Grilling on Sunday

Do you remember these? We had them way back in the 60's.



I have returned to charcoal as the fuel of choice, because it doesn't flare up and burn things. I have big gas grills at the KC house and at the lake, but I do not like the results of gas grilling, so I have quit using them. Well unless I really need something in a hurry.

At the lake, I have a Char Griller with the side smoker barrel.


This thing is a monster, but it will smoke a bunch of meat and grill over the coals and all the good stuff. But it is not very portable. Takes up most of the second stall in the lake garage. And it will rust itself to death, if you leave it outside.

The last thing I need is one of these here in KC. No place to put it. Big gas grill is now taking up too much space on the patio. So today, I bought the old fashioned Weber kettle. The cheap one pictured above. They now have a GOLD one with an attached table, that they sell for over $300, but that seems like overkill.

So this is a silver model that wally mart sells for $85. Seems high, but it is built out of steel with porcelain coating. Guaranteed for 10 years. I tried to order a Weber Q charcoal grill on line, but the company is out of them for most of the rest of the summer. Everyone drop ships now, and no matter where you order it, it still comes from Weber. And they are out of stock.

Then I had to get a little fancy and buy lump charcoal.


This was a mistake. Over half of the chunks are little quarter sized pieces. And they fall right thru the fire grate. I lit the fire with an electric fire element, so as not to get any taste from petroleum fire starter or newspaper ink from sheets of paper.

But the fire kept falling thru the grate and landing on the bottom of the bowl, or out completely and on to the ash tray. Bummer!

I tried to do a drunk butt chicken, but the fire went out completely after about an hour. Had to take the whole thing apart and relight the fire. This time I split the chicken and grilled it directly over the coals.

It was as good as it could be! We ate way too much, but there was some left over. Not much though.

The Weber kettle was designed with briquettes in mind, so I am going to have to rethink that part. But we both thought the lump charcoal had a much better taste than the Kingsford briquettes. Even though the company (Kingsford) is less than 30 miles from our house. They are in Desoto, Kansas, on the way to Lawrence.

I think I can get the kettle into the back of the pickup, without taking it apart. But the legs just pull out, without any bolts to loosen. So it can go camping with us as well. Thats what I started out to get in the first place. Funny how these things seem to wind around on themselves.

I'll probably end up ordering the Q later, when they become available, but for now I'm having fun with an old fashioned kettle grill that works just as good as it did in 1960.