Jim H.
TVWBB All-Star
Monday night, I cooked two meals' worth of stuff - BBQ chicken thighs and some thin cut pork steaks. Decided to try cooking them on my WSM, as I had a bunch of half-burned coals left over from a recent cook, and I figured with that much charcoal, I could keep a fire going for a while with a few lit fresh coals. It was nice to not have to watch my WSM as carefully as when I cook low & slow on it, as it tends to run hot most of the time. I've been getting more comfortable with HH cooking on it and I think using it for a grill with no water pan is something I will do more often.
Gotta give props and thanks to Jim Lampe for the idea (may not have been his originally, but I first saw him cook this way) of cooking on the top grate with no water pan in the WSM. This worked like a champ for chicken thighs! I have cooked wings this way, but not anything else so far, and I must say that the thighs I cooked came out as good or better than on my kettle!
Anyway, on to the cook.
I trimmed some excess fat from five bone in thighs, and sprinkled some lemon pepper and Penzey's 33rd & Galena on them, then let 'em sit while I started half a chimney of K Blue. I lifted out the top charcoal grate & ring and gave the leftover coals a good shake to remove most of the ash left from the last cook. I kept all the bottom vents open and spread the lit coals across the old ones in the charcoal ring. My lid thermometer read over 325° and was still climbing after 10 minutes or so, so I closed one vent completely and left the other two @ about 50% open. This gave enough airflow to maintain around 340° for nearly two hours - more than enough time to finish two cooks.
OK, enough yappin'. Here's some pics.
Thighs on the WSM after 30 minutes.
Pulled the thighs @ 165°, and sauced with some modified No.5 sauce. These look almost good enough to eat!
Plated with some of my wife's addictive mashed taters and some homemade mac & cheese. Gotta love meals that take less than an hour from start to finish.
Right after I took the chicken thighs off the WSM, I put these VERY thin pork steaks on the WSM. They were from a "Pick 5 for $19.99" meat sale at our local grocery so I got a package of 6 - 1/2" pork steaks for around $4.
Sprinkled on some Penzey's BBQ 3000, and let 'em go on the bottom grate for a few minutes to sear a little. I left the bottom grate in the WSM to burn off some leftover gunk from the last cook, and I figured I would use it too as long as it was in there.
Tried a different sauce this time just to use it up from a batch I made up for ribs. It wasn't as good on quick cook pork steaks as it was on ribs, but it still added some flavor to them. I ended up cooking these to 140° on the WSM and reheated them in the oven with a little No.5 sauce and some apple juice in a deep foil covered pan. They came out great.
No plated pics, as I remembered to take pics about the time we finished eating.
Served with green beans & au gratin potatoes, they were good, even though they had been in the fridge overnight.
I think I like cooking more than one meal at a time when I can, as I like to get as much cook time per run of charcoal as possible. Also, this makes meal planning a no-brainer for a few days, both for lunch and dinner.
Cooking on the WSM without a water pan works better than I thought it could, and is a great way to use leftover unburnt charcoal.
Thanks for looking!
Gotta give props and thanks to Jim Lampe for the idea (may not have been his originally, but I first saw him cook this way) of cooking on the top grate with no water pan in the WSM. This worked like a champ for chicken thighs! I have cooked wings this way, but not anything else so far, and I must say that the thighs I cooked came out as good or better than on my kettle!
Anyway, on to the cook.
I trimmed some excess fat from five bone in thighs, and sprinkled some lemon pepper and Penzey's 33rd & Galena on them, then let 'em sit while I started half a chimney of K Blue. I lifted out the top charcoal grate & ring and gave the leftover coals a good shake to remove most of the ash left from the last cook. I kept all the bottom vents open and spread the lit coals across the old ones in the charcoal ring. My lid thermometer read over 325° and was still climbing after 10 minutes or so, so I closed one vent completely and left the other two @ about 50% open. This gave enough airflow to maintain around 340° for nearly two hours - more than enough time to finish two cooks.
OK, enough yappin'. Here's some pics.
Thighs on the WSM after 30 minutes.
Pulled the thighs @ 165°, and sauced with some modified No.5 sauce. These look almost good enough to eat!
Plated with some of my wife's addictive mashed taters and some homemade mac & cheese. Gotta love meals that take less than an hour from start to finish.
Right after I took the chicken thighs off the WSM, I put these VERY thin pork steaks on the WSM. They were from a "Pick 5 for $19.99" meat sale at our local grocery so I got a package of 6 - 1/2" pork steaks for around $4.
Sprinkled on some Penzey's BBQ 3000, and let 'em go on the bottom grate for a few minutes to sear a little. I left the bottom grate in the WSM to burn off some leftover gunk from the last cook, and I figured I would use it too as long as it was in there.
Tried a different sauce this time just to use it up from a batch I made up for ribs. It wasn't as good on quick cook pork steaks as it was on ribs, but it still added some flavor to them. I ended up cooking these to 140° on the WSM and reheated them in the oven with a little No.5 sauce and some apple juice in a deep foil covered pan. They came out great.
No plated pics, as I remembered to take pics about the time we finished eating.
I think I like cooking more than one meal at a time when I can, as I like to get as much cook time per run of charcoal as possible. Also, this makes meal planning a no-brainer for a few days, both for lunch and dinner.
Cooking on the WSM without a water pan works better than I thought it could, and is a great way to use leftover unburnt charcoal.
Thanks for looking!
