Outdoor Cooking (smoking, grilling, barbecuing, open spit, etc.)

[rob_s]

So I took y'all's advice and came home with some stuff. No grill yet, but I've agreed to buy a used Weber tomorrow in the next town over for $10. Sitting here in the kitchen is a 20 lb bag of Kingsford Original briquets, a chimney, some paraffin wax starters, and those charcoal holders that Rob linked to. And there are 4 hot dogs in the fridge which can wait until tomorrow evening.




OK, makes sense. Plain charcoal, you say? I didn't notice that in the store, but I wasn't looking for it. Do you buy it or make it? And why do you use it? Because it's cheaper or ....?

I assume by “plain” what he meant was what you got, Kingsford Original. Rather than one of the sissied-up flavored varieties...

[Welder]

I assume by “plain” what he meant was what you got, Kingsford Original. Rather than one of the sissied-up flavored varieties...

Dang, and I went and read all that stuff about how to make your own charcoal involving 55 and 30 gal barrels and fire and such.

[JAD]

Here’s a so-easy-caveman technique you can easily do with what you got plus a bag of wood chips from the grocery store, call it a smoke kiss. Works with salmon or thick bone in Iowa pork chops. Either way fill a cup with wood chips and soak them in hot water. With the fish salt and pepper the meat side (I also use some ‘Bavarian’ seasoning, which is mostly mustard seed); with the pork salt and hot peppers (ancho, chipotle).

Get the fire really hot and push the coals to one side. Over the coals sear both sides of the meat, like two minutes. For the fish place it skin down over the empty part of the grill; for the chops stand them up on their bones (I build a rack with skewers) away from the coals. Drain the chips and dump them on the coals. Cover the grill and shut the vents. Fish should take 8-10 after that, pork 10-15.

[RoyGBiv]

OK, makes sense. Plain charcoal, you say? I didn't notice that in the store, but I wasn't looking for it. Do you buy it or make it? And why do you use it? Because it's cheaper or ....?

I should have said "Kingsford Original". "Plain" was unclear.
I meant plain vs flavored or mixed wood.

Also, FWIW, burgers are more likely to pick up flavor on the grill. Hot dogs are already cooked. The grill is just reheating them.

[rob_s]

Instead of parafin cubes, I've moved to one of these. Learned that trick from this guy.

BTW, I’ve stayed in that hotel, and was so looking forward to eating there, but it turns out he’s another of these hipster douchebags that’s cocked up “traditional” southern food by adding all manner of nastiness or by substituting weird ingredients for the original delicious ones.

A few examples from their menu...

Shrimp & Grits GF 31
Cape Canaveral Rock Shrimp ~ Low Country Broth ~ Braised Fennel ~ Goat Cheese Grits

Buttermilk Fried Chicken 32
Bone Marrow Waffle ~ Smoked Turnip Mole
Hot Honey ~ Onion Jam

Diver Scallops GF 29
Sweet Potato Grits ~ Cauliflower Brown Butter ~ Wild Mushrooms

Brussel Sprouts 15
Kimchi Sauce ~ Parmesan

We ate here instead. Much, much better.

Whisper Creek Farm: The Kitchen
(407) 393-4755
https://goo.gl/maps/LGBoTMbNp3n3SSct7

ETA:
while wandering the property we did find what I believe is the smoker used for that restaurant, and my wife sat there bemused as I crawled all over it seeing how it worked, to the point that the kids wandered off bored. Eventually some hotel guy came by and asked “can I help you in a tone that suggested to me that I needed to be done.

[rob_s]

Dang, and I went and read all that stuff about how to make your own charcoal involving 55 and 30 gal barrels and fire and such.

With a name like “welder” I’d have thought that’d be right up your alley.

[UNM1136]

So why do you use the chimney and the paraffin cubes as opposed to dousing the briquets with lighter fluid and tossing a match on them like I think I've seen done elsewhere? Because of the bad stuff in the lighter fluid?

Another benefit of a chimney starter is that you can create a super hot burner. I have loaded up my charcoal starter, set it on the grill, lit it. When the coals were hot I topped it with a spare grate (or set the starter on the charcoal grate, and set the food grate on top of the starter) and seared a tuna steak, less than a minute a side and ended up with a super crust and a cool (rawish) middle. I have used the intense focused heat to quickly char skewered kababs and veg. Get a cheap wok at an asian market (non stick coatings need not apply) and you can get the bottom of the wok to red hot and do some amazing stir fries. My kids hated brussels sprouts until I stir fried them at super high heat, and leftover rice becomes outstanding fried rice when chowed in a super hot wok. I have seen Alton Brown use a chimney starter to quickly broil a porterhouse to a fantastic crust while being rare in the middle. He also did a stir fried melon salad (honeydew, cantelope, slivered red onion, mint and basil leaves and finished with feta cheese). The super hot wok would elevate that dish...<adds to shoping list>.

Hot dogs, or other cooked sausages, on skewers cook in seconds over a chimney starter. Raw sausages take a little longer, but get a great crust if monitored and turned regularly.

When I start my chimney starter I take a couple sheets of newspaper or paper towels and press them into the bottom of the chimney starter. Set it on a fireproof surface, like a cinderblock, patio concrete, or the charcoal grate of your grill. Drizzle a couple of teaspoons of cooking type oil, kind unimportant, onto the paper product, and then fill the chimney with lump charcoal. Light the paper product through the holes in the sides. The paper wicks the cooking oil around, and moistens the paper while increasing the heat produced. So it burns longer and hotter as it starts the charcoal. It takes more paper towels than you think it will, and about as much newspaper as you think it will.

When I go camping to a prepared location (a prepared campsite, or carcamping, as opposed to backcountry) I take my chimney starter and a bag of lump charcoal. Whether I am cooking in a ring of rocks, a provided grill, or a toted charcoal grill, I will not give up my chimney starter.

I also think that lighter fluid adds an unwanted, chemical flavor unless it is measured with an eyedropper, which may not get the job done in eye dropper quantities.

As far as the gas powered burner for side work, I am getting ready to start exploring a portable convection burner...https://www.cooksillustrated.com/art...duction-burner

pat

[RoyGBiv]

Another benefit of a chimney starter is that you can create a super hot burner. I have loaded up my charcoal starter, set it on the grill, lit it. When the coals were hot I topped it with a spare grate (or set the starter on the charcoal grate, and set the food grate on top of the starter) and seared a tuna steak, less than a minute a side and ended up with a super crust and a cool (rawish) middle. I have used the intense focused heat to quickly char skewered kababs and veg. Get a cheap wok at an asian market (non stick coatings need not apply) and you can get the bottom of the wok to red hot and do some amazing stir fries. My kids hated brussels sprouts until I stir fried them at super high heat, and leftover rice becomes outstanding fried rice when chowed in a super hot wok. I have seen Alton Brown use a chimney starter to quickly broil a porterhouse to a fantastic crust while being rare in the middle. He also did a stir fried melon salad (honeydew, cantelope, slivered red onion, mint and basil leaves and finished with feta cheese). The super hot wok would elevate that dish...<adds to shoping list>.

Hot dogs, or other cooked sausages, on skewers cook in seconds over a chimney starter. Raw sausages take a little longer, but get a great crust if monitored and turned regularly.

When I start my chimney starter I take a couple sheets of newspaper or paper towels and press them into the bottom of the chimney starter. Set it on a fireproof surface, like a cinderblock, patio concrete, or the charcoal grate of your grill. Drizzle a couple of teaspoons of cooking type oil, kind unimportant, onto the paper product, and then fill the chimney with lump charcoal. Light the paper product through the holes in the sides. The paper wicks the cooking oil around, and moistens the paper while increasing the heat produced. So it burns longer and hotter as it starts the charcoal. It takes more paper towels than you think it will, and about as much newspaper as you think it will.

When I go camping to a prepared location (a prepared campsite, or carcamping, as opposed to backcountry) I take my chimney starter and a bag of lump charcoal. Whether I am cooking in a ring of rocks, a provided grill, or a toted charcoal grill, I will not give up my chimney starter.

I also think that lighter fluid adds an unwanted, chemical flavor unless it is measured with an eyedropper, which may not get the job done in eye dropper quantities.

As far as the gas powered burner for side work, I am getting ready to start exploring a portable convection burner...https://www.cooksillustrated.com/art...duction-burner

pat

Lots of good ideas in there.... Thanks.

+1 on the wok. I've been doing a lot of cooking on a flat top recently (a grill topper sheet of steel) and wanted to finish some pork bulgogi the other day. Unfortunately the rains got in the way so I broke out my old enamel wok and cooked on the gas stove. I immediately added a steel, uncoated wok to my fathers day wants list. Non-stick woks are a sad imitation. Live and learn.

[rob_s]

When I go camping to a prepared location (a prepared campsite, or carcamping, as opposed to backcountry) I take my chimney starter and a bag of lump charcoal. Whether I am cooking in a ring of rocks, a provided grill, or a toted charcoal grill, I will not give up my chimney starter.

I have so come to hate cooking outside my own equipment that my solution to fixed, public(-ish), grills is a bag of matchlight, light the bag, consume enough beer that I can't taste the lighter fluid.

[RoyGBiv]

Had to get away from the computer this morning so I took a drive over to Kroger to pick up a few things on the list.... The empty spaces on the meat shelves were notable.

On the good news side, they had a bunch of Akaushi ribeyes and strips in the Wahoo bin. Marked down from $29.99/lb to $9.99 . Never tried Akaushi, so, I picked up a boneless ribeye for later in the week. I might just pick up some charcoal and try the grate-on-the-chimney trick that @UNM1136 mentioned above. I can't remember the last time I cooked over charcoal.

They also had a 3-pound Angus Tri-Tip for $9.50-ish (total price) . Wrapped that and put it in the freezer.
Looks like beef prices will be crazy for a while, until JBS recovers from their cyberattack.