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Last night I went through the cleaning procedure and I couldn’t be happier with the ease of the process. Remove grates, scrape the heat shield with a metal spatula and vacuum the ashes and debris underneath. It only took a few minutes and there was an astonishingly small amount of ash. After two weeks of almost daily grilling and going through 20 lbs or more of pellets the total accumulation was around one cup of ash. The pellets burn so efficiently that there is little to no residual.
@Jonathon I have used them many times and I’ve always noticed a distinct cedar character although that depends on the temps you are cooking at. To get the most of it I will soak in water for a bit and cook over pretty high temps…the wood should scorch and smolder a little bit. I’ve had a few catch on fire. lol.
When it came to cooking on the Pit Boss I wanted as low and slow as I could get away with. Due to the the size of the fish I figured the cedar would shield against any hot spots I might have and slow down the cooking process as much as possible. I doubt there was much if any of the cedar that was picked up by the salmon although I didn’t eat much of the side that was resting on the plank. The pellets I was using were apple.
@Joe-Hell Do you often cook on planks? I have tried it a time or two and never noticed a difference. Is it only supposed to be used for heat shielding?
…and by ‘destroyed’ I mean DEVOURED!
A buddy of mine picked this up from the store yesterday ($7.98/lb.) and asked if I could cook it for him on the Pit Boss. “Yes, but it’s going to cost you!”, I replied. Simple prep of salt, pepper, lemon, fresh dill, garlic and Irish butter. It took approx 1 hr. 40 minutes to reach 140 with the grill set to 200. The cedar plank was a nice heat shield to guarantee a slow warm up. There was almost zero loss of fat during the cook. The fish turned out perfectly moist and flaky with amazing flavor and slight smokiness.
@Tex_77 Thanks for the link! I’m going to have to give that a try!
@Parksider I’ve suspended chicken and roast beef (eye of round) over an open fire and was super impressed with the results. There is nothing more relaxing than watching a glistening piece of meat spinning gently over a fire!
I saw a seemingly well built offset smoker the other day at Walmart with cast iron grates for under $200. I’m tempted to go for that one too. I just picked up a load of apple and cherry wood over the weekend and I’ve got an itch to burn something!
@Parksider I’d like to take a swing a cooking on a Grillworks wood fired grill, they look amazing, check out their instagram…
I’m like Joe Hell, just want to learn the process and master how they work. I’m looking into Asado cooking now. I want to do a venison quarter over a live fire. I love how they hang whole fish/meat/fruit from chains and strings over the fire. Just looks cool!!! Anyone try this before?
Well I can tell you I’m a big Weber fan. I got the Weber Charcoal Summit instead of the big green egg…i’m not mature enough to own a piece of pottery that big or expensive! For simple go gas, more fun/flavor go charcoal. Most people are in such a hurry and just like the ease of gas. Facebook marketplace or CL is a great place to shop for one!
@craigrice We can anything that the garden produces to much of (if that’s possible)LOL I gave my neighbor some of my sweet Hot jalapenos, later he called and said his tongue was slapping his eye balls cause they are so good. Ha
Just made a small batch of deer sausage with the Walton’s Cajun unit mix. Will post some of it in the next days or so.
