OK, I have a LOT of grills. I just can't help it. I can't stand to see somebody toss out a perfectly good Weber. I also can't stand to toss out one of mine. I might adopt one out to a good home (no Match Light charcoal, no lighter fluid, that kind of thing), but I can't just toss one. My basement looks like a rehab center for Weber grills.
Try as I may (and we cook out a LOT, year round), I have a hard time getting each grill the attention it deserves.
And so it was with one of my little Smokey Joes - we cook out a lot, but we put a lot on the grill. I was having trouble finding a time to use SJ when we were only cooking a couple burgers or couple of small steaks, or whatever.
And so it was with my original ECB. I've tried all the suggested mods - put the legs on the outside, holes in the charcoal pan, etc. - but it was still troublesome to use and it generally sat in the corner.
Recently, however, I saw a blog post somewhere about a variation on the old "make a smoker out of a trash can" project. The blogger suggested sitting a Smokey Joe in the bottom of the trash can, using it in effect as a firebox. He put the grill on top of the Smokey Joe and then a water pan on top of the grill.
It sounded like a great idea and I mailed it to my neighbor at the lake house in Michigan and suggested we use that method for our July 4th smoke next year - I've got a couple of SJ's that my dad "rescued" from camp grounds after campers had abandoned them.
Somewhere in the tangled web of my mind (the smoke must have cleared momentarily) I thought "why not use the SJ as a firebox for the ECB?"
So I dragged out the grates for the ECB, quickly reversed the legs to the outside, and then set about getting ready to cook something.
I settled on pork tenderloins because it would be a pretty short cook, the temps were not too critical and they were already marinating in mojo in the fridge.
When cooking time came, I fired up a chimney of RO lump (some big ole chunks in there) and when it was ready, I dumped it in the Smokey Joe and then sat the ECB - without the SJ lid - right on top of Joe.
The thermometer on the ECB -and who knows what the ranges on that mean - quickly rose to "hot" which is what I expected. I put the tenderloins on the grate and then the ECB lid and let them cook for about 15 minutes (no water pan, so it was direct heat, but the coals were probably 18 inches plus from the meat), then put in the water pan (foiled, no water), and put the tenderloins back on for another 15 minutes till they hit 140).
Rested for 5 minutes and sliced. There were typically good - moist and tasty with just a hit of pink in the middle.
As for the ECB, I just checked the thermometer and after two hours, it is still pegged in the middle of the thermometer in the "ideal" range. I'll shake the SJ legs and see how long the one chimney of lump will keep temps in the "smoking" range.
Certainly this isn't going to replace my WSM - but for fun and smaller cooks, and to make sure that none of the grills feels left out and unused, this seems like a great way to put a couple to good use.
I'll post some pics later.
Pat
Try as I may (and we cook out a LOT, year round), I have a hard time getting each grill the attention it deserves.
And so it was with one of my little Smokey Joes - we cook out a lot, but we put a lot on the grill. I was having trouble finding a time to use SJ when we were only cooking a couple burgers or couple of small steaks, or whatever.
And so it was with my original ECB. I've tried all the suggested mods - put the legs on the outside, holes in the charcoal pan, etc. - but it was still troublesome to use and it generally sat in the corner.
Recently, however, I saw a blog post somewhere about a variation on the old "make a smoker out of a trash can" project. The blogger suggested sitting a Smokey Joe in the bottom of the trash can, using it in effect as a firebox. He put the grill on top of the Smokey Joe and then a water pan on top of the grill.
It sounded like a great idea and I mailed it to my neighbor at the lake house in Michigan and suggested we use that method for our July 4th smoke next year - I've got a couple of SJ's that my dad "rescued" from camp grounds after campers had abandoned them.
Somewhere in the tangled web of my mind (the smoke must have cleared momentarily) I thought "why not use the SJ as a firebox for the ECB?"
So I dragged out the grates for the ECB, quickly reversed the legs to the outside, and then set about getting ready to cook something.
I settled on pork tenderloins because it would be a pretty short cook, the temps were not too critical and they were already marinating in mojo in the fridge.
When cooking time came, I fired up a chimney of RO lump (some big ole chunks in there) and when it was ready, I dumped it in the Smokey Joe and then sat the ECB - without the SJ lid - right on top of Joe.
The thermometer on the ECB -and who knows what the ranges on that mean - quickly rose to "hot" which is what I expected. I put the tenderloins on the grate and then the ECB lid and let them cook for about 15 minutes (no water pan, so it was direct heat, but the coals were probably 18 inches plus from the meat), then put in the water pan (foiled, no water), and put the tenderloins back on for another 15 minutes till they hit 140).
Rested for 5 minutes and sliced. There were typically good - moist and tasty with just a hit of pink in the middle.
As for the ECB, I just checked the thermometer and after two hours, it is still pegged in the middle of the thermometer in the "ideal" range. I'll shake the SJ legs and see how long the one chimney of lump will keep temps in the "smoking" range.
Certainly this isn't going to replace my WSM - but for fun and smaller cooks, and to make sure that none of the grills feels left out and unused, this seems like a great way to put a couple to good use.
I'll post some pics later.
Pat
