I just bought the Weber charcoal holders. The main reason is to cook thighs indirect.

Other things I thought would be great to cook when using the charcoal holders are ABTs, pork loin and wings.

Looking for any other ideas on how/when to use the charcoal holders to produce better food on my 22.5" kettle.

Thanks!

Anytime you're not grilling directly. I used my MasterTouch kettle to smoke some pretty decent que before I got the WSM cooker. Sometimes its better to use just one on one side to keep what you're cooking away from the coals.

There's also the use of the holders as a spacer, to keep charcoal from occupying a space when you dump a chimney. I use one when I'm grilling pizza; just before I place the pizza stone on the grill, I dump the charcoal into the pit and the bin keeps the space clear for the hinged grate. It's easy to remove later if I want to refuel.

Gary

Really just any time you want to corral the coals in one or two areas. Usually this is because you have some kind of direct/indirect setup. The other approach is if you have a drip pan you may find that's enough to keep an indirect area free from any coals. But sometimes the holders are useful too.

Specific examples might be drip pan in the middle, coals on either end (for a cooking a whole chicken in the middle) or drip pan to one side, coals on the other, for steaks, rack of lamb, tri-tip, etc. etc. etc.

This is just me, but my holders have been gathering dust since I got my performer. If I'm going indirect, I just bank the coals to one side. Haven't seen a need yet to do coals on both sides. Though I can certainly see wanting to have heat on all sides.

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I also use them for grilling steak, I place a couple 1" bricks under the holders right in the middle of the 22½ kettle, that brings the fire up real close to the cooking grill and cuts down the cooking time and really does a nice crust on the steaks.

Also now that I have four holders I can place them inside my 26¾ in a circle and do beer can chicken with heat coming from all sides.

Thanks Albert--I like both those ideas!

I used to use them to "smoke" in the performer before i got the WSMs and it worked but then they would fill up with ash and clog with no air flow and I would take them out. So then i would jut use the gap between the water pan and the edge so sounds like Dale has a good use but mine are now just dust collectors as well.