To burn or not to burn...
...that would be the question if I could get my charcoal hot enough! Last night saw the christening of my new grill after a tough Saturday afternoon seasoning it. I started out confident, the ribs had been rubbed with a chipotle chile rub and refrigerated overnight and the basting sauce made ready for the end of the cooking.
I scattered about a chimney full of unlit coals into the grill and poured on a chimney full of lit ones (in an attempt to use the Minion method). I then left the grill to warm up; the included thermometer has readings for warm, ideal and hot. Try as I might I could not get the hand out of the warm and into the ideal zone. I tried raising and lowering the coals to affect air flow over/under them and opening and closing the vents all to no avail. After a while I put the ribs on thinking the low and slow method may be good enough, but it wasn’t to be. They had shrunk back from the bones beautifully but the basting sauce never really got hot and (here is where I hang my head in the grill confessional) I ended up finishing them on the gas grill to get some heat into them.
Admittedly the results weren’t bad and the ribs tasted good, but were a little tough and not quite as ‘fall off the bone’ tender as they could have been. So, since I clearly need a lesson in charcoal management, here is my challenge: I will happily provide ribs and refreshments if someone would like to come round (to our house – I understand this isn’t a commonly used phrase ;-)) and show me how to get the best out of my grill, and charcoal up to a decent cooking temperature.
I scattered about a chimney full of unlit coals into the grill and poured on a chimney full of lit ones (in an attempt to use the Minion method). I then left the grill to warm up; the included thermometer has readings for warm, ideal and hot. Try as I might I could not get the hand out of the warm and into the ideal zone. I tried raising and lowering the coals to affect air flow over/under them and opening and closing the vents all to no avail. After a while I put the ribs on thinking the low and slow method may be good enough, but it wasn’t to be. They had shrunk back from the bones beautifully but the basting sauce never really got hot and (here is where I hang my head in the grill confessional) I ended up finishing them on the gas grill to get some heat into them.
Admittedly the results weren’t bad and the ribs tasted good, but were a little tough and not quite as ‘fall off the bone’ tender as they could have been. So, since I clearly need a lesson in charcoal management, here is my challenge: I will happily provide ribs and refreshments if someone would like to come round (to our house – I understand this isn’t a commonly used phrase ;-)) and show me how to get the best out of my grill, and charcoal up to a decent cooking temperature.
3 Comments:
At 7/05/2006 9:00 AM,
Andakin said…
While I am certainly not an expert, I can give you a few suggestions...
- The factory installed temperature gauge on your grill is most likely not giving you a very accurate reading. The positioning of most of the gauges does not give a true reading of what the temperature is since you really want to know the temp. at the grate level. On my grill I went out and purchased a replacement thermometer and installed it right above the grate. It's cheap and easy to do. That will give you a more accurate reading and the actually temp. in degrees, not "Warm" or "Ideal".
- You said you scattered the unlit coals in the grill. Did you actually spread them out on the bottom of the grill? If you are going for slow and low, you should have either placed all of your coals on one side of the grill and you meat on the other. Or you could have made a pile of each side of the grill and put the meat in between. The coals should really be in more of a pile for the Minion Method to work. That way the lit coals will slowly burn down and light the unlie coals. If you have them spread out to far, the unlit coals may not light. You may also want to cut back on the amount of lit coals you are using. You can use a chimney full of unlit and put 1/2 a chimney or even less of lit coals on top. The more lit coals you start with, the faster then unlit coals will burn and the faster you will have to replenish.
- To control your temps. using your vents, typically you keep the top vent wide open and use the bottom vent to raise and lower the temps. I would normally start with the bottom vent 1/2 open and adjust accordingly.
- Once you get the fire hot enough, if you start having problems with the fire being too hot, you can try using a drip pan filled with warm water under the meat. That will not only absorb some of the heat and stablize your temps. but it will also give you the true Moist Heat effect.
Hope those help.
At 7/05/2006 11:34 AM,
Flamb_Ed said…
Thanks for the tips, I was already considering a thermometer with degrees on :). I had kept the coals to one side of the grill and the meat on the other. I'll have a play with vents (one at either side top and bottom) though I was concerened at the amount of heat seeming to go out at the top and so closed them. I may also have overdone the amount of coals too...
I can only hope to get the fire too hot!! ;-)
Thanks again
At 7/06/2006 9:43 PM,
Joe-Be-Wan said…
Flam-Ed: seeing as I gave you the grill, I beg you not to give up. Plus, I just spent 10 days cooking on that exact grill at my family's lake house. It does take a little getting used to, but the added feature of raising the coal pan can help. I agree the temp gauge is a joke, but I found that at the like b/t warm and ideal is about 250, but I would buy one.
I don't think the Minion method works well for charcoal- it works much better w/ lump. I'm becoming a big believer in combining lump and charcoal. That grill is also bigger, which takes a little getting used to. Overall, I love the grill, but takes different techniques than the Weber kettle.
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