Official CCS Grillmasters thread

[FirstTimer]

Kingsford burns really slow and even, I like it. But it doesn't produce as strong of a smoky flavor on the food as natural lump does, which I personally really like. People will come over and eat something as simple as burgers and be blown away by the flavor, e.g. "did you smoke these?".

Kingsford charcoal, lump or briquette, is the way to go. I'll use Kingsford briqs for most of my grilling and use their lump charcoal for smoking.

 

[nvanprooyen]

And this thread is going to fucking rule come football time. Good place to bounce ideas off eachother etc for pre game cooking (which I do practically every week).

 

[nvanprooyen]

Kingsford charcoal, lump or briquette, is the way to go. I'll use Kingsford for mos tof my grilling and use their lump charcoal for smoking.

I've never tried their lump. Didn't even know they made it to be honest. I was talking about the briquettes.

 

[FirstTimer]

And this thread is going to fucking rule come football time. Good place to bounce ideas off eachother etc for pre game cooking (which I do practically every week).

Every Friday of Thanksgiving weekend I smoke a turkey while watching football and drinking beer in my garage. I have my "cave" set up out there with a wood burning stove, DirecTV etc.

I'm looking into smoking some ribs some weekend, but just haven't had the time yet.

What kind of smokers do you all use? I just use those simple Brinkman "silo smokers". Simple yet really effective. Instead of that shitty temp gauge that comes with them I bought a gas grill replacement temp gauge, drilled a hole in the lid and put the new temp gauge in there so I have real numerical temps showing on the outside. I notice the "default" Brinkman guage that just has "Cool/Ideal/Hot" is a little off and the Ideal can run a bit cooler than you would want for smoking certain meats.

 

[FirstTimer]

I've never tried their lump. Didn't even know they made it to be honest. I was talking about the briquettes.

You can find it at Lowes.

 

[nvanprooyen]

I just have a really simple Charbroil offset like this:

Probably will upgrade one of these days, but I've used this thing a ton. Definitely got my money out of it.

 

[nvanprooyen]

I want to get a remote thermometer. It's not too big of a deal smoking something quick, but when you're doing something that takes 10+ hrs it would be nice to be able to walk away a bit and still keep an eye on temp stability. Any of you used one of those?

E.g....

You're Being Paged...

The coolest remote thermometers come with a wireless pager that can have a range of up to 100 feet. The display unit transmits the temperature information to the pager so you can spend less time at the smoker and more time fixing the side dishes…or sleeping.

Basic remote thermometers display the temperature of the meat (in Fahrenheit or Celsius), and may also have the function of an alarm that beeps when a preset temperature is reached.

Features on other models might include both high and low temperature alarms, a clock, dual probe monitoring capability, timer functions, and remote pagers. Some are even programmable for the type of meat (beef, pork, chicken etc.) and level of doneness desired (rare, medium rare, medium etc.) Pretty handy if you haven't memorized the meat doneness chart!

______

I want one of the dual probe ones. One temp for the inside of the smoker, and another for the internal meat temp. How cool is it to be able to walk away and have an alarm go off on your pager if your grill temp dips below 185 or goes above 225 (or whatever range you cook in). Cool shit!

 

[GaelicSoxFan]

In fairness I didn't say it was "bad". I just can't stand the taste of grilled meat that doesn't have charcoal/smoked falvor to it. Especially steaks, seeing as I don't ever season them.

There is a way to get the wood smoke flavor on a gas grill (and no, I'm not talking about that shitty liquid smoke flavoring at the grocery store). Soaking some wood chips and then either placing them in the smoker box (if your grill has one) or in a packet made of foil and then poking holes in it.

 

[R_Mac_1]

Wal Mart sells lump charcoal that is pretty good. It's Royal Oak brand. I think it's just under $7 for a 10 lb bag. I just bought 160 lbs of Kingsford briquettes at Home Depot last week while it was on sale. $8 for 40 lbs.

As for what I'm using, I have a Char Griller offset grill/smoker. So far I've grilled on it 3 times and smoked twice.

 

[GaelicSoxFan]

Here's my grill:

It came with the condo.

 

[brett05]

There is a way to get the wood smoke flavor on a gas grill (and no, I'm not talking about that shitty liquid smoke flavoring at the grocery store). Soaking some wood chips and then either placing them in the smoker box (if your grill has one) or in a packet made of foil and then poking holes in it.

I used to soak my chips/chunks until I read that after 24 hours the wood weighed like 7% more. So I skipped it. No issues at all

I smoke on a gas grill as seen earlier. If you don't have a box use foil but make sure its super heavy duty. The foil will burn thru

 

[GaelicSoxFan]

Clean grill:

 

[GaelicSoxFan]

I used to soak my chips/chunks until I read that after 24 hours the wood weighed like 7% more. So I skipped it. No issues at all

I smoke on a gas grill as seen earlier. If you don't have a box use foil but make sure its super heavy duty. The foil will burn thru

I've seen Steven Raichlen do it on his show "Primal Grill" on PBS. He said to use the heavy duty foil, not the regular kitchen stuff.

 

[R_Mac_1]

That's what I'm talking about.

 

[GaelicSoxFan]

That's what I'm talking about.

Pulled pork FTW

 

[nvanprooyen]

That's what I'm talking about.

Hell ya man. With slaw. That's how you do it.

 

[nvanprooyen]

Wal Mart sells lump charcoal that is pretty good. It's Royal Oak brand. I think it's just under $7 for a 10 lb bag. I just bought 160 lbs of Kingsford briquettes at Home Depot last week while it was on sale. $8 for 40 lbs.

I've bought the Royal Oak a few times. I like it. Normally I get Publix Greenwise (local supermarket chain) All Natural Lump. It's good stuff and pretty cheap.

 

[GaelicSoxFan]

Made some chili dogs for dinner last night. I used my George Foreman grill to cook the hot dogs. I was heating up the can of Hormel chili on my stove (my grill doesn't have a side burner), so it was just easier to do that instead of going back and forth from my kitchen to my balcony.

 

[R_Mac_1]

The other night I grilled up some stuff. Salmon fillets marinated in a soy sauce/brown sugar marinade. Some chicken breasts,a couple chicken kabobs and a few kabobs with green/red bell pepper and sweet onions. Also grilled some corn on the cob.

It was delicious, but unfortunately no pics. The salmon was seriously the best I've ever had. I got the marinade recipe on allrecipes.com

 

[theCHI_Life84]

nice mix there rmac. roasted bell peppers + chicken.... thumbs up