New to the Dark Side


 

Wright Ellis

New member
In August of 1983 I was married and we received a 22" Weber kettle grill as a wedding present. Ever since 1983, I've cooked on that grill. Turkeys, hams, briskets, butts and more chicken than the Colonel has ever seen. I called him "Willy Weber" and he's still out on the patio ready to go.
This year I decided to get a gas grill and bought a Weber Spirit 3-burner grill. Being able to pop out back, fire it up and cook on short notice is a real help. However … I'm missing that old, familiar "cooked over an open fire" flavor.
How has everyone solved this problem or must I fire up Willy to get the results I need?

AW Ellis
 
If you add a smoker box and load it with some wood chips, you might come closer to what you are looking for.
 
Yes, I agree with Bruce. You might also consider using a smoker tube and pellets designed for pellet grills. There is a blend made by perhaps the best company, Lumberjack, called Char-Hickory that includes charcoal pellets blended with hickory ones. Another option is to blend whatever wood pellets you like with charcoal pellets made by another really good company called Smoke Daddy. Using this will definitely help bring back charcoal/smoke flavor while keeping the convenience of gas grilling:coolkettle:.

Keep in mind that a smoker tube or box will produce heat, so you want to avoid cooking directly over it or allowing it to burn off all the seasoning on cast iron grates (like happened to me:(.)

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B07JGVBKN3/tvwb-20

https://bbqlumberjack.com/charblend-hickory-20-bags-only/

https://smokedaddyinc.com/product/pellet-pro-exclusive-charcoal-pellets-20lb-bag/
 
A lot of people like the flavor of food cooked on one grill or smoker and try to get the same flavor on another grill or smoker. The most common example is people going from a traditional smoker to a pellet grill. The pellet grill has a much more subtle smoke flavor, so they add smoke tubes, cook on low for several hours, etc. to find that smoke profile they miss. It doesn't work. Don't chase smoke profiles, accept your grill or smoker for what it is. My pellet grill produces a milder profile than my WSM, but I use both and enjoy meat cooked on both even though the smoke profiles are different. If you miss that that old, familiar "cooked over an open fire" flavor, fire up the kettle. Also, learn to love the flavor of the meat that comes off your gasser. Sometimes I cook steaks on the kettle (in my case a Performer), other times on the Genesis. I appreciate both.
 
I very much prefer cooking on charcoal. A gas grill is convenience thing for me. Sometimes I use it for really short cooks where the meat won't pick up much flavor from the charcoal anyway or for more capacity. I haven't found anything that helps add more of that grill flavor for whatever reason. Everything tastes way too clean to me. The theory is that the juices will hit the flavorizer bars and simulate the flavor of juices hitting the charcoal. I just don't find that to be remotely the case for whatever reason. I've got the deep box Genesis and I wonder if that has something to do with it.
 

 

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