Grilling / barbeque / smoking (recipes, tricks, advice, stories)
A few of us managed to score a decent deal on a smoker recently at Costco, so we're all now trying to figure out how best to master the new grill.
I hope this thread can become a place where we can share recipes, tips, successes, and failures.
To help get the ball rolling I'll start with what I've learned so far from owning the Napoleon Apollo 3-in-1 (similar to the Weber Smokey Mountain) for just over a week now.
What are you all cooking this week?
I hope this thread can become a place where we can share recipes, tips, successes, and failures.
To help get the ball rolling I'll start with what I've learned so far from owning the Napoleon Apollo 3-in-1 (similar to the Weber Smokey Mountain) for just over a week now.
- I pretty much need to cook with water in the pan if I want low-and-slow. Without water, the temps exceed 250F which is a bit too high for that kind of cooking.
- I put in about 8 cups of water (enough to give about 1/2" of water in the pan). This helps bring the temps down to 200F to 225F, perfect for slow cooking.
- In the afternoon sun on a hot day, the sun adds about 25F to my cooking temp (I experimented by measuring how hot an empty grill got from being covered in shade to open sun).
- The Napoleon has a lot of gaps in doors and where the different "rings" stack. This means for slow cookings, I close all the bottom vents and there's still enough oxygen leaking in to fuel the charcoal.
- I start my fires following the "Minion Method" using a small amount (about 12 chunks of medium lump charcoal). Using more than that causes the grill to get too hot to start (learned this by ruining 2 pork shoulders on my first cook-out).
What are you all cooking this week?