Gravy's Cooking Thread

Got a lamb roast from Costco at a good price point. $35 for like 5lbs of lamb roast. Boneless leg cut.

Normally I never get lamb because my wife and kids don't really like lamb for whatever dumb reason. But I did and put it together the other day.

It occurred to me that I have never smoked lamb roast before just followed this using some brisket rub I had laying around.


Turned out excellent and only took 3 hours to cook. Kids loved it and it took in a lot of smokiness despite the short time. Highly recommend.

Dr.Retarded said:

Oil frying is still superior, but I've been getting good results for some things with the little Cuisinart I got for free. I've got a propane fish fryer for serious stuff and if I'm cooking for a bunch of people, but if it's just the wife and I during the week, a shallow fry on the stove or the air fryer does the job.

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Oil frying tends to be a pain in the ass is my biggest say against it. Air fryer is really damn easy to set up and use and has better results than baking on a lot of things. On top of that, there's plenty of times a second oven comes rather in handy. I use my air fryer almost every day, will never go back.

Dr.Retarded said:

Yeah that's pretty much my thought on it. I find it really handy for reheating things that have some sort of crisp exterior already. I like it for resting some vegetables while I'm cooking whatever else are doing something like a baked potato.

The other benefit is I'm not turning the big oven on and heating up the house during the middle of summer.

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Air fryer is god tier for reheating pizza. That alone justifies the price.

Want to start doing some outdoor grilling now that I'm in a place with more room. Had a BBQ steak recently and it was amazing, better than the steaks I cook at home. I thought I was doing a good job with those, but now they're not good enough. The friend that cooked said BBQ is going to show me how he did it one of these weeks. In the meantime I'm trying to set something up, and did some practicing with a grill this week.

Any suggestions on successful grilling/BBQing? I'm starting from scratch. Outside of working with a grill this week (to mixed results), I haven't done any BBQing since about 2011 and it wasn't much back then.

Not messing with gas, it's charcoal all the way for me, I know that much.

Lighter fluid or get the special charcoal that doesn't require it? Should I bother with wood chips? All I have so far is some standard charcoal briquets. I clear out the grate, put the charcoal in a pyramid, doused them in fluid, and got them going with a long match.

Basically, I'll take any advice for someone who doesn't know what the hell they're doing yet; my main goal starting out here is to not set myself on fire like Kane at King of the Ring 98. I know not to use lighter fluid on an already-raging fire, or get any on food. Secondary goal is to actually fix something that's significantly better than what I can fix in a pan.

Obviously trying to do this as cheaply as possible. Would I be fine with a basic $40 grill like this? Do I need a chimney? Not going to be having any big parties any time soon so it just needs to be big enough for 1-2 people's dinner.


This is a bit more, but I like that it has side-tables, which is incredibly convenient and eliminates the need to have a table next to it for staging things. I got very used to having side-tables while grilling this week:


This one is just classy as hell:


They're probably all good. The first one is the cheapest/simplest so I'll probably go with that, but again...how important is the chimney?

What's the secret to having the smokiest flavor?

I spent the last few years gitting gud at cooking steaks in a pan, so I think I can git gud at this too.

I'll listen to any advice, even though I realize this post will get me... roasted.

BrutulTM said:

All that stuff is going to just fall apart. If you want a basic charcoal grill, you can't beat a Weber Kettle. They've been making it since the 50's and there's really no reason to buy anything else unless you're looking at stuff that's much more expensive.

Weber 22 in. Original Kettle Charcoal Grill Black Mfr# 741001 - Ace Hardware

Stay true to the modern version of the kettle that started it all, the Original Kettle grill, invented by Weber's founder and loved around the world. This black Original Kettle charcoal grill has an ultra-durable, porcelain-enameled lid and bowl to retain heat, while the dampers easily adjust...

www.acehardware.com

Don't use either match light charcoal or lighter fluid. Get yourself a chimney starter.



You can also use an electric starter if you have an outlet handy without adding any petroleum to your food, but the chimney starter is better.

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That helps, thanks. I'm gonna grab that Weber, it's within the budget. "Something that won't fall apart" is enough for me.

What's the benefit of a chimney starter?

Edit: Also looking for suggestions on what to use to get the starter lit up. Rolled up newspaper is all well and good (hell maybe I can get rid of some of this old mail etc that I have laying around) but I'm wondering if there's anything that might work better.

What's the deal with wood pellets, they something people use in place of charcoal or is it a supplement? Does that affect the flavor? Keep seeing "hickory smoked wood" and whatnot.

Lanx said:

i think he's in ny so his patio might just be a fire escape, when i did apt grilling i had a smokey joe

weber grills

if he wants cheap and good, and he has no space, smokey joe

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I've got a lot of space, it's a legit patio that I need to make use of. Grilling on a fire escape would be very NYC

BrutulTM said:

Same here. The smokey joe is great.



You don't have to spray petroleum on your food and it will get all the charcoal burning hot and even in a short period of time. A newspaper or a paper towel with a little bit of oil on it works just fine. If you want to be a little faster you could just hold a propane touch under it for a few seconds I suppose.



The wood pellets are fuel for a pellet grill which is different than charcoal. They are a bit easier to use than charcoal but the grills cost much more. Traeger is the most famous brand. You can also buy wood chips to add to your charcoal to add smoke flavor if you want to. Charcoal has a unique flavor though that you won't really get any other way. If you actually want to slow smoke brisket or ribs or something, you can do it in a weber kettle but it's harder than doing it in a pellet grill or a dedicated smoker. The weber kettle is awesome for grilling burgers or steak or chicken etc. though and if you are willing to put in the time you can cook almost anything in it.

The downside of charcoal is you have to plan ahead a bit. You can't just turn it on and be cooking in 5 minutes. However you light your charcoal you will need to give it 20-30 minutes to get it all going and be ready to cook.

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Thanks, this answers pretty much everything.

One more question: Regular fluid-needing charcoal or do I need dry match-lit charcoal for the chimney? Does it matter? Since I'm not using fluid in this equation.

I'll get this set up during my vacation next week and report back with some results / cooking pictures.