Breakfast on the Ace Q 2200 ...

[John Collins]

Well, I am rapidly becoming a Q fanatic! My family lives near Philly and I work in Chicago from a small apartment. I have a Saber grill, a Weber Professional, and a drum smoker at home, but got the Q for my Chicago apartment use. Love it! So far, I've done fish, burgers, steaks, and now breakfast on the griddle accessory. I also converted mine to run on a 20 lb propane bottle.

Breakfast on the Q!

Broke out the griddle half for the first time this morning. Before the equipment review, first a little lawyer idiocy language from the instruction booklet.

"DANGER: Do not use cooking oil of any kind or quantity in the griddle. Cooking oil can catch fire and cause serious bodily injury or death and damage to property. Instead, lightly oil food prior to placing in heated griddle.

Arrrrrrrrgggghhhhhhh. It's in danger of ruining my equanimity this morning. And it's too early to drink. I think 5 rashers of thick-cut, double-smoked bacon will calm me down, though.

So, after liberally oiling the griddle on both sides :screw the lawyers: I am heating it up and preparing to do some OreIda shredded hash browns, the aforementioned bacon, and a griddle omelet like I used to make when I worked in the snack stand at college.

Ah, the bacon. Wonderful bacon! A bacon press might be a decent investment, but when it was almost done, I just finished it over the grates to crisp the curly ends a bit. Worked great, as much of the fat had rendered.

Now, on to the potatoes. Just to spite the lawyers, I used an aerosol cooking spray to increase the chance of a big flareup. I was not disappointed! What fun!

And the omelet ...

And plated with a little ketchup and some Sriracha paste!

The only accessory to still use/test is the roasting rack. Maybe a spatchcocked chicken tonight.

 

[Bob Whitney]

I've never used my Q for breakfast but I have a Weber Cast Iron Griddle for my E-310. It cooks killer breakfast. Well done, your's looks fantastic.

 

[TOM BAUER]

Man!! Your cooking skills on that 200 are making me both envious and very hungry. My 200 came with the half griddle that sits on top of the grill, but I think I like the split grates on the newer Q's.

 

[John Collins]

I don't know that my cooking skills are that awesome, I've just been cooking a long time. Seems to have helped getting rolling with this new Q. Finally did the spatchcocked chicken on the rack. This wasn't done, just took a pic of the setup, but it was awesome. After it was done, put some KC Masterpiece sauce on it and put it directly on the grates for a few minutes a side, it was awesome.

I'm glad I have the Weber Professional and Saber at home, but for my work apartment, I could not be happier than I am with this Q.

 

[LMichaels]

Why the foil? I do this same thing on my Q220 and right on the grates. Great results. Yours looks good also but seems you went through more work than necessary.

 

[John Collins]

Why the foil? I do this same thing on my Q220 and right on the grates. Great results. Yours looks good also but seems you went through more work than necessary.

It's the only way to do indirect cooking on the Q. I know you can cook a chicken over direct heat, and the Q probably won't flare up due to its design. However, direct grilled chicken and roasted chicken have very different qualities. One is not necessarily better than the other, but they are different. That rack is a weber accessory and it is designed to work over disposable foil pans they also sell, but aluminum foil works just as well.

Slow cooking poultry makes it easier to get it done right without either drying out or getting the outside too well-done. Even on the Weber Performer I usually do chicken indirectly, with the coals piled on one side a cool side on the other. The chicken is crisped over the coals but mostly cooked over a drip pan on the cooler side. If you want to do a recipe like this one from the Weber site on the Q2200

http://www.weber.com/recipes/poultr...breast-with-roasted-potatoes-and-apple-relish

You simply must have this accessory and do it over foil. If one enjoys cooking it is not "more work than necessary", it's just a different technique, and using different techniques one can often get different and more preferred results than simply tossing some meat over a hot grill. It's a great accessory.

 

[Phil Hartcher]

One of the beauties of using the foil and trivet method for indirect grilling is that the fat and juices drop onto the foil and boil off imparting that wonderful BBQ flavour into the air which is circulating around the meat. I finish mine off with a direct sear on the trivet on max heat for two minutes a side by just removing the foil. It is another method that I would do when demonstrating cooking on the Q series.

The foil and trivet method is also the best way to cook dishes marinated with a high sugar content marinade on high temp.

Cheers

Phil