Wsm or kettle?


 
David, you're absolutely right. I never use grits under the parchment - the heat must be getting to my brain - I don't know why I typed that in!

I do put a very light sprinkle of yellow grits on top of the parchment only because I really like the crunchy texture of the grits on the bottom of my pizzas. I should have made that clearer and will correct it.

Phil, the parchment will darken and become a little brittle, that's all. Try it; you'll like it!

Rita
 
Thanks matt but I already have the summit platinum. I was trying to expand my options between the kettle or wsm, not choose between charcoal and gas.

Now my post has turned into a discussion about pizza on the grill! That's okay. I was interested in that too.

Rick
 
Originally posted by rick lea:
Thanks matt but I already have the summit platinum. I was trying to expand my options between the kettle or wsm, not choose between charcoal and gas.

Now my post has turned into a discussion about pizza on the grill! That's okay. I was interested in that too.

Rick
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Rick, That was my fault, sorry about that.
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You have the gas grill get the WSM now and next year get the kettle.
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You can grill on the WSM if needed so figure on that in your choice. I myself can't see getting another grill instead of a WSM/smoker.
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No problem Bryan,
I am not offended and I hope I didn't come off that way. At first I was interested in the pizza thing but I quickly lost interest. I can buy a good pizza and a couple glasses of wine or beer for about $40.00. If we go out to a decent place for steak and wine it costs $80-300 for 2 of us. I feel we can do as well at home for about 1/2 the price.

I normally spend about $200 to do a meal at home for 6-8 people. To me it tastes better but that could be my bull headed pride showing thru!

No apology necessary.

Rick
 
No problem, just pointing out other things you can use the kettle for, can't see spending money on one just to cook one thing on it, it's a very versatile cooking tool.
 
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Well with the WSM and entertaing you can do some awsome Prime Rib, Tri-Tips, and Smoked Rib Eyes, that Shawn W posted about a couple years ago. Those cooks are awsome on the WSM. Chicken you can do both great on the Kettle and WSM. I've done many beef roasts on my Kettle over the years and they came out great. I prefer the WSM for all these cooks because of the distance the food is away from the fire, no banked coals to worry about getting the meat over done on the sides that are close to the coals. When doing a Purdue oven stuffer roaster on the kettle you have to still worry about the sides that are right near the banked charcoal getting over done (legs, winds) espcially, on the WSM no problems with that. Turkeys are great on the WSM and very big for the kettle and you have that too done thing near the banked coals again. I know many have cooked them in their kettle but I prefer the WSM. Then you have the space thing. That WSM will hold a bunch of meat before even going in to the grate extending options. As I said in an earlier post Ribs are fantastic on the WSM. Butts, Brisket, Chuck Rolls................... And last but not least the WSM prtty much runs itself. HTH, Bryan
 
From what it sounds like you want to get a WSM or a Kettle just to do Santa Maria style tri-tip, why not just get some red oak chips and do it on the gasser and save yourself the trouble?

As for choosing between the two, I'll go against the grain here and say WSM over the kettle, why? You already have a gas grill, the WSM would add the most overall versatility to your arsenal, and there's plenty of things you can do besides pulled pork and other items that take several hours (seafood, sausage..).

If you didn't have the gas grill it would the kettle, without a second thought.
 
After this post, that's what I am going to do.
Ordered red oak chips from california and they are going on my summit platinum.

Rick
 
The kettle is the most versatile outdoor cooking
vehicle of all. You can try one very inexpensively just by doing a craigslist search in your area. Good kettles can be had for $20 or under, often free. While the tri's done on my Genesis can be very very good, the ones on the kettle are always better. Just try a kettle, you wont look back.
 
I've used the WSM a few times for cooking up some of the Roadside Chicken, Cornell Chicken, greek style kabobs (ground meat on a skewer). Take the water pan out. It works incredibly well...the fats and juices get to hit the fire, adding to the flavor, but the flames never get up as far as the cooking grate (or the skewers, I have oversized flat skewers that span the 18.5" or so of the WSM). With the 3 vents open on the bottom the heat is almost unbearable. If you are able to cook in the dark it's a fun sight. Looks like a witches convention, all the people huddled around a cauldron, sparks floating, smoke pouring.
 
Originally posted by Jim Baker:
jbaker,

Where are you from? All of my family is from northwest TN. Living near St. Louis now.

Jim
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The Baker side is from the NorthEast...started in the Damariscotta ME area in the 1800s, then found their way down to the Boston area. As far as I know I'm the last of our Baker clan, the only male left, with 2 daughters.

"Baker" ranks as the 37th or so most common US surname (1990 census).
http://names.mongabay.com/most_common_surnames.htm
 
I like the parchment idea but...it doesn't catch on fire or smoke excessively? I've used it before in baking, and I seem to remember the stuff becoming *really* dark at temps above 350. Also, it doesn't stick to the pizza at all? You guys have no trouble getting it off?
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Phil, sorry I didn't see your question earlier. Cheap parchment paper does tend to get too dark at the higher temps and cannot be used more than once, but I get a quality parchment paper at Whole Foods which is a brownish color. I have used it at 520 degrees and the Whole Foods parchment paper is OK at that temp. It darkens a little around the edges and gets brittle after 3-4 uses, but it works fine for baking or roasting veggies (keeps the sheet pan clean).

The pizza never sticks to the parchment, even without any cornmeal or anything else under the pizza.
 
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