After reading everyone’s high reviews on this site, I decided to buy a Performer. I have had a WSM for about a year now, which was my first Weber product. I was impressed with the build quality so I figured that the Performer had to be made just as well. I ordered it through our local Ace Hardware store just incase there were any problems, I would have a local place to go back to. I also ordered the Weber rotisserie ring. I tried to contact the folks at Cajun Bandit, but they were slow to respond. My fear was that if something went wrong, how would they handle the repair/replacement if I couldn’t even get a hold of them for an order. I was also told that their motor ran on batteries but for an extra $9 they could sell me an adaptor. Since I wasn’t going to be smoking on this grill, I wasn’t to worried about a little gap in the ring that I had read about.
Two days later, our grill, rotisserie kit and cover came in. We brought it home and had it assembled in no time. The build quality was great as I expected like the WSM. Then came time to see how the rotisserie ring was going to fit. I tightened up the bolts on the motor bracket and placed the ring on the Performer. Just as I suspected, it didn’t fit. Oh wait a minute, what are these notches for? As I turned the ring around it fell into place. Weber has cut notches in the bottom of the ring in two places for the bolts that stick out of the lid holder. I thought it was kind of funny that Weber says that this won’t work with the Performer, but in the last diagram in the directions (I did read them after it was assembled!) it shows how to position the rotisserie ring on the Performer! I just started to laugh. I did call Weber and they are making a new ring this year to work with the Performer. They said that the new box would have a “red stripe” on it. My box didn’t have any stripe, but worked like a charm. It was all together and time for the smoke test.
I also ordered an EZ-Que basket from Ebay. I thought this was a great idea, no spearing food. For our first cook, I did a six-pound chicken that was marinated in Mojo for about six hours. I placed it in the basket and set the charcoal in the baskets and put a drip pan under the chicken that was half full of water. I placed the lid on the kettle and sat back. Not having ever used a Weber grill, I quickly found out that I had to add charcoal about every thirty minutes (used Royal Oak lump) to keep the fire going. I was able to hold about 350 in the lid, so I guess I was probably running about 300 at the spit level. In the end, it took three hours to cook this bird. I thought that was a little odd, but dinner was very juicy and tender so I didn’t worry about it too much that night. However, when it came to cleaning the EZ-Que, there wasn’t anything easy about it. It took me over 45 minutes to get all the nook and crannies cleaned up. I thought to myself that next time, I’m going to try the Weber spit.
I had been reading what is in “ground beef” over the past year and lets just say that we now own an electric meat grinder. After a year of trying everything under the sun, we finally came upon a mix that is very flavorful and juicy, even if you like your burgers well done. The ratio that we use is 3/4 chuck roast and 1/4 rib eye steak. This has plenty of fat to keep the meat juicy during the cook and the rib eye brings lots of flavor to the party. The Performer did well with this. I also used the baskets together to get a hot zone with a pan on the other side as a safety area.
I wanted to do another chicken, but I wanted to try something different. I did some reading on this site and it seems as if the basket debate is 50/50. I decided to light the charcoal in the chimney instead of the baskets. I still used newspaper in the bottom, as I wasn’t sure if it would light without it. Any suggestions? I ditched the baskets and divided the charcoal on both sides with a dry drip pan in the middle. Oh, I also went to Home Depot and bought another charcoal grate and put it 90 degrees to the existing one. This worked like a champ keeping the lump on top of the grate. I also was going to use the Weber spit rod this time as it looked as if the clean up was going to be much easier. For the chicken itself, I looked over the Perdue chickens that were in the loose bags that you get without the gizzards and the juice floating at the bottom was thick and cloudy pink. Not my idea of dinner. Right next door were the Perdue “Oven Stuffers” The packaging was vacuum packed and the liquid with thin and clear, much better. The chicken weighed 8 pounds. I wanted to try some Chavetta’s marinade as I read how great tasking it was. I went to our local BBQ store and it was $6 a quart. Seeing how I wanted to marinate a whole chicken, I thought this would get expensive real quick. So I did some research and I found a knock off recipe. The creator did a blind taste test and his testers couldn’t tell the difference between the real deal and what he came up with. That was good enough for me. I made a batch of the marinade up and let it do its thing for about six hours. I trussed the chicken and speared it with the rod. I put it on the grill and started the timer.
This was a whole different kind of rotisserie experience. I was able to keep the lid temp between 400-450 during the cook. About every 60 minutes I had to add a handful of charcoal to each pile. This was way easier than using the baskets. It only took 2 1/2 hours for the chicken to cook! Dinner was delicious. Needless to say, the baskets are now on the shelf and it only took five minutes to clean the spit rod. I also shelved my EZ-Que basket.
Over all this has been a learning experience like when I got the WSM. I’m sure that it will get easier as time goes on. I appreciate everyone’s willingness to share information and help those of us who need assistance once in awhile.
Spencer
Two days later, our grill, rotisserie kit and cover came in. We brought it home and had it assembled in no time. The build quality was great as I expected like the WSM. Then came time to see how the rotisserie ring was going to fit. I tightened up the bolts on the motor bracket and placed the ring on the Performer. Just as I suspected, it didn’t fit. Oh wait a minute, what are these notches for? As I turned the ring around it fell into place. Weber has cut notches in the bottom of the ring in two places for the bolts that stick out of the lid holder. I thought it was kind of funny that Weber says that this won’t work with the Performer, but in the last diagram in the directions (I did read them after it was assembled!) it shows how to position the rotisserie ring on the Performer! I just started to laugh. I did call Weber and they are making a new ring this year to work with the Performer. They said that the new box would have a “red stripe” on it. My box didn’t have any stripe, but worked like a charm. It was all together and time for the smoke test.
I also ordered an EZ-Que basket from Ebay. I thought this was a great idea, no spearing food. For our first cook, I did a six-pound chicken that was marinated in Mojo for about six hours. I placed it in the basket and set the charcoal in the baskets and put a drip pan under the chicken that was half full of water. I placed the lid on the kettle and sat back. Not having ever used a Weber grill, I quickly found out that I had to add charcoal about every thirty minutes (used Royal Oak lump) to keep the fire going. I was able to hold about 350 in the lid, so I guess I was probably running about 300 at the spit level. In the end, it took three hours to cook this bird. I thought that was a little odd, but dinner was very juicy and tender so I didn’t worry about it too much that night. However, when it came to cleaning the EZ-Que, there wasn’t anything easy about it. It took me over 45 minutes to get all the nook and crannies cleaned up. I thought to myself that next time, I’m going to try the Weber spit.
I had been reading what is in “ground beef” over the past year and lets just say that we now own an electric meat grinder. After a year of trying everything under the sun, we finally came upon a mix that is very flavorful and juicy, even if you like your burgers well done. The ratio that we use is 3/4 chuck roast and 1/4 rib eye steak. This has plenty of fat to keep the meat juicy during the cook and the rib eye brings lots of flavor to the party. The Performer did well with this. I also used the baskets together to get a hot zone with a pan on the other side as a safety area.
I wanted to do another chicken, but I wanted to try something different. I did some reading on this site and it seems as if the basket debate is 50/50. I decided to light the charcoal in the chimney instead of the baskets. I still used newspaper in the bottom, as I wasn’t sure if it would light without it. Any suggestions? I ditched the baskets and divided the charcoal on both sides with a dry drip pan in the middle. Oh, I also went to Home Depot and bought another charcoal grate and put it 90 degrees to the existing one. This worked like a champ keeping the lump on top of the grate. I also was going to use the Weber spit rod this time as it looked as if the clean up was going to be much easier. For the chicken itself, I looked over the Perdue chickens that were in the loose bags that you get without the gizzards and the juice floating at the bottom was thick and cloudy pink. Not my idea of dinner. Right next door were the Perdue “Oven Stuffers” The packaging was vacuum packed and the liquid with thin and clear, much better. The chicken weighed 8 pounds. I wanted to try some Chavetta’s marinade as I read how great tasking it was. I went to our local BBQ store and it was $6 a quart. Seeing how I wanted to marinate a whole chicken, I thought this would get expensive real quick. So I did some research and I found a knock off recipe. The creator did a blind taste test and his testers couldn’t tell the difference between the real deal and what he came up with. That was good enough for me. I made a batch of the marinade up and let it do its thing for about six hours. I trussed the chicken and speared it with the rod. I put it on the grill and started the timer.
This was a whole different kind of rotisserie experience. I was able to keep the lid temp between 400-450 during the cook. About every 60 minutes I had to add a handful of charcoal to each pile. This was way easier than using the baskets. It only took 2 1/2 hours for the chicken to cook! Dinner was delicious. Needless to say, the baskets are now on the shelf and it only took five minutes to clean the spit rod. I also shelved my EZ-Que basket.
Over all this has been a learning experience like when I got the WSM. I’m sure that it will get easier as time goes on. I appreciate everyone’s willingness to share information and help those of us who need assistance once in awhile.
Spencer
