2022 Official Gratuitous Grilling/BBQ/Cooking Thread

[Rookie]

Get a couple moving blankets for those cold, windy days...

 

[phylodog]

Neighbors bought me a BBQ book for Christmas so I smoked them a pork butt last night/today. Dropped it off and they had it for dinner and seemed very pleased with it. I cooked on my Big Green Egg because I din't want to burn through a ton of wood trying to get and keep my big smoker up to temp.

 

[mike4sigs]

Neighbors bought me a BBQ book for Christmas so I smoked them a pork butt last night/today. Dropped it off and they had it for dinner and seemed very pleased with it. I cooked on my Big Green Egg because I din't want to burn through a ton of wood trying to get and keep my big smoker up to temp.

What Brand Charcoal do you prefer.

 

[Hoosierdood]

What Brand Charcoal do you prefer.

I use Kamado Joe or B&B in my Kamado. Occasionally when I’m just doing a quick grill, I’ll use Cowboy.

 

[Hoosierdood]

Ribs turned out pretty good today despite it being 15 degrees and snowing. Also made some corn bread in my cast iron pan.

 

[w_ADAM_d88]

Get a couple moving blankets for those cold, windy days...

Welding blanket, no fear of it getting to hot and catching on fire. $20 on Amazon or Harbor Freight.

 

[mike4sigs]

Looks good Hoosierdood
did you do the Cornbread on the grill also

 

[Hoosierdood]

Looks good Hoosierdood
did you do the Cornbread on the grill also

No, I just cooked it in the oven. But it was still delicious.

 

[Bill2905]

It's too cold today to be outside grilling so we made some vegetable beef soup in the crock pot - beef sirloin, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, green beans, corn and onion in beef broth.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I smoked a couple meat loafs Saturday. I am *so* happy with the Kamado Joe. Not having to sit outside and babysit when it's 9 degrees means it's so much more likely I'll actually use it. It doesn't use much more wood, either.

My wife bought some ribs at Wal-mart for $1.79/lb. Smithfield is the brand, I think. That's probably next weekend's meal plan.

 

[Hatin Since 87]

I smoked a couple meat loafs Saturday. I am *so* happy with the Kamado Joe. Not having to sit outside and babysit when it's 9 degrees means it's so much more likely I'll actually use it. It doesn't use much more wood, either.

My wife bought some ribs at Wal-mart for $1.79/lb. Smithfield is the brand, I think. That's probably next weekend's meal plan.

That’s pretty much the same as the green egg isn’t it? I use a cheater smoker (pellet) and sometimes an offset stick burner, but the stick burner requires constant supervision. On the kamado, do you still have to add wood every hour or 2, or how does that work? Curious cause you mentioned you don’t have to babysit it...

The pellet smoker doesn’t get as much wood flavor, so I’d like to get a real wood burner but the offset it a pain.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

That’s pretty much the same as the green egg isn’t it? I use a cheater smoker (pellet) and sometimes an offset stick burner, but the stick burner requires constant supervision. On the kamado, do you still have to add wood every hour or 2, or how does that work? Curious cause you mentioned you don’t have to babysit it...

The pellet smoker doesn’t get as much wood flavor, so I’d like to get a real wood burner but the offset it a pain.

It is the same concept as the BGE, just a different brand and it's red instead of green. You get more for your money with the KJ, in my opinion. It comes with several accessories that are extra on the BGE and the hardware is easy to use and top shelf. If you want one, I highly recommend atlantagrillcompany.com as they have lower than minimum advertised pricing. You won't see the price until it's in the cart, though. Free shipping, and they don't charge sales tax so be sure to send it in to the state on your own to remain legal...

I have the Big Joe II. It's more money, but the bigger grill surface lets me do 10 lbs of chicken breasts at one time without adding a second layer of racks, or more ribs at a time, etc.

You do not have to add wood. You put natural lump charcoal in the firebox inside and then control the temperature with air flow. The air flow is so well regulated that if you shut down both the draw and the chimney completely it will smother the fire and save your charcoal for the next cook. How long you can go depends on fuel, temperature, etc. but I've went 12 hours overnight without touching it. For 'low and slow' and with good lumps you can supposedly go 16-18 hours.

I have a cheap offset stick burner as well, and you constantly have to fiddle with it, especially in the wind. The KJ's chimney is pretty wind resistant as well. Even if you get wind flares, the ceramic holds so much thermal mass the temps stay real steady. It also holds moisture in very well, as the insides stay pretty humid.

 

[Hatin Since 87]

It is the same concept as the BGE, just a different brand and it's red instead of green. You get more for your money with the KJ, in my opinion. It comes with several accessories that are extra on the BGE and the hardware is easy to use and top shelf. If you want one, I highly recommend atlantagrillcompany.com as they have lower than minimum advertised pricing. You won't see the price until it's in the cart, though. Free shipping, and they don't charge sales tax so be sure to send it in to the state on your own to remain legal...

I have the Big Joe II. It's more money, but the bigger grill surface lets me do 10 lbs of chicken breasts at one time without adding a second layer of racks, or more ribs at a time, etc.

You do not have to add wood. You put natural lump charcoal in the firebox inside and then control the temperature with air flow. The air flow is so well regulated that if you shut down both the draw and the chimney completely it will smother the fire and save your charcoal for the next cook. How long you can go depends on fuel, temperature, etc. but I've went 12 hours overnight without touching it. For 'low and slow' and with good lumps you can supposedly go 16-18 hours.

I have a cheap offset stick burner as well, and you constantly have to fiddle with it, especially in the wind. The KJ's chimney is pretty wind resistant as well. Even if you get wind flares, the ceramic holds so much thermal mass the temps stay real steady. It also holds moisture in very well, as the insides stay pretty humid.

Thanks! After I read your post earlier I googled it and read some reviews trying to find out some more info, but nobody really gets descriptive in product reviews. Your post answered everything I was wondering, thanks.

That sounds exactly like what I’m wanting. I like the stick burner flavor, just hate the temp maintaining during the cook. The pellet is nice because it’s set it and forget it, but it doesn’t get the same bark on the meat. That sounds like the low maintenance of a pellet grill with the flavor of a stick burner. I do a lot of overnight cooks, so that sounds perfect.


Now to convince the other half why I need to spend another grand on something to cook with.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Thanks! After I read your post earlier I googled it and read some reviews trying to find out some more info, but nobody really gets descriptive in product reviews. Your post answered everything I was wondering, thanks.

That sounds exactly like what I’m wanting. I like the stick burner flavor, just hate the temp maintaining during the cook. The pellet is nice because it’s set it and forget it, but it doesn’t get the same bark on the meat. That sounds like the low maintenance of a pellet grill with the flavor of a stick burner. I do a lot of overnight cooks, so that sounds perfect.


Now to convince the other half why I need to spend another grand on something to cook with.

I paid $1500 for mine and I cried a little. I had a touching funeral for the money so I got to say my goodbyes. My wife was the one who really pushed it, she likes me smoking/grilling and was wanting something I'd use more often. I kept my wallet clamped for probably two months before relenting. I say that so you have some idea of how tough it was for me to spend the money. It was well worth it.

You are getting probably 90% of the flavor of a stick burner with 5% of the work. I use lump charcoal from a specialty shop in Beech Grove (40 lb bags are about the price of 20 lb bags at box stores) and put a couple chunks of flavor wood in once the fire is going. Clean smoke comes on in just a few minutes. Add food.

Comes with heat deflectors as well, you can do direct heat on half and indirect on half if you like. We also got a rotisserie with both prongs and a basket. Basket is *great* for wings. Prongs will handle two chickens or one medium turkey.

 

[Hatin Since 87]

I paid $1500 for mine and I cried a little. I had a touching funeral for the money so I got to say my goodbyes. My wife was the one who really pushed it, she likes me smoking/grilling and was wanting something I'd use more often. I kept my wallet clamped for probably two months before relenting. I say that so you have some idea of how tough it was for me to spend the money. It was well worth it.

You are getting probably 90% of the flavor of a stick burner with 5% of the work. I use lump charcoal from a specialty shop in Beech Grove (40 lb bags are about the price of 20 lb bags at box stores) and put a couple chunks of flavor wood in once the fire is going. Clean smoke comes on in just a few minutes. Add food.

Comes with heat deflectors as well, you can do direct heat on half and indirect on half if you like. We also got a rotisserie with both prongs and a basket. Basket is *great* for wings. Prongs will handle two chickens or one medium turkey.

I’ve got a duck in the freezer I’ve been dying to cook, but everything I’ve read suggests a rotisserie to do it. I’ve been wanting one, but not bad enough to buy just a rotisserie... if it’s an add on to something I do want that sweetens the deal and makes the hit to the wallet feel less drastic. I didn’t realize they were big enough to hook a rotisserie up inside. I guess I always pictured them being just big enough for a couple pork butts, tightly arranged to make room. I think the mid sized would be enough space for my normal needs. I couldn’t see justifying the cost for the bigger model for the extra space I’d rarely use.

Only other question I really have is how hard is it to clean? Does it have a coal basket that comes out from the bottom, or do you access it from the top where the grates are? If I needed to add more coals during a cook is it accessible from the side or do you have to remove the food from the top to do it?

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I’ve got a duck in the freezer I’ve been dying to cook, but everything I’ve read suggests a rotisserie to do it. I’ve been wanting one, but not bad enough to buy just a rotisserie... if it’s an add on to something I do want that sweetens the deal and makes the hit to the wallet feel less drastic. I didn’t realize they were big enough to hook a rotisserie up inside. I guess I always pictured them being just big enough for a couple pork butts, tightly arranged to make room. I think the mid sized would be enough space for my normal needs. I couldn’t see justifying the cost for the bigger model for the extra space I’d rarely use.

Only other question I really have is how hard is it to clean? Does it have a coal basket that comes out from the bottom, or do you access it from the top where the grates are? If I needed to add more coals during a cook is it accessible from the side or do you have to remove the food from the top to do it?

The grate is two pieces, so if you were using both you'd need to remove the food to add wood. There's not much to cleaning, other than grates as any grill. Use the poker to stir up the left over charcoal, ash falls into a little removable drawer/scoop in the bottom, pull out drawer and dump.

I would go to Lowes or somewhere that has them in person and see the grate size before ordering.

 

[BigRed]

And away we go....
Let's see if I can hold a steady 250 on a full packer with a Weber Smokey Mountain smoker when it is getting down to 15 degrees.

 

[hoosierdaddy1976]

No big birds in the store, so two 15 lbers will do.

 

[Rookie]

I prefer 12-15 pounders. They're usually more tender.

 

[phylodog]

If the Kamado Joe offerings were around back when I bought my egg I'd have probably bought a Joe. I'm perfectly happy with me BGE but the Joe does have features and options that would be very nice to have.

Once my best friend gets his barndominium built on the farm I may donate the egg and upgrade to a KJ for home use.