Redhead cook for Idahawk (and first daisy wheel cook)

[austin87]

I think @Idahawk has some kettle envy over my 18" redhead Happy Cooker  It was my girlfriend's great uncle's and is a really neat little kettle. It's in great shape complete with the internal ash pan.

A few observations about the HC. It only has 3 grate straps - not a fan of that. The cooking grate however is bad ass. It is THICK - almost as thick as a GBS grate - and I'm pretty sure it is stainless and not plated. I didn't measure but it seemed like there might be an extra quarter to half inch of distance between the charcoal grate and cooking grate. It seemed like I could get a lot of charcoal in there without pushing up the grate - something I regularly do on my 18" OTG with a hinge directly over the coals.

It's also the first time I have cooked on a three wheeler. This was a high heat cook so the bottom and top vents were wide the whole time. Next time I'll mess around with a lower heat cook and test out the ability to dial in low temps on the three wheeler.

I used a charcoal rail to separate half the grate. It worked fine but didn't fit snug like it does on the Weber grate. I dumped a full mini chimney of unlit and set a full mini chimney of lit on top. I went with Royal Oak lump - the lump always makes less ash and even though I have the internal ash pan it seems like the best way to go with a three wheeler.



First I got two small sweet potatoes going - they take about an hour. No foil, just straight on the grate. We even eat the skin when they are cooked naked on the grill.

I got a beautiful piece of swordfish - 1.3 pounds



I hit the fish with some salt and sugar and let it sit for about 15 minutes, then added a blackening seasoning I made. I used this recipe as a guide but just eyeballed the spices into a small container.



When the sweet potatoes were almost done I threw some asparagus drizzled with lemon olive oil direct over the coals for a little char, then moved them indirect to finish.



Swordfish on



The flip



The cutting board



The plate - I like a little maple syrup drizzled over my sweet potato (I like butter too but I skipped it tonight as I'm trying to lose a little more weight)



The swordfish was fantastic. Just enough sweetness - the sugar also helps it blacken - with great flavor and a little spice.

Fun first cook on the redhead Happy Cooker! Thanks for looking!

[pbe gummi bear]

Good stuff! I was expecting a different redhead daisy wheel cook though. Your potato looks extra interesting.

[Idahawk]

Ha ha ha , yes indeed there is kettle envy over that sweet little red head ! The cook and the swordfish look great , really nicely done.

Very rare kettle , very cool to see it getting put to use !


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[3sSecurity]

Nice looking cook. I didn't really get perspective on the size of that swordfish until I saw the picture of it on the grill. That thing is big.

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[MikeRocksTheRed]

Good looking cook @austin87 !  How big was that slab-o-sword?  Looks big even when considering its on 18' grill.

[austin87]

@MikeRocksTheRed it was fantastic. The piece was 1.3lbs and about an inch thick. Different from, but equally as good as, a cook I did a while ago http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/bbq-food-pics/grilled-swordfish-and-avocado-with-mango-salsa/

Swordfish is hands down one of the best fish to grill. You can go a ton different directions with it. It has enough flavor and texture to hold up to any variety of spices that would overpower most fish.

[WNC]

That's a cool little grill for sure, plate looks great too!