut stainless
1/4 inch drill bit. Go slow. Once drilled feed the bolt through the drilled lid vent tab, then slide the lock washer and next the nut. Tighten and then screw the ball knob on. Done.
Rubbed Chuck roast with Worcestershire sauce and Trader Joe’s coffee and garlic rub.
Cut up red onion, orange and green bell peppers, garlic and added beef broth and more Worcestershire sauce to the tin that is laced under the Chuck on the grill.
Set up grill using snake method and have tray with veggies and beef broth under to collect drippings. Pit temp 265.
At East Gloucester Stop and Shop supermarket this morning and these frozen pizzas were on sale. They looked good and because I’m always trying to discover more things to prepare on the kettle i thought I’d give it a shot. I didn’t have access to a pizza stone at the dock so this is how it’s going down-
Starting out with a Sreamin’ Sicilian Frozen Pizza.
Fire up the kettle with a heaping chimney full of coals and the charcoal baskets pushed wide apart so we can place the pizza in the middle for indirect cooking. A chunk of cherry for smoke. also a couple of slivers of foil to guard the edges of the pizza from where they would be over the charcoal baskets so the pizza won’t burn.
Tossed the frozen pizza on and added a generous amount of extra shredded cheese-
Set the timer for 18 minutes. I’ll report back.
So 18 minutes later and its done-
I’d say its a 5 on a scale from 1-10. If we didn’t live in a community full of awesome Italian bakeries and pizzerias it would probably score a little higher. Anywhere else like say the Midwest it’s probably a 6.5.
Edible, and just OK but I won’t be seeking it out any time soon to do again.
She came to me in good physical shape. Solid frame, a few minor scrapes around the rim on the lid but in need of a deep cleaning.
Before and after.
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Working gas- assist
Hit the leftover mashed potatos and meatloaf with smoke for about a half hour in the Lodge Cast Iron Skillet with some charcoal and mesquite wood for smoke. when the edges just start to brown up, drizzle a little Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce and Shredded Cheddar and let it all melt on in there. A winner for sure.
The same treatment is great for leftover pizza as well-let it crisp up a bit and then hit it with the Sweet Baby Rays and let it go for another ten minutes or so. Yummy!
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After James’ Cleaning
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Much of the blame for the obsessive hobby of finding and cleaning up old Beautiful Weber Grills can be placed squarely on the shoulders of the founders and members of the Weber Kettle Club
7:20AM Cleaned the mackerel by head and gutting them and then making cuts every 3/4 of an inch down each side of the fish so the marinade will penetrate.
Next patted them dry with paper towels and placed them in my go-to fish marinade-
soy/ginger/sesame seed/red pepper flakes.
I’ll let them sit in the marinade til 9:30 or so. Check back around 10 for the next update!
9:45 AM
Changed plans and opted for the Kettle as it was such a small cook. Set up the kettle for the snake method (arrange a fuse of coals around the perimeter so the coals act as a fuse with only so many coals going at once) looking for 225-250 degree grate temps.
Once it hit 200 I shut down the bottom vent to 3/4 closed and left the top vent wide open.
Placed the mackerel on offset of the coals.
Started out with full charcoal baskets and let the charcoal get going pretty good. Put a sear on the pork on all sides and then covered the pork tenderloins with Chef G’s Bacon Marmalade. Let it firm up and then pulled the loins off, wrapped in foil for ten minutes to let the juices redistribute within the meat and then sliced them for some sheer heaven.
Thanks Chef G-
Check Out Chef G’s Facebook page for more info–
Ingredients, 3 medium russet potatos, four thick cut strips of bacon, some shredded three cheese Mexican blend, canola oil, coarse salt, cracked black pepper, your favorite BBQ rub, sour cream and chopped scallions (optional).
First you select some medium sized russet potatos and pierce them with a fork about three times on opposing sides of the potato. Then toss ’em in the microwave for 3 and a half minutes to soften them up. Let them cool a bit so you can slice them into just under a quarter inch discs.
Coat with canola, peanut or olive oil, some coarse salt black pepper and if you have a little rub laying around give ’em a sprinkle of that too. If you use a cheap aluminum disposable pan you can use that to toss the potatos in the oil and seasonings and then put it aside for use after they crisp up on the grill.
Set up your charcoal in the middle of the kettle and get your coals glowing red before you arrange the potato discs on the outside perimeter of the grate so it is offset of the coals. I pretty much always use charcoal baskets so I can control where I want the charcoal. If cooking steaks I want high concentrated heat to sear so I’ll place my steaks directly over searing hot coals. But for this , we want the high heat to act as convection to crisp up the potato discs not burn them.
So after about 25-30 minutes offset along the perimeter of the grate they should be a golden crispy color like thick potato chips. You can also experiment with the thickness. I like a little beefier potato disc but you can make them thinner like chips.
Next take the pan that you tossed with the oil and seasonings and place the crisped up potato discs back in, it’s good if there’s a little residual oil in the bottom of the pan. Next cover with shredded Mexican cheese or really any kind of cheese you’d like, you can use cheddar or sprinkle some shaved Romano on there. Top with the bacon bits and close the lid for about five minutes to let that cheese melt in. After that you can serve with a side of sour cream, garnish with some chopped up scallions, the sky’s the limit. I cooked up some of Kate’s fantastic turkey burgers directly over the hot coals after spraying the grates with some non-stick spray while the potatos were in the aluminum pan offset the coals along side of the charcoal baskets.
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!
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.
Results:
Northeast BBQ 