Porkchop Posted August 9, 2006 Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 had the night off from job 2 last night so i decided to load up kong. filled a chimney with cowboy lump, plus another chimney raw in the lumpsaver. got the coals going and took the tinfoil off of the upper stack and opened the lower draft a couple inches. when the cooker reached 250, i threw cherry chips on the coals and i put the following on DIRECT: 6 1/2# burgers made the way my wife likes: hidden valley ranch mexican 5 fresh brats 7 boneless skinless chicken breasts chicken was liberally seasoned with Tony Chacere's cajun rub. funny thing; i've never used pre-mixed rubs before i started coming to this forum. i REALLY liked the TC cajun; a bit salty but with a really nice kick. anyway, chicken breasts and brats on the top grill, burgers on the main. flipped the burgers after like 10 min, and then the chicken and brats. after the second flip on the burgers (they were very close to done), i just put them on top of the food on the top grill, cause the brats and chickens weren't getting the full benefit of the direct heat with the burgers in the way. i've had pretty good success with this style of grilling; that is, before you get all the way up to temp, you throw on smoke wood and let the food absorb smoke while the cooker comes up to grilling temps. i ended up grilling at about 400 direct. the brats were BEEE-utiful; golden brown and crusty, yet juicy and smoky. the burgers also great, well done and juicy (i added rooster sauce along with the HVR powder), and the chicken breasts were juicy and HOT! yummy all! can't wait til i get my KK so's i can stop fiddling with tinfoil when i want to cook. i'm putting off another pulled pork cook til i get larry! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeDJ16 Posted August 9, 2006 Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 Re: Mixed Grill last night! (sorry, no pics...) chicken was liberally seasoned with Tony Chacere's cajun rub. funny thing; i've never used pre-mixed rubs before i started coming to this forum. i REALLY liked the TC cajun; a bit salty but with a really nice kick. Tony Chachere's is my favorite premade season mix. It makes a great hamburger too. It is great on grilled pork chops - . If you like it a bit more spicy, they made a slightly spicier version too (http://www.tonychachere.com/). While I do not care for their premade box foods, they do put out some pretty good products besides the season; such as their roux and gravy mixes. Also, the best french fry season in the world is to take half Tony Chachere's and half sugar (I kick it up a little more with extra cayenne) and sprinkle this blend on fresh cut fries as soon as they come out of the fryer. Then dip them in ranch dressing - OMG that is good. Sounds really weird having sugar in a fry season, but once you get over thinking it sounds really odd and actually try this, you will be freaked out by how good it is. Hmm, I think I will post this in the recipe sides section too. -=Jasen=- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rojack Posted August 9, 2006 Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 Does cooking on multiple racks affect the dome temp reading? Not just wide things like pizza but anything. I have heard someone say their dome temp gauge will not go above 300 when anything is on the top rack and that they basically have to wing it unless it is butts or something that they put a probe into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porkchop Posted August 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 It depends... i do a lot of upper dome cooking, esp. butts. drip pan goes on main grid. cement "pizza stone" on the lower bracket. temp-wise, i have my cooker stabilized before i put food on for an overnite, so i already know what i'm dealing with, and don't futz with the drafts if the temp changes. the dome eventually reads at the right temp. i did notice the occluded main grid did prevent some of the food on the upper grid from browning last nite. but that was direct. on an indirect cook, i haven't experienced much of a variance. but i wouldn't really know, cause i dont take a "grid" temp vs a "dome" temp like alot of the eggers do. just doesn't rank as much a concern for me. i get my dome at around 250 and everything goes about the way i expect... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curly Posted August 9, 2006 Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 I'm like you PC, I don't get that technical...that's why God made TNW I guess, to run our speriments for us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rojack Posted August 9, 2006 Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 What I meant was if you put the grill at say 500 and put on a pizza the dome temp will drop when you open the dome because the thermometer swings away from the heat, when you close it after putting the pizza on the thermometer will not go above 300 even though you know it is. A pizza would not be that critical because it will cook in about 10 minutes give or take a few. Say for example if you put wings on the main grill and potatoes on the upper grill same thing temp would not go up past 300. You know what you started with for a temp but after the food is on there because of the dome reading not going back up you really don!t know unless you just take for granted it will return to exactly where it was but couldn!t two grids of food affect the temp and require a small change which you would not know because of the false reading. Burgers would not matter but what about something you want at 350 for an hour? Are you saying you get the temp to where you want it put on the food and forget about the temperature at that point? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porkchop Posted August 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 Well... couple things to consider 1) your pizza example. depending on how long you let the ceramic cooker sit there at temp, there wouldn't be a temp drop. once the walls of the cooker heat up to, say 600-650 (about what i do for pizza), they resist dropping temperature. so you might get a burst of cool air that drops the air temp in the cooker, the inner walls remain around 600, and will heat up that small volume of air, along with the burning lump, very quickly. 2) chicken wings and potatoes. again, "heat soaking the walls" will make sure that the temps dont drop. so, even tho you're blocking the upper grill items from "direct" heat of the coals with the food on the lower grid, the heat radiating from the upper dome will brown the top rather than the grill side of the meat. incidently, that's the neat thing about the OTB; upper dome is at a more uniform height in relation to the grid, so heat radiated from the upper dome will cook the meat evenly. tho, i guess i'll have to wait a little while to find this out. bottom line, if you preheat to the temp you want to cook at, and let the walls "heat soak", you shouldn't have any problem "getting over 300", imo. while the influx of cool air, and the loading of (lots) of cool meat will tend to cause the heat to drop, it would be a temporary situation. the temp should bounce back fairly quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeDJ16 Posted August 9, 2006 Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 What I meant was if you put the grill at say 500 and put on a pizza the dome temp will drop when you open the dome because the thermometer swings away from the heat, when you close it after putting the pizza on the thermometer will not go above 300 even though you know it is. A pizza would not be that critical because it will cook in about 10 minutes give or take a few. Say for example if you put wings on the main grill and potatoes on the upper grill same thing temp would not go up past 300. You know what you started with for a temp but after the food is on there because of the dome reading not going back up you really don!t know unless you just take for granted it will return to exactly where it was but couldn't!t two grids of food affect the temp and require a small change which you would not know because of the false reading. Burgers would not matter but what about something you want at 350 for an hour? Are you saying you get the temp to where you want it put on the food and forget about the temperature at that point? Hmm, I have never really heard anyone mentioning this before (no more than the usual question of why the dome temp did not match the polder grill temp and the like). I know when I had a K and used the upper rack it never happened to me. I used it a bunch to cook pizza and set it around 600 dome temp with no problems. I would imagine initially when placing a couple of boston butts on the upper grill (15-20 lbs of meat), that large mass of cold meat is going to drop the air temp down for a little while in the dome. But as the meat temp stabilized and started to warm, the dome would equalize again. My thoughts on cooking temps are to place a probe (polder, maverick, Guru) at the level you are cooking at, set it and forget it. I use the dome temp as a reference; except with high temp cooks and then I just use the dome and don't worry about it. -=Jasen=- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leejp Posted August 10, 2006 Report Share Posted August 10, 2006 Brats and Beer... Here's how I like my Brats and hot dogs... Fill an small + deep aluminium foil pan and dump a can (or more) of beer in it and put it on the grill. Throw some saurkraut in the pan as well. Split the brats lengthwise and throw them in the pan once the beer starts to boil. Once the brat soaks up the beer and the beer is boiling again, take the brat out of the pan and grill on each side.. Some good Arthur Avenue Rolls and spicy mustard with the brat and kraut. Heaven! This works really well for picnics and cookouts where people are grabbing food over extended periods of time. The dogs and brats can boil in the beer a long time without getting overdone. Just lightly grilling when ready to eat. Replenish the beer once in a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porkchop Posted August 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2006 jack, i'm totally with you on the brat condiments; brown mustard, kraut & grilled onion. i'm not a big fan of boiling before grilling, and i constantly get grief about it from my ex-cheddarhead best friend. my FAVORITE way with fresh brats is indirect around 400. turn often til the casing is GOLDEn browN and crispy. hot dogs, about the same, but since i don't get real hotdogs (with natural casings), it don't matter as much. another big fave of mine from the sausage world is the kielbasa. i do cut some slits in the casing to help it take smoke, and do about the same as the other sausages. to each his own for sure; i've seen just about everybody else do the boil in beer method, and i keep saying i'm gonna try it sometime. i just have a change of heart as i start opening the brats... cursed i guess besides, if the beer isn't good enuf to drink, it's not good enuf to cook with. and, if it's GOOD beer, why am i cooking with it, and not drinking it? its a conundrum... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leejp Posted August 12, 2006 Report Share Posted August 12, 2006 More beer still... Get some Coleman's Dry English Mustard powder and mix with some dark beer to taste. It'll clear your sinus in a hurry and goes great with Brats. You should be able to get it at most well stocked grocery stores. Not my recipe... this is the mustard served with the chedar cheese, cracker and onion plate at McSorley's Old Ale House in NYC (which happens to be the oldest bar in the US and looks like it's never been cleaned). They mix it with their porter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
