As much as I LOVED cooking on my Bandera, there were problems with bad smoke leakage, problems keeping the heat where I wanted it, and storage. That thing was a monstrosity and HARD to move around. So it was stored outside, in the elements, and thus was exposed to LOTS of salty air being as close to Galveston Bay as I am...
Now I can't live without BBQ, and I wasn't sure for a long time what I was going to do. So I made do with a Weber Smokey Joe. One of those little 14" table top jobs. It worked fine for grilling, actually way more than fine, it worked great for that, and I have cooked a TON of meals on that thing. But smoking was always a challenge. I would manage using the snake technique, but overall I could manage a half of a brisket, or one rack of ribs cut and side by side on the thing, so capacity was really not what I wanted.
My neighbor got one of those Walmart specific Weber Jumbo Joe Premium 22" kettle grills. Now I have been eyeballing one of the Original Premium models, but the added features either didn't offer any advantage in my way of seeing things such as that ash bucket thing instead of the pan. I was concerned about the shallower lower bowl part of the kettle, but after the last couple of years with my neighbor's successes on this grill, I just couldn't pass up the $68.00 price tag.
I am considering adding one of the hinged grates to facilitate tending the coals for long cooks, but with the techniques I have been using, just removing the food, and grate temporarily while the fire is tended, works. I guess we will see in the long run.
The doctor has me doing a low carb thing, not quite atkins, not quite paleo, but close to both of them. Really more like, Paleo with dairy... Anyway, I digress...
SO my plan is to do my cooks, so I can have everything done in one shot, on the weekend ready for the week.
With BOTH the Jumbo Joe Premium, and the Smokey Joe, my plan is to set up and get them both going, use the JJP, for smoking, and larger items like whole chickens, turkeys etc... and using the smokey joe for things like grilling Chicken Fajita, Bratwurst, Keilbasa, beef hot dogs, and misc cuts of beef and / or pork...
One item I was concerned with was the lack of a thermometer on the lid of the JJP. I was considering using one of these dual probe thermometers.
https://www.amazon.com/ThermoPro-Di...020&sr=1-20&keywords=Digital+food+thermometer
Would one of those work to catch both the ambient temp in the kettle as well as catch the temp inserted into the meat or should I just drill a hole and add a thermometer into the lid?
Now I can't live without BBQ, and I wasn't sure for a long time what I was going to do. So I made do with a Weber Smokey Joe. One of those little 14" table top jobs. It worked fine for grilling, actually way more than fine, it worked great for that, and I have cooked a TON of meals on that thing. But smoking was always a challenge. I would manage using the snake technique, but overall I could manage a half of a brisket, or one rack of ribs cut and side by side on the thing, so capacity was really not what I wanted.
My neighbor got one of those Walmart specific Weber Jumbo Joe Premium 22" kettle grills. Now I have been eyeballing one of the Original Premium models, but the added features either didn't offer any advantage in my way of seeing things such as that ash bucket thing instead of the pan. I was concerned about the shallower lower bowl part of the kettle, but after the last couple of years with my neighbor's successes on this grill, I just couldn't pass up the $68.00 price tag.
I am considering adding one of the hinged grates to facilitate tending the coals for long cooks, but with the techniques I have been using, just removing the food, and grate temporarily while the fire is tended, works. I guess we will see in the long run.
The doctor has me doing a low carb thing, not quite atkins, not quite paleo, but close to both of them. Really more like, Paleo with dairy... Anyway, I digress...
SO my plan is to do my cooks, so I can have everything done in one shot, on the weekend ready for the week.
With BOTH the Jumbo Joe Premium, and the Smokey Joe, my plan is to set up and get them both going, use the JJP, for smoking, and larger items like whole chickens, turkeys etc... and using the smokey joe for things like grilling Chicken Fajita, Bratwurst, Keilbasa, beef hot dogs, and misc cuts of beef and / or pork...
One item I was concerned with was the lack of a thermometer on the lid of the JJP. I was considering using one of these dual probe thermometers.
https://www.amazon.com/ThermoPro-Di...020&sr=1-20&keywords=Digital+food+thermometer
Would one of those work to catch both the ambient temp in the kettle as well as catch the temp inserted into the meat or should I just drill a hole and add a thermometer into the lid?
