Minion Method on the Kettle?


 
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Tom Ferguson

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When I got my Weber Platinum, it came with two charcoal holders for indirect cooking.

When I did a rotisserie chicken in the kettle, using these holders, it got extremely hot... much more than I expected.

As I observed the cook, I couldn't help but wonder how the Minion Method would work in the kettle to maintain longer cooking times, and lower temps. Three or four hot coals per side, added to full charcoal holders.

I haven't really come up with an application for this, but thought I'd toss it out there for discussion. I have a WSM, so I really don't need anything else for Low n' Slo, but maybe if you didn't have a smoker, you'd get longer cook times on the kettle.
 
Tom

This has been posted before by someone who did it regulargly. I have no idea how to tell you to locate it, but it would include the word, "kettle" - bet that gets you a few references /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif . Apparently it worked pretty well and he got some fairly long cook times. The problem is the difficulty of maintaing the steady low temps. Lots of fiddling with the bottom vent. Of course the WSM solves those problems nicely.

Paul
 
Thanks, Paul... I did find some posts, quite a few actually. Searched for "kettle" and "minion".

Now all I need is a reason to smoke in the kettle rather than the WSM. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Can't think of any.
 
I use lump charcoal exclusively. From reading all the posts about Kingsford,it should be completely ashed over before grilling. The MM wouldn't seem to work well with Kingsford.
 
Tom

The one thing that did interest me about low/slow on the kettle was for an occasion I wanted to do a small quanity of food and use a lot less fuel. I decided to go ahead and use the extra fuel because it wasn't worth the hassle since that is exactly what the WSM is designed for.

Paul
 
Tony-

While I'm sure there are a lot of people outside of this board, and even some on this board, that would question the Minion Method with Kingsford, I think on here you will find that there are many, many people that use almost exclusively Kingsford and the Minion Method. In fact, in Chris' write up on the Minion Method in the start up section, he even discusses that some people argue not using MM with any type of charcoal because it should be totally ashed prior to cooking - I think this applies to lump also. I use Kingsford/Minion Method exclusively and have never noticed any off flavors in my smokes.

Anyway, just food for thought! /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif
 
Tom, I've never used the charcoal baskets that came with my platinum. When I rotisserie chickens, I put a pan under the chicken and pile charcoal on just one side. I'll use a full chimney of white coals and then add a dozen or so unlit briquettes every hour. I try to keep the temperature at the lid between 350-400. The birds ALWAYS turn out great.

Give that a try sometime. You might also consider reducing the air flow via the bottom damper.
 
Tom, I've done low and slow with the kettle but it's not easy. (That's the reason I bought the WSM.) One thing I did that helped me was to mark the location of the bottom vent handle with a magic marker. You can't tell the position of the bottom vent when you're cooking. I marked the handle location (on the sheet metal above) when it was fully opened and half opened. This helped me make adjustments. Cliff /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif
 
Take the fire ring out of the wsm and put it into the kettle. Pile charcoal around the outside. leave an 8" gap in the charcoal and light one end of it. It'll burn around the "race track".
Never tried it myself. A buddy down south says he does it.
 
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