Full Direct Slow Cooking

[Duke]

After I made my Elevated Half Grill I wanted to try grilling direct all the way without moving it to indirect like they do on a Santa Maria style grill. My results were good for a first try. I still need some practice, but it came out very moist and I still had lots of extra room. Using the lid really helped in keeping the temps steady and held the flare ups down, but will also work nicely without the lid. I am going to master this "Full Direct" style and hope to use it on my 26'r with a full bed of coals on the bottom this summer.





Please share your thoughts and direct techniques.

[Hogsy]

I like where your going with this......... I thought you going to use it just for extra space on the grill
But it seems your using it to get more distance between the coals and the food to cook direct
Hmmmm........interesting and I like it
How long did it take to cook the chicken?
Was it quicker than cooking indirect? and by how much?

[1buckie]

That's happenin' !!!

And you can still always slide stuff underneath the elevated if the need arises & you wanted a straight direct

Fun project might be a tri-tip smoke-roasted on the upper, then reverse sear under ?

I seen where some folks gripe that Webers grates run too close to the coals ( heathen non-believers ) but this solves that entirely !!!!!!

[G$]

Hope to see more good discussion in this thread.  I am going to do some grill tinkering today and will be cooking something tonight, so maybe i will give it a shot.

Duke, to confirm, you had an even layer of coals on the whole of the bottom then?

[Duke]

Duke, to confirm, you had an even layer of coals on the whole of the bottom then?

Thanks guys, I did have an even bed of coals, but this time just on one side because it was an experiment and I wanted to be able to move it to a cool side if needed. I also didn't really need that much room, so one side worked fine. As a side note, you can also baste it like that. I am thinking of doing roadside chicken next time.

And yeah Buckie, I agree that a tri tip will work nicely Santa Maria style. Now, I am probably going to be selling my sweet "Cue" grill this spring.

[Craig]

This is interesting! I can't wait to get to work on making my own elevated half grill. I've got some ideas in my head (and reference pics from Dukes) how to do mine. Food looks fantastic BTW! Nice work! 

[bbquy]

After I made my Elevated Half Grill I wanted to try grilling direct all the way without moving it to indirect like they do on a Santa Maria style grill. My results were good for a first try. I still need some practice, but it came out very moist and I still had lots of extra room. Using the lid really helped in keeping the temps steady and held the flare ups down, but will also work nicely without the lid. I am going to master this "Full Direct" style and hope to use it on my 26'r with a full bed of coals on the bottom this summer.





Please share your thoughts and direct techniques.

Duke would still have the pics you originally posted of the elevated grate? I tried to open them with image shack but no luck.

[1buckie]

@bbquy

Try this on for size ~~>

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/weber-kettles-accessories/tinkering-i-love-it!/msg107989/#msg107989

[bbquy]

That's great! thank you very much! I have to make one of these.