Your comments made me a convert, I am now grilling with Charcoal
 

I brought some really killer steaks up with me from Florida to North Carolina. I decided it was time to try grilling on some charcoal instead of propone.

You all were right, way more flavor in the steaks than what I was used to. We also threw some wet mesquite blocks on the coals a few minutes before the steaks went on.

Got a simple Weber grill. I was never happy with the cheapo wal-mart propane grill I got for $100. It really stinks and I was not looking forward to grilling the steaks with it.

When I get home to Florida I am buying another Weber grill for duties there.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y21...3/CIMG2163.jpg

Ready to pull them off, they came out perfect.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y21...3/CIMG2164.jpg

Oh and if you are wondering where I got the black stuff in the glass on the table. I got it from a local NC brewery. A German guy runs the place and the beer is just too good for words, if your ever in Western North Carolina you need to go to this place and get some beer. You buy a growler and get it refilled for $6 for about 2 liters. My brother is posing in front of the happy place with his growler.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y21...3/CIMG2165.jpg

Where is that brewery?? I have a friend with a place at the boarder of GA.TN. in NC.

This is the one, its in Sylva North Carolina.

http://www.yourgnometownbrewery.com/

Dieter is in there everytime I go in. He is a really cool guy and very friendly

Weber grills are awesome ( nice carbs, too )

I like to use mesquite in mine.
I add soaked oak pieces.
Also, you can put onion, garlic, spices, pepper, lemon, whatever you like, in a folded aluminum foil packet. Poke holes and toss it in the fire at cook time.
It will smoke up real nice when you put the lid on the grill.

I haven't done any grillin' yet this season.
This week sounds good.


KT

Jim,

I have to say, your NC adventures just sound amazing. Your getaway that you look forward to, within a nice driving distance. Then, when you get there, you break out the steaks and micro-brew. Wow...that's the kind of stuff I dream about on a daily basis, and your setup has inspired me to pursue something similar. I want a second home about three hours away that I can just go to and do my stuff. Tell us a little more about your place, what kind of stuff you do there, who comes to visit, how long you stay, etc... Pics are appreciated, and I'll take one of those steaks!

Thanks for the inspiration.

JA

A Weber Kettle is the BEST BBQ for Grilling...its easy to use and turns out a great product.

I also have a Green Egg and a David Klose Texas BBQ Pit...

I use Mesquite Hardwood Lump Charcoal. It burns hot and sears the meat wonderfully. I buy it by the 40lb bag for $14.00.

3 words: Big Green Egg!

We use a lil brother to the Weber when we camp. I let the coals form a nice totally grey amber them put on some Post Oak chips to give the smoke. Any fat the drips down will form a nice flame which will help out.

If it wasn't for the fact that it takes about 20 minutes to get a nice even bed for grilling, I would go charcoal always. If you rush it the meat will not cook evenly.

tabs is spot on about the charcoal. try a bag of lump instead of the kingsford. much hotter and cleaner fire. less ashes leftover to clean out.
get a steel chimney and you can eliminate the lighter fluid too. two sheets of newspaper under the charcoal and you are good to go in fifteen minutes.

Hasty Bake grill here but would never BBQ with anything but charcoal or wood. Once you have tasted a good steak or piece of swordfish or salmon cooked this way you can never go back.

Sorry for the long post.

Its kind of interesting how we came about owning this 2nd home. In 1996 we bought a very humble small 3/2/2 home with a screened pool. We paid 92K for it and made double mortgage payments on it from the first payment on. More if we could afford it.

We could have purchased a 200K-350K home easily at the time but chose to stay simple. 8 years later we only had about 20K left on the mortgage. I was having a good year business wise that year and decided to just give myself a big bonus and pay off the house. This was in Early 2004.

I decided to apply for a mortgage on the house in order to buy a house to flip. After posting my intentions on here I was swayed away from doing it as I analyzed the home prices here I realized they were unrealistically high and I could easily get hurt. I canned that idea.

Then we got rocked by 2 hurricanes back to back. If we ever got hit by a category 5 hurricane here my house will be gone. I decided that our best bet would be to buy a second home far away from our Florida home where it would not be affected by natural disasters.

I decided somewhere near the Smoky Mountain National Park was where I wanted to be. I again, posted up a thread in PPOT for information about the area. Procon gave me tons, even pointed me towards a house he knew of for sale in my price range. He talked me into coming and visiting the little town he lives in and I fell in love with it.

We ended up with a 2 story 4/3/ carport home that is 1600 s.f. its not huge, but not tiny either. I hired Procon to close in the carport so I would have a secure storage for my P-car when I leave it up here. We ended up replacing all the flooring in the house and painting every inch of it ouside and in. Its 10 years old and does not appear to have been painted since new.

It has turned out to be a great place to come with family and friends to relax. We have been exploring the surrounding areas, hiking trails and enjoying the outdoors.

I consider myself to be very lucky to be able to afford to do this and will never take this for granted. As the building industry has slowed in Florida and my business has been on a decline it has been stressful financially. We are actually toying with opening up the house as a vacation rental property so it generates money for us. We figure if we rent it out for 5 or 6 years we can use the money to pay off the mortgage and then we can remodel out all the damage from renting it out and make it a dedicated personal vacation home again. Its been really hard pulling the trigger on opening it up for rent. We know it will be abused and we put a lot of hard work into it.

We are trying to avoid it but it is becoming inevitable. :(

That was a lot of fun, I am still mad I lfet the camera in the car. Hunter looked like he had a great time too. All the kids did. Sorry about the slow poke on the Parkway dea, its hard to make a FJ Cruiser handle like a Porsche. It just does not happen. I was beating cheeks on the way back home, being soaking wet will motivate you, and I started getting everyone sick inside the truck. I had to throttle back a little and take it easy.


For once, I got to show Procon a local attraction. We stumbled across some really pretty waterfalls last summer hiking on a randome trail off the Blue Ridge Parkway. We took him back there with his son and the kids went swimming in the 40 degree water while us sane adults watched, got out feet wet, and laughed at the crazy kids freezing in the mountain stream.

I still use the Weber my dad gave to me--it's probably 25 yrs old, dented, and now grey, not black. Still works like day 1. Hard for me to replace it. Whole Foods sells the hardwood stuff which is great--and the chimney is a must. I do buy a new rack every year though. I grill 12 mos a year. Top picks--babybacks, NY strip, turkey burgers, and planked salmon. Hell yes.

never really understood this propane grill thing, it just ain't right...
for thousands of years, grilling was on wood/coal.. some things just won't get any better with " technology"...

I'll be contrary and say I've been happy with ten years of gas, will have to try a charcoal steak sometime to see if there's a flavor difference. I don't recall a big change when I ditched the bricks.
A typical meal scenario: If my wife gets home after I do she asks what to cook. Should it be a grill night she tells me how much lead time I get. She can whip up her end of the meal pretty fast so it may only be five minutes before 'meat on'. I don't have the time (or patience after work) to babysit charcoal. I grill three of four times a week, rain doesn't bother much.
Stijn, I do baked potatoes in the coals after burning a brush pile. Does that count?
Jim

sure...

and here's a tip for cleaning the grill
a raw potatoe cut in half... as the grill itself is hot... rub it over the metal.. works like a charm...

Or, ball up some aluminum foil and scrape it over the grill while it's still hot. Clean as a whistle.

Same here on2wheels52. We also grill 3-4 nights a week year round. I have both gas and charcoal and once the gas grill got lots of grease in it I can't tell a difference in taste. I like the gas grill because I can do a better job of regulating the heat.

I bought my Weber back in 1982 for $39.00. I have never cleaned the Grill, sometimes I just use a wire brush to scape it down. The heat kills all the bugs anyway.

Ditto on the Charcoal Chimmney, I stopped using Lighter Fluid, and went to the Chimmney well over 25 years ago.

If ya like gas why not just buy a Stove that has a Grill.

Nothing replaces charcoal for flavor.....but......the inconvenience of starting them gets old real fast. If your coming home late for work and want some steaks, chances are your fire phobic wife is going to wait for you to do it rather then turn a knob and push a button. I guess its best to have both for certain occasions.

"If ya like gas why not just buy a Stove that has a Grill"

It keeps the heat/smoke out of the kitchen, nice in the summer
she deep fries fish on the side burner, I don't miss having the house smell like Captain D's
gives me something to do without interfering with her space to cook
Jim

Two words.
Weber Performer.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1183342478.jpg

Light your charcoal with propane.
Mine's 16 years old now...Perfect.

With real mesquite, you don't "have to wait" until the coals burn down like briquettes.

It burns like wood and it's very hot.
You can shut down the BBQ air vents when you are done and use the coals again next time.

Jim, I should pack up some of these wine tank oak staves I have from the winery I'm working in. They are thin strips of oak that are put in stainless tanks instead of storing the wine in barrels.

I break them into little pieces and soak them. When I start cooking the meat I place them arond the perimeter of the coals so they burn slow and smoke. If they start to burn with tall flames they worn scorch the food because they are around the edge.

I close the lid between turns and the flames go out.

Hint: turn the the meat around two or three times before flipping it over to produce "grill marks". ( the flavor is in the grill marks )

PM your address if you want me to ship a small package of that oak to you.


KT