I love pizza. And I also love my charcoal Summit...
Mostly because of it's versatility but also of course because its a Weber
It only made sense to try to combine the two and I think I've finally found the perfect setup. I do also have the GBS pizza stone insert but this oven takes grilling pies to a whole new level.
The kit is made by and for Green Mountain Pellet Grills, but as you will see it's a pretty damn good fit for the Summit especially with a small tweak. More on that later.
One of the big benefits of this kit is that is uses convection, conduction and radiant heat to cook the pizza. It also has a fairly low lid height so the toppings are cooked nicely along with the crust. The heat rises up through the lower opening and heats the large stainless pan from below, but also allows hot air to circle up around the sides and back of the oven lid itself. The large pizza stone also has integral feet so that it sits slightly off the stainless pan.
The oven kit is made of solid stainless steel and is HEAVY.
Nearly 30lbs including the stone!
Here are some box opening shots. If you are familiar with the Slow N Sear this unit has a very similar fit, finish and feel. I will let the pictures do the talking for a bit here:
The pizza stone itself is rectangular and huge which I just love. It makes it a lot easier to see what's going on inside and also allows for easy turning and maneuvering of the pizza while cooking.
Beautiful construction. The design just makes sense.
The opening of the oven is perfect. Not too tall, not too short, and you can completely remove the lid if you want to see the entire stone.
And here it is mounted in the Summit. I have the charcoal grate on the lower setting and the outer charcoal ring removed completely along with the cooking grate.
The fitment is awesome more or less out of the box. It drops right in and hangs on the grate ledge perfectly - so much so that it will not even slide back and forth.
Here the lid of the summit is resting on the lid of the oven. Believe it or not the lid will actually close over it completely but its a tight fit. I prefer to leave the lid of the summit wide open but figured some might want to see the fitment. The handle would get insanely hot if you ran it this way so be careful! I only dropped it down temporarily and it gave me a bit of a surprise.
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And now finally on to what really matters!
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First Cook: Pepperoni Bacon Mushroom Pineapple... don't knock it till you try it!
After this first cook I decided to make the lower opening of the oven larger so that more of the heat from the charcoal bed would be captured and funneled upwards. The standard opening was designed for the pellet grill which has a much smaller element supplying the heat to the oven so 1" was trimmed off all sides to widen it up. This mod has multiple benefits as it also shortens the overall height of the unit and allows more room for fuel/charcoal.
This seemed to dial the oven right in and now it's running like a dream!
Next up a Hawaiian Pizza (Ham and Pineapple) - Apparently these aren't so popular down south? You guys are missing out. So good!
Here's a Cheese, Pepperoni and Bacon delight
NOW we've got some legit Pizza!!
And finally the "Marcus Supreme" as crafted by my youngest
So there you have it!
It took a bit to sort out a proper rig but now I am confident I can reproduce awesome pizza's any day of the week. It makes for a ton of fun and some really good eats in the end!
Hope you all enjoy!
Matt
Topic: The quest for a Summit Charcoal Pizza Oven (Loads of pics) (Read 5887 times)