Weber Kettle Tips

I grilled some chicken breasts for fajitas this weekend. Turned out pretty good. Since it was just plain 'ol chicken, I took no pictures. However, I did make some markings on my grill that may be of use to someone out there. This is a tip that I picked up at the Virtual Weber Bullet site. You can control the air-flow to the grill on the kettle through the bottom vent settings. However, you can only tell when it is fully open or fully closed. So, I visually inspected it and added markings to determine when the bottom air vents were 50%. This provides just a little more control over the air-flow and heat.

Markings that I made on the grill.


A view of the bottom air vents at 100% open.

Cooked a whole chicken

Decided to put a whole chicken on the grill. First I rinsed the chicken and covered it all over with kosher salt. Then I let it sit in the fridge for about 3 hours. By the way, I learned this from Jamie Purviance in one of his Weber cookbooks. After sitting in the fridge to cure, I rinsed the bird again and put it on the grill indirect. I setup the grill to have two heat zones (coals on one side) and hickory wood chunks. Left it on there for about 2 hours and pulled it. Let it sit for about 30 minutes and then sliced it up. I think it was one of my best. Why? Probably b/c I didn't do anything special to it like trying to cover it with sauce, marinade it, etc. I'll definitely do this again.

Steak

We actually got snow here in the Dallas area this week (twice). It hasn't snowed in March in 60+ years, according to the weathermen. Must be global warming ;-).

It finally warmed up today, so I took the opportunity to throw a steak on the grill. Still trying to get used to this new grill so I will be ready for my big Memorial Day BBQ that I host.

I setup the grill for two heat zones (High and Low). I then dusted the meat with kosher salt and pepper and then marinaded in worcestershire for a few hours. I seared the steaks over the high heat for about 8-10 minutes and then moved them to the low heat to finished cooking. I like mine well done (I don't like to see blood in my meat). Turned out pretty good. Next time I should sear less to avoid the burnt spots. I will continue to blame this on the new grill. Surely it isn't the cook.

Bought a Weber Kettle Gold

Well, I broke down and bought a Weber Kettle Gold today. A few weeks ago, I sold my beloved Kamado #5 because I wanted a grill/smoker with more capacity. I found an interested buyer before I found its replacement, so I went about 4 weeks without any grilling/smoking, which is a very long time at my house. I'm still researching and considering a Backwoods Smoker, Weber Smokey Mountain , or a Cajun Grill.

So, I decided to blog my adventures in bbq since I have learned so much from many other blogs and sites. I decided to do something new today. I grilled chicken and sausage today, but decided to make my own spice and sauce today instead of using Dizzy Dust (dizzypigbbq.com) and Kraft BBQ sauce. I found a Kansas City Sweet rub recipe and a rib glaze recipe. They both turned out pretty good. I'll definitely add them to my collection of recipes.

Although I've been grilling/smoking for a while, I'll need to get used to this kettle grill. It's handles a little different from my Kamado so it'll take a few more sessions to get comfortable with it.