Post by adm on Apr 15, 2013 19:36:58 GMT
All,
So after a bit of hemming and hawing about this, I thought I'd ask the group....
I have been working on my OD kitchen plans for a while. I had thought I would need a good WFO, a charcoal grill/BBQ and a good sized prep area, plus sink etc, etc...
Anyway, the crux of it comes down to this:
What do I really need a charcoal BBQ for if I have a WFO ?
As a bit of background, I do quite a lot of low 'n' slow smoking - ribs, briskets etc. Plus I also do quite a bit of grilling for steaks, kebabs, burgers etc. I currently have two Weber kettle BBQs and a Weber Smoky Mountain water smoker. All get used regularly. I was thinking about upgrading to a large Big Green Egg or Kamado (just missed out on one last year) ceramic BBQ/smoker, but with a WFO, those would be pretty much redundant.
Most of my cooking is done with the lid on the kettles for almost everything - so in fact they are behaving as ovens anyway. The exception is really only high heat grilling for steak and burgers.
I am coming around to the opinion that almost everything I cook can be done well in a WFO. Steaks seem to be pretty easy to do either directly on the floor or on a grill set above the coals (and the WFO will give me that 7-800F temperature I am looking for for these). Probably the same for burgers and most other stuff.
So. I am still committed to having a charcoal grill area for times I don't want to fire up the oven, but my original concept was to have the WFO, plus a large Big Green Egg built into the same kitchen. Now I think I don't need the Egg, but should keep a simple tray type charcoal grill area in the design to do burgers, kebabs, etc, etc that doesn't need the full WFO treatment. This is bit strange for me as I have always hated uncovered charcoal grills and always preferred the kettle type so I can cook with the lid down....however the WFO can do this so why duplicate?
For (hot) smoking of ribs and stuff, how do you do that on a WFO? With my current smoker you kind of start low and just keep it slow....seems to me with a WFO you tend to start really hot and then use retained heat overnight for slow cooking?
Should I keep a charcoal grill area? Should I incorporate a separate hot smoker?
Questions, questions...
Thanks for any advice you guys can share.
Alasdair
So after a bit of hemming and hawing about this, I thought I'd ask the group....
I have been working on my OD kitchen plans for a while. I had thought I would need a good WFO, a charcoal grill/BBQ and a good sized prep area, plus sink etc, etc...
Anyway, the crux of it comes down to this:
What do I really need a charcoal BBQ for if I have a WFO ?
As a bit of background, I do quite a lot of low 'n' slow smoking - ribs, briskets etc. Plus I also do quite a bit of grilling for steaks, kebabs, burgers etc. I currently have two Weber kettle BBQs and a Weber Smoky Mountain water smoker. All get used regularly. I was thinking about upgrading to a large Big Green Egg or Kamado (just missed out on one last year) ceramic BBQ/smoker, but with a WFO, those would be pretty much redundant.
Most of my cooking is done with the lid on the kettles for almost everything - so in fact they are behaving as ovens anyway. The exception is really only high heat grilling for steak and burgers.
I am coming around to the opinion that almost everything I cook can be done well in a WFO. Steaks seem to be pretty easy to do either directly on the floor or on a grill set above the coals (and the WFO will give me that 7-800F temperature I am looking for for these). Probably the same for burgers and most other stuff.
So. I am still committed to having a charcoal grill area for times I don't want to fire up the oven, but my original concept was to have the WFO, plus a large Big Green Egg built into the same kitchen. Now I think I don't need the Egg, but should keep a simple tray type charcoal grill area in the design to do burgers, kebabs, etc, etc that doesn't need the full WFO treatment. This is bit strange for me as I have always hated uncovered charcoal grills and always preferred the kettle type so I can cook with the lid down....however the WFO can do this so why duplicate?
For (hot) smoking of ribs and stuff, how do you do that on a WFO? With my current smoker you kind of start low and just keep it slow....seems to me with a WFO you tend to start really hot and then use retained heat overnight for slow cooking?
Should I keep a charcoal grill area? Should I incorporate a separate hot smoker?
Questions, questions...
Thanks for any advice you guys can share.
Alasdair