Sear Then Bake

[ckreef]

This was a very brief discussion between myself and Aussie Joe (Guru member)

The idea is to start a hot bed of coals and do a quick sear before a ceramic kamado gets heat soaked. After the Sear you can then dial in a temp and let it heat soak for the final cook. This should work for any ceramic kamado.

Tonight I decided to do a practical application of this idea to demonstrate it.

Fired up a bed of lump. A quick sear on a few pieces of chicken using the lower grate. (just a light sear as they will finish cooking in the bake phase)

Once the Sear was done I pulled out the lower grate then installed the diffuser.

Next I installed the main grate.

Closed the dome and set both vents for 350*. Gave it about 20 minutes and it parked right where I wanted it to and was fairly well heat soaked at that temperature. Ready for the baking phase.

Dinner baking at 350*. Grilled Chicken Alfredo Casserole.

A really good/easy procedure that has many applications. You just need to know your vent settings.

Charles - Prometheus 16.5", Cassiopeia 19" TT

[kjs]

Good idea, thanks for sharing.

[tinyfish]

That definitely would work.

Charles, when your doing these experiments do you wear a white lab coat?

[MacKenzie]

ck, it is lots of fun playing with food, isn't it.  It's fun reading about it too.

[wilburpan]

That’s a really interesting technique. How low of a target temperature do you think you could achieve with this method? 300ºF? 250ºF?

[ckreef]

Charles, when your doing these experiments do you wear a white lab coat?

Maybe that needs to go on my Christmas wish list.

Charles - Prometheus 16.5", Cassiopeia 19" TT

[ckreef]

That’s a really interesting technique. How low of a target temperature do you think you could achieve with this method? 300ºF? 250ºF?

I'm confident I could have stopped at 300* and possibly even 250*. In the Sear phase I kept the upper vent at 4 turns so not much heat got trapped in the KK. The faster you get the Sear accomplished the better chance of a lower final temp.

When I added the diffuser and closed the dome I set my vents to a setting I knew would get me 350*. I then just waited it out while the temp rose and settled right at 350*. I gave it a little while longer to make sure it was fairly well heat soaked at 350*. I hit the vent settings spot on because I never had to readjust after that initial setting.

This actually worked really well and would probably work even better on a bigger KK. Maybe over the Thanksgiving weekend I'll try and do this procedure on some type of roast and see if I can park it at 250* for a final Low-n-slow phase.

Charles - Prometheus 16.5", Cassiopeia 19" TT

[ckreef]

ck, it is lots of fun playing with food, isn't it. It's fun reading about it too.

Yes it can be fun playing with food especially if the outcome is as expected.

Charles - Prometheus 16.5", Cassiopeia 19" TT

[Gnomatic]

I like this, I can envision using this technique with a variety of cooks.

[Poochie]

That's interesting enough to make me want to give it a try. Sort of like browning a pot roast on the stove and then slipping it in the oven to cook for a few hours.

[Firemonkey]

A different spin, when you want to get a good sear without letting the grill get too hot; use a charcoal chimney.

Light a chimney full of lump, do your sear over the chimney, and then dump it into the lump basket. Just set the sear grate right in top of the chimney. I use this technique when I make pot roast in the KK. I do the searing in a cast iron pot over the chimney, then dump whatever is left of the chimney in the grill, set the vents and let it go to town at 300.

[ckreef]

A different spin, when you want to get a good sear without letting the grill get too hot; use a charcoal chimney.

Light a chimney full of lump, do your sear over the chimney, and then dump it into the lump basket. Just set the sear grate right in top of the chimney. I use this technique when I make pot roast in the KK. I do the searing in a cast iron pot over the chimney, then dump whatever is left of the chimney in the grill, set the vents and let it go to town at 300.

Nice technique. I thought about that but alas I don't own a chimney.

Charles - Prometheus 16.5", Cassiopeia 19" TT

[PRippley]

Charles, did you do this on Cass or Pro?

[ckreef]

Charles, did you do this on Cass or Pro?

Cassiopeia

Charles - Prometheus 16.5", Cassiopeia 19" TT