New Grill & First Cook

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Smokey Lew

Head Chef
Joined
Jan 10, 2010
Messages
1,502
Location
Southern California - Riverside
I currently have a Weber Performer and a WSM. I love them both and the Performer has been my go to grill for our family. Recently, I've had two of my oldest kids move back home. Most of you probably know how that goes.

The problem: since our family has grown again, I have found that there are times when I start running out of grill room. Especially, since I like doing a lot of indirect cooking.

The solution: picked up a new drum grill after following Tri-tip's posts. He resides in Orange County which isn't to far from where I live and he picked up his grill from a guy who builds these out of his garage.

I picked this one up a week ago and spent most of the day yesterday grinding the paint out of the inside of the cooking chamber. After that, I coated it inside and out with cooking oil and then lit a fire to season it. Added some hickory to help with the process.

Here's some pictures of the new grill and our first cook. Sunday fajitas using a nice cut of flank stake!!



Here's the flank stake on the grill with a foiled brick for some weight.


Flank stake turned over.


Flank stake is done. Now it goes into the kitchen to rest and cool down before slicing into 1/4 inch strips.


Now the bell pepper, red peppers and onions are cooked in a fry pan. The flank steak will be added when everything else is ready.


The plated fajitas and some grilled corn. It was pretty good! Thanks Tri-tip.
 
Vermin999 said:
Nice grill. Looks to be well built. If you could would you please post a pic of the intake?
Hey Vermin. That was a quick response. I hadn't even finished editing my typos before I got your question. :oops:

To answer your question about the intake, there really isn't one. The drum has a pretty good volume inside and air does seep in where the two halves come together. It does have the standard 3" screw plug that these large drums have for filling with whatever they were originally intended for and it's positioned at the bottom so it could be tapped for an air intake.

I asked Mike (Tri-tip) about that and he said to keep the lid closed up as much as possible our it will burn through the fuel real quick. Just from my seasoning and first cook, I can see he's right.

I put my ET-73 Redi Check thermometer in for a rack temperature check and it runs about 350 to 375 with the lid down. That's just using a mixture of charcoal briquets with a little lump. It wasn't a large amount of fuel in there either.

Anyway, I'm probably telling you more than you wanted to know. Tri-tip loves his grill and does a lot of competition cooking (not on this) so I felt he knew what was good when he got real excited about this grill.
 
I’m loven it. The intake is simply the 3” bunghole on the side bottom which was once the top of the drum. With a good load of lump or briqs, it will burn at med high at the grill grate, with an overall temp (like an oven) of 325/350. This with the bung hole cap in. With it out it will burn about 450/475 and about 700 at the grill grate, perfect for steak. I’m about to buy the double wide. Chaney is an amazing nice dude. The grills are very well built. I spent about a year looken for one and they were all junk. His are heavy and extremely well built. I hope our posts will keep him in business. He is a professional welder by trade and builds grills on the side. If you are from outside of So Cal maybe you can get one sent via freight. Working for FedEx I can arrange it.
Lew the grill takes some getting usto but in no time you’ll be cooken on it as if it were a Kettle!
Keep posten the picts!!! Hopefully we’ll see weekend after nest at Quen for Kids! :D
 
Awsome grill, good looking food and fantast grill marks! Brother...you got it going on! Kepp working that cast iron skillet. The more you use it, the better it gets. Please do not wash it with heavy detergent or scrub it with a steel wool pad. Let it season. (wipe some vegetable oil on it before storing it!)

Hog Butt :)
 
hog-butt-jr said:
Awsome grill, good looking food and fantast grill marks! Brother...you got it going on! Kepp working that cast iron skillet. The more you use it, the better it gets. Please do not wash it with heavy detergent or scrub it with a steel wool pad. Let it season. (wipe some vegetable oil on it before storing it!)

Hog Butt :)

I clean mine with kosher salt and a paper towel. Rub em with a little oil and put em back in the cupbord.
 
hog-butt-jr said:
Awsome grill, good looking food and fantast grill marks! Brother...you got it going on! Kepp working that cast iron skillet. The more you use it, the better it gets. Please do not wash it with heavy detergent or scrub it with a steel wool pad. Let it season. (wipe some vegetable oil on it before storing it!)

Hog Butt :)
Great advice about the skillet Hog Butt. I was doing fine until my youngest son put it in the dishwasher the other night. Having to do the whole seasoning thing again. :roll:
 

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