Gravy's Cooking Thread

Rajaah

Rajaah

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Lanx said:
the ash collector is the obvious thing you can see, but also the grill grates are the more advanced ones where they fold up so you can fill in charcoal w/o removing the grate.
oh also a basic thermometer on top
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The thermometer and being able to add charcoal without picking up the grate are both good QOL features, I think it was worth the extra $100. Also the being easier to empty out the ashes with no mess.

Lanx said:
yea, just time it, theres different times when coals become white coals and when wood just becomes ember

how long are we cooking for? like from meat on grill to meat off?

are you doing ripping hot then slow, or what?
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I usually get the coals glowing red and on fire, then dump them into the grill, spread them around, and add things.

Tried the wood chips again, this time soaked in water for 20 min as per the instructions, and in the smoker box. They never emitted any smoke. I think the coals were too dim by then, maybe I needed more heat. The food finished and the box was just sitting there.

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Wait, when people say to put the wood right onto the hot charcoal, do they mean the metal box (or foil)? Cause all this time I assumed that meant just dump loose chips on them. When I do that all they do is burn up. The box might work better. Goal for tomorrow night is to get the box to heat up enough ugh to actually smoke the damn wood.
 
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Rajaah

Rajaah

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Gave up on the smoker box and brought it back to Home Depot to get my $50 back. Lawl. Tried a few methods for getting it to smoke wood, none worked. Whether the chips were wet or dry, didn't matter. The box would heat up and everything in it would just sit there.

What I do now is drop some wood chips on the side of the burning charcoal after I pour it into the grill. Putting it on top just causes all the wood to burn up right away. Putting it on the side causes the burning to get to it more slowly and "creep across" as it were, giving me some nice smoke circulation once the top is down. Haven't had a chance to try "smoking" any meat yet with this rudimentary method.

What's the best time to dump charcoal from a chimney starter? I get the mug to where it's got a nice fire going in it and the charcoal are all glowing orange, then I pour it in. Last few times, the embers died down a little too fast and the food took a while to cook. Not sure if I'm dumping the charcoal in too soon or too late. If I do it too soon, most of the charcoals are still unburnt, if I do it too late, the charcoal are all pretty much ashes. So I try to find a medium ground where it's like dumping a bunch of lava into the grill. Wondering if there's some visual "tell" of when to pour the starter in. I wait until the top charcoals are orange/on fire, and if the fire is still lower down, it's easy to tell because the top charcoals are all black shadows over the fire.
 
Lanx

Lanx

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Rajaah said:
Gave up on the smoker box and brought it back to Home Depot to get my $50 back. Lawl. Tried a few methods for getting it to smoke wood, none worked. Whether the chips were wet or dry, didn't matter. The box would heat up and everything in it would just sit there.

What I do now is drop some wood chips on the side of the burning charcoal after I pour it into the grill. Putting it on top just causes all the wood to burn up right away. Putting it on the side causes the burning to get to it more slowly and "creep across" as it were, giving me some nice smoke circulation once the top is down. Haven't had a chance to try "smoking" any meat yet with this rudimentary method.

What's the best time to dump charcoal from a chimney starter? I get the mug to where it's got a nice fire going in it and the charcoal are all glowing orange, then I pour it in. Last few times, the embers died down a little too fast and the food took a while to cook. Not sure if I'm dumping the charcoal in too soon or too late. If I do it too soon, most of the charcoals are still unburnt, if I do it too late, the charcoal are all pretty much ashes. So I try to find a medium ground where it's like dumping a bunch of lava into the grill. Wondering if there's some visual "tell" of when to pour the starter in. I wait until the top charcoals are orange/on fire, and if the fire is still lower down, it's easy to tell because the top charcoals are all black shadows over the fire.
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aim for 15mins and adjust, is there like much less smoke? is the top pretty ashy? should be ready, you want it ripping hot? add a few more mins for more coals to burn down. lump/briquette burns differently, even different brands

how long are you grilling for? a fully chimey should last a while
 
Furry

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If you’re gonna smoke your oil stop using olive oil. It’s a culinary war crime, smoking it is way past the point that you’ve literally burned off all the healthy stuff, and probably is indicative of you using some cheap olive oil that’s doctored with other oils anyways.

You 100% should be using clarified butter. If you’re too stupid to make it, use vegetable oil.
 
Burns

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The olive oil works fine for turning the Emeril's spice mix into a marinade and soaking into the meat for 1 to 4 hours. Then it smokes off fast when the meat is thrown into an extremely hot and "dry" cast iron pan. The meat sears up just as well as any other way to sear a steak and the Emeril's makes it taste like prime rib. I experimented with Sunflower Oil the one time just to see if it would change the way it seared, but it made it way too salty so couldn't tell on taste, while I think it looked exactly the same. That was over a decade ago, when I was eating steak like once a week when the local Albertsons would put it on the "it needs to be cooked or frozen today" sale.

The reason I don't generally care to use clarified butter is because I absolutely hate wasting food, so what the hell am I going to use the milk fats solids for after they are separated out? I don't currently have any recipes that even call for clarified butter. To get butter flavor in something like carnalized onions, I use half olive oil and half butter if I feel like that flavor will even make a difference.
 
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Dr.Retarded

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Burns said:
The olive oil works fine for turning the Emeril's spice mix into a marinade and soaking into the meat for 1 to 4 hours. Then it smokes off fast when the meat is thrown into an extremely hot and "dry" cast iron pan. The meat sears up just as well as any other way to sear a steak and the Emeril's makes it taste like prime rib. I experimented with Sunflower Oil the one time just to see if it would change the way it seared, but it made it way too salty so couldn't tell on taste, while I think it looked exactly the same. That was over a decade ago, when I was eating steak like once a week when the local Albertsons would put it on the "it needs to be cooked or frozen today" sale.

The reason I don't generally care to use clarified butter is because I absolutely hate wasting food, so what the hell am I going to use the milk fats for after they are separated out? I don't currently have any recipes that even call for clarified butter. To get butter flavor in something like carnalized onions, I use half olive oil and half butter if I feel like that flavor will even make a difference.
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I rarely ever clarify butter. I don't mind the milk solids caramelizing or burning, I mean who doesn't love brown butter.

Even if I grill something like surf and turf with either shrimp or some rock lobster tails, I'll just melt a stick of butter, toss in some garlic, whatever herbs, some lemon zest, maybe some crushed red pepper, and baste that onto the shellfish and steak while grilling. Those flare-ups from the butter really get the shellfish specifically that great smokey / charred flavor.

Also, you can for throw a stick of butter, maybe a little olive oil into a foil pack, the head of fresh garlic peeled, and roasted it for 45 mins or so, and then whip that into mashed potatoes. Kills two birds with one stone if you're going for garlic mashed.
 
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