weber kettle

[troy]

Yet to buy one so have some questions as i have not a clue on how to use one.
What is hot and cold smoke also not sure on the metho burner if this one has one as i thought you use heat beads.
It is a 57 cm weber once touch gold plus.
Sorry for being a pain here but this is all new to me and reading members threads i am keen to try my luck.
Thanks
Troy

[troy]

No advise or help.
Maybe i should stick to my old basic BBQ as without some help really not a good idea of buying one.
Troy

[robsue]

if u can afford it, buy a weber q family bbq, cooks the best steaks/roasts

[Shawn 66]

if u can afford it, buy a weber q family bbq, cooks the best steaks/roasts

Have to agree . Would not be without one . Go for the gas ones . Great for fish as well .
Shawn

[troy]

Thanks, i was going to buy both but needed advise on how to use the Weber Kettle .
Troy

[pipifin]

Not sure about using the weber as I have a different contraption but I cant see it being any different.
Cold smoking is a form of "curing" the meat rather than cooking it. so the meat is contained with "cold smoke" (generally from a source further away from the meat) in a bbq or other container.
Cold smoking also means the meat will last longer as it acts as a preservative. (happy for anyone to jump in here and correct me)
I have seen this done through hoses as well as all sorts of other ways. For the home smoker, unless you have a purpose built cold smoker, this is generally not the easiest option.
Having said that you could rig it up using a tin can, a hose, a roasting dish and some al foil..... that's probably just the maori ingenuity in me though.
Hot smoking on the other hand, is a lot easier and I would say a lot more forgiving, hence it's popularity. I'll start at the bottom:
You start with a heat source it really doesn't matter whether it is a tray of metho, gas burners or coals (although to hot smoke fish takes very little time so coals may add a lot of time.
For arguments sake, I'll describe the gas option as it is what I use now-a-days.
above the heat source you have a steel plate. Thickness really doesn't matter, you could even use an old frypan (without a plastic handle).
On the plate goes your sawdust or wood chips, on a rack above this goes your meat of choice. Then the lid.
Heat source heats the sawdust, creates smoke, there is enough heat from the plate to "bake" the meat with the smoky flavour.
I would think if you were using a weber, you may not get enough heat from metho though..... I could be wrong.
Hot smoking GENERALLY creates a juicier end product. Fish doesn't take long at all and like always better to under cook it than over.
If I am doing quite a lot of fish, I'll put a little tray (like a pie foil thingy) filled with wine and herbs on the plate to add a bit of moisture..... but that could be just getting a bit too Jamie Oliver on yo a$$.

Trial and error is the secret to success with smoking but, in my experience there is very few errors..... it's easy peasy.

[Funchy]

The kettle (when you use heat beads) takes a little bit to get used to i.e.

* The right amount of beads (Running out half way through a roast
* Making sure they are alight properly (need to be glowing or at least white all over or else you get a foul smell which can taint the meat)
* Lighting the bass turds!!! (can be frustrating till you get it down pat)
* Dealing with the mess

Having said that once you get em worked out they are a great way to cook a Sunday roast!!!

[gruntahunta]

Absolutelty best way to cook everything.....

1/ To make it easier only buy "HEAT BEAD" brand heat beads (all the other brands are rubbish and do not get hot enough).

2/ Buy the Heat beads that are ezy Light ones, that way they light evenly all through and you do not need fire starters.

3/ Do not lift the lid on the kettle to keep checking...calculate the time and trust that.....it will be right

4/ Try cooking small food items like chicken, beef, prawn kebabs or finger food type things....you can literally cook and eat for hours with many many recipes...great party idea.

5/ When u get good at it (and u will)... try throwing some whole crabs or whole fish in it.....scrumptious

6/ There is absolutely no food that can't be cooked to perfection and even better in a Webber kettle.

[Agrav8_and_Lulu]

Hi Troy,

Just thought I would put a photo up of my cold smoker, which i did on the weekend. I had a 2 burner not in use so I joined both of them up via a pipe. The smoke is produced in the 2 burner and transferred across the pipe into the smoking chamber of the 4 burner, at this stage the smoke is cold. Pipifin has nailed it right on the head with his post.

At this stage I've got the best of both worlds, if I wanted to do Cheese, jerky I go the cold smoke. If I want to do a smoked fish, roast or even a steak that I might want a smoke flavour threw, I just convert it back to the 4 burner and place the chips on the end. Just remember if using chips to soak them for 20 min, you'll get more smoke and no flair ups. I soak mine in apple juice or wine to give it some different flavours or you can just use water.

cheers

Darren

[troy]

I was going to buy the 2 Weber Q 200 and the Weber Kettle should i still do this or just buy the Weber Q Family Bbq as mentioned.
I am not rich just been putting money away and now i have it time to have a go.
Appreciate all the help as believe me i will need it and i have to justify to my better half that it is money well spent .
Thanks
Troy

[cormorant]

Novice here.

After either hot or cold smoking how long does the cured meat last? how do you tell if it is going off and how do you store it for best life?

I buy a fair bit of smoked stuff and always make a pig of myself as never sure just how long it will last and as I never leave it very long not sure to tell how it is past it's best?

So a cold smoked fillet - How long is it good for?

Thanks

[Tangles]

Troy,

the weber is more a hot smoker cooking at around 200 F or above, cold smoking is like hanging food in the smoke of a fire and the temps are a lot lower like 85F over a day or so.

The Ezi Touch your talking about are more for grilling steaks, roasting chooks etc and for that they are great but for hot smoking they are too much trouble IMO. If its hot smoking you want then get a Weber WSM (SMOKEY MOUNTAIN), if it s more grilling/roasting go the Ezi Touch. I used to do a lot of smoking with the Ezi TOuch but got the WSM as well just for that.

Everyone bbqs differently and no one way is better or not but here is my way, I wont use the ezy light heatbeads, we use more natural starters you can get in any bbq shop.

The biggest hurdle is getting the hang off how many heatbeads to use etc, all the bbq books go on about it and make it sound complicated, well ignore that all and just keep it simple and buy a good set of long tongs, gloves and a chimney starter.


1: Get chimney starter ( holds the coals) and fill it full with coals ( thats the standard measure of coals for everything, ignore the recipie books on number of coals, just a full load of coals every cook ( whether new or left over coals from last cook), whats left after a cook, well that goes back into the chimney for the next one,

2: place some fire starters under the chimney starter, light, walk away have a beer, when they are basically all white pour those on the grate on one side, dont muck about putting them into the trays that go either side on the weber, thats too complicated and also you dont get as much room on the barbie as dumping all the coals to one side ( also doing this you can get more of a heat range on the grill)

3: place an alfoil tray opposite the coals under the cooking grate, so place your steaks roasts etc over that. If you clean your grates before you place the alfoil tray all those drippings from a roast make a good gravy

4: Wood chunks or chips, no need to soak, again too much trouble and wont make a chunk of wood really last longer and wont really give you more smoke, also you dont want to overdo the smoke either

5: For roasts get one of those meat thermometers probes, takes the guessing out of it all.

I use that standard full chimney starter of coals for everything, only vary it if we are doing a roast ( lamb chook etc) by placing 6-8 unlit heatbeads on the grate before i chuck the lit headbeads on top of them and if i need more after an hour, ill chuck some more on,

Another good trick also is to get real charcoal and use that.

[Jakers 69]

Been using webers for donkey years, kettle for direct or indirect method, I still believe that the kettle with beats are far superior than a gas BBQ .
In saying that I lately use the weber gas burners a lot more than the old trusted kettle , simply because it is a lot faster and don't need the cleanup after every BBQ .
You will get a cooking book with your purchase, be patient and learn how to use them.

If you are not sure , buy a 57 weber kettle in the classifies of your local paper and test it.
You tube will have some info as well.
Iam using a 57 cm kettle, baby Q 100 on the boat, Q 300 on its stand for small BBQ,s and webber genesis for the big braai.(BBQ)
Weber smokey Joe for the BBQ on the dunes or for something different .

I still remember the first time I used the kettle how a charcoaled(burned) the meat, but after a while a took it on holiday with me.
I use firewood for the direct method .

Get yourself a weber and enjoy

[troy]

This probably really dumb but is the Chimney Starter the bottom of the kettle or another part i have to get.
I am even starting to laugh at myself.
If i have been reading the posts right then a Weber One Touch is not suitable for Smoking.
As i have said i was buying a Weber Q 220 and a Weber Kettle but if i have to go for a Smokey Mountain then will be to expensive for me and i will get shot.
I want to be able to experiement with smoking different foods so not sure on my combination on what i was going to buy.
I think i am causing a lot of grief here and will most likely be told so.
Thanks
Troy

[Tangles]

Troy,

Heatbeads call them a starter, heres a link to them, there are two sections, you fill the top with heatbeads and place your fire starters underneath, chimney effect which gets your heatbeads/coals going

http://www.heatbeads.com.au/product/...s-bbq-starter/

It really depends on what kind of smoking of foods your doing, if its just adding a bit of smoke ( couple of chunks of wood to the coals) to get a small smoke flavour then a One Touch is absolutely fine, but if you intend on doing a lot ( i mean a lot) of low temp and slow cooks then a WSM is made for that purpose,

I wouldnt get a WSM unless you really are doing that type of cooking ( we do pastramis, pulled pork etc and ribs which cook for anywhere between 6-10 hours and the WSM is able to maintain that temp all day literally without touching it ( whereas the One Touch cant). I suggest searching WSM on youtube to get an idea of what it does.

Also you can get some smoke on a gas bbq as well by having a small smoker box with chips over the gas flame as well.

Images, one is steak on the One Touch ( it doesnt get any better!)
One is pastrami on the WSM ( took about 10 hours to slow cook it)
the other is ribs and a strasburg roll slow cooked with rub
The arsenal!

For usual grilling and roasts cant go past the One Touch

Im thinking of getting the deathstar of grills The Ranch Kettle one day ( it can cook a pig or 20 chooks), thats the One Touch beside it