Recent content by Harold C

I had three racks in the Weber. Pork butts on the bottom rack. Baby backs on the middle rack. Beef short ribs on the top rack. I had plenty of room for more, but it was already a big mess of meat to cook. Enough to fill up my freezer for a while. I have a local butcher shop that sells big fat...

Beef short ribs Baby Back ribs Pork Butt Middle Georgia BBQ sauce Middle Georgia guitar... Full screen, high def will make you really, really hungry...

Here's as some photos from way back when, before I fired it all up for the first time. The smoker conversion outlasted the original Performer and has migrated to a new one since. Here's the original "diffuser" And, then the pristine paella pan iteration: The flat pizza trays come...

When I first built the Performer smoker with two rotisserie rings from Weber, I used an extra grate with a giant pizza pan, with the big pizza stone on top as a diffuser. Then, I found the massive cast iron "paella pan" for a 22 inch kettle. I can't imagine ever using it to make Paella, but it's...

So, in the light of day, pretty much all of my charcoal had burned up, but that includes the runaway to 394 degree at the 10 hour mark before I shut 'er down. And, I don't think this rig snuffs the fire quickly. I figure with this method, I can probably squeeze out 12 hours without adding...

I fired up the trusty ol' Performer smoker conversion today and stocked the freezer. Three 4 lb boneless butts on the bottom rack. Two slabs of baby backs on the middle rack. And six big beef short ribs on the top rack. I used the mini-chimney upside down over the Performer gas ignition to fire...

I've always used the wire baskets, but I had a set of the folded sheet metal ones that came with my Performer. I grabbed them out of the basement after burning up my last set of baskets and discovered that I actually like them better. The backside is slightly angled so they fit tighter against...

I had a 26 inch once, but have now been cooking on a 22 inch Performer for about 20 years. There are so few times that I've needed more grill space. Just no an issue. The gas start, the one-touch ash removal, and the work table are fantastic.

I leave the top vents wide open and control the fire with the bottom vents -- marking wide open, half open, and quarter open with a sharpie is good idea. For direct, high temp grilling, I leave the bottom vents wide open. For indirect roasting, anywhere from half open to wide open. For low and...

It's got three holes for thermometers. One between the bottom and middle grate. One between the middle and top grate, and one just above the top grate. I built this back in the day when Maverick probes burned up if you looked at them sideways, so I got the idea to protect them from the heat...

I made it about 12 years ago. It's two rotisserie rings that can be separated, but have always stayed in one piece. It would have saved me a lot of work if the Cajun Bandit had been around at the time! Actually, I think I posted info on this little DIY project here back in 2002 when I built it...

My fire went 8 hours without touching it (other than tweaking the vents). It was still going strong, but looking at the charcoal this morning, it was close to the end. If I really filled it with charcoal, I could get 12 hours without touching the fire. Had baby back ribs tonight. They were...

The music video version. Go full screen high def on the YouTube and you can practically smell it:

And some shots of the delicious eats in progress, coming off the grill, an on my plate (the short ribs):

Then, I pushed all the charcoal to the center and surrounded it with Kingsford for a slow cook. Then the heat shield (cast iron tray and pizza stone), followed by my war ravaged water/drip pan). While I had the smoker going, I put a slab of baby backs and some beef short ribs on one of the lower...