New weber grill help?

[Bob H.]

The 26-3/4" kettle is a great happy medium between your performer and the ranch kettles. Priced MUCH lower than a ranch, and you don't need both hands to lift the lid off. It is a great Weber product that is not publicized much, but those that have one love them. The ranch is priced far too high for what you get. You can build your own side table for it, or use an old Weber gasser frame and make nice wood tops for it like Rich Dahl did with his.

I was thinking the performer or the ranch kettle.....Holy big bucks for the ranch kettle.................

I looked at the weber site, and it has the desc of them....does the table come with the performer?

looks like that may be my ticket.

 

[Carl H.]

Definitely the 26 in kettle. The 22 inch kettle is a bonafide classic and the Performer may be the ultimate expression of it but it's just too small for 6 to 8 people. Think: indirect cooking, vegetables, etc.

 

[CGariepy]

Wow, awesome recommendations.....I think I'll go with the performer and look to pick up another or a kettle on the side when there is a sale....

shopping I go this weekend.

thanks a ton

chris

 

[Jake Wilson]

Wow, awesome recommendations.....I think I'll go with the performer and look to pick up another or a kettle on the side when there is a sale....

shopping I go this weekend.

thanks a ton

chris

~~~~Hey Chris!, Jake here...was following your thread and am not surprised you're leaning towards going with the Performer. I bought my first Weber kettle when we lived in MI (Brighton), about 1982 and used it exclusively at work. Work was the family business (Golf Driving Range). In 85', the Weber kettle made the move with us to the lower Fla. Keys. We leased a house on the ocean for about 10 months used as a base camp to look for property, then found and built a home on a dry acre in Big Pine Key and moved the Weber with us again

In 98' we moved to where we are now (north central Fla.) and the Weber came along but started showing aging signs around Y2K and for whatever reason (I think I just got tired of it) we acquired an off set wood smoker/grill...one of those Chinese New Braunfels, I think it was a Chinese model as the steel was thin and it didn't last long. Another grill followed which I still have and use, where the charcoal pan raises and lowers and I like it a lot but I've had to rebuild it a few times and this last time while it was in the welders shop, I bought a Performer Gold. I have nothing but praise for what Weber has done with this concept (adjacent table, charcoal storage, etc.). Weber really has kicked it up a notch with the Performer series and although I've only been using the Performer for maybe a month, it gets used a lot as like most here...we just prefer to cook outdoors

All that said and I read where you intend on adding a grill (in addition to a new Performer) to supplement your grilling realty, with the amount of people you cook for, one of the members mentioned using a Weber Ranch kettle. What with the amount of people you cook for, that would be a viable option too, and although most voice the cost as a negative buying one, and $1200 + is a lot of money if you buy new...yet in the grand scheme of things, $1200 isn't a lot of money when it comes to purchasing a gas grill to cook for the size of crew you mention you often have over, but it's always easy spending someone else's money, isn't it?<LOL> I've been eyeing the Weber Ranch Kettle as we cook for more than ourselves on occasion here on the farm we're working. Although with the two grills we have, they seem to handle our needs, there's no doubt if I just had one large grill to cook on, that would make the chef's life (mine) a lot easier, not having to screw with two separate cooking areas, even though there right next to each other

Something we've had fun with, using our Performer has been the addition of a half circle shaped griddle, cut from 3/16" mild steel (21.5" diameter)

The welder that fixed my other grill cut this piece of steel for me...here it is griddling some hamburgs w/cheese-

Have fun with your new Weber grill(s)!

 

[~Mark~]

Something we've had fun with, using our Performer has been the addition of a half circle shaped griddle, cut from 3/16" mild steel (21.5" diameter)

Holy Flat Top Batman is this a GREAT idea!!! I'm going to be making one of these for myself and my two brothers.
I love this forum.

 

[CGariepy]

Jake,

crazy cool story and wow, what a cook top to admire......I need to step up my game......btw, I'll be over for burgers later.............

chris

 

[S.Six]

I'm with a lot of other people here! Performer all the way! Outside of that I'd say the 26.75" kettle. That would give you a lot more space for larger cooks.

 

[Jake Wilson]

Holy Flat Top Batman is this a GREAT idea!!! I'm going to be making one of these for myself and my two brothers.
I love this forum.

~~~I love griddling...I bought my first griddle last November-

this particular griddle is stainless steel and manufactured for Little Griddle. It's their Euro-Q model and it was being offered for less than 1/2 price on woot.com, so I bought one as the idea appealed to me...griddling outside on top of a charcoal grill

this was my first ever cook with it and here I am searing chicken thigh, that was first marinated in EVOO and a few secret spices=

after I flipped the thighs, I got a nice little bit of sear going...

I took the thighs off the griddle and put them over the coals, next to the Euro-Q, then started grilling onion and garlic in a little bit of oil

added frozen peas

next to go on was leftover rice from the night before...

the goal was to make fried (Chinese) rice, so I added a few T's of soy sauce and one scrambled egg, tossed in some cut up scallion

this was the end result!

What really made this dish for me was how the smoke from the charcoal mixed with the rice and veggies while frying on the griddle

So when I got the Performer, I knew I had to fashion a griddle to fit the curvature of the Weber kettle, and this was the result-

but I got the idea for the flat top for the Weber from Greg @ Ballistic BBQ while watching him put together the Texas backyard burger

after seeing the flat top Greg used I emailed him asking what thickness of metal he used, his reply was 3/16" mild steel w/a diameter of 21.5", so that's what I had my welder cut for me

Comparing cooking on the Euro-Q stainless steel griddle to the mild steel I use on the Weber, I prefer cooking on the mild steel. I like the way the food reacts on the carbon steel over the stainless steel, though the grease trough and the raised sides of the Euro-Q are nice features

I should mention, when I cook on the Euro-Q, after it cools and before I use it again, it goes into one of my sinks where I use a stainless steel wool pad and liquid dish soap to clean it, completely, but the 1/2 round mild steel griddle never gets this treatment. I mainly scrape off any burnt bits and that's about it. Sometimes I'll dribble a little bit of canola oil on it when it's hot before I cook, move that oil around with a paper towel wadded up on the end of a pair of tongs, then dispose, but more often than not, I'm cooking on this flat top, rather than cooking over the Weber wire grill

Last night, I grilled halved endive...I found some really fresh endive, cut it in half lengthwise, sprinkled about a 1/3 cup of granulated sugar on the griddle where I would place the 4 endive pieces and when the sugar melted, I set the endive cut side down on the melted sugar, and left it

After it caramelized, I poured some red wine vinegar around the endive, after flip[ping the endive, to make a glaze. I'd show pics but I did this at nightfall and my camera doesn't take very good night shots. It came out tasty, and to clean the griddle, I poured some hot water on the sugar and scraped the griddle with my spatula, it all came off easily (the burnt sugar)

before I cooked the endive I had a huge Portabello mushroom cap I sliced into 3/4" strips, brushed with EVOO and placed it on (that's right!), the flat top. I can't think of anything I don't want to cook on it

 

[Jake Wilson]

Jake,

crazy cool story and wow, what a cook top to admire......I need to step up my game......btw, I'll be over for burgers later.............

chris

~~~~Keweenaw to north central Fla., now that's what I call a hop, skip and a jump= Just give me a day's notice and I'll make sure I have hamburger here to grill for ya Chris!

 

[CGariepy]

Thanks, I had one of the best weeks of my life last April........We rented a new house for a week right on the gulf....Port St. Joe to be exact...nice beaches not crowded. and........there was a weber at the house.

chris

 

[Jake Wilson]

lemme guess...you grilled fresh Fla. seafood on that Weber

 

[Rich Dahl]

Like I said in my previous post here I love my performer, but with that said I do have two other Weber gassers and a mini and 18.5 I can use if I need more grill space. The 26 is a good idea if you want to stay at one grill. Another thought is to get a performer and pick up a used or new 22.5 silver as a backup when you need the extra space. That would also allow you to do two different types of cooks at the same time, say indirect chicken, ribs, pp, etc. and direct for burgers, steaks, dogs on the other.
If you go with the 26 here is a picture of the cart I built. It's made on the frame of an old silver B Weber grill I use when I use my 18.5 and if I use the mini as a smoky Joe and for all kinds of projects around the house. Makes a nice bar setup when having quests over too.

 

[Tyson]

If I were cooking for that many people every week I would want a 26" kettle or a performer and a OTG. The 26" comes with a stainless steel grate, so it should last a long time.