First impressions: Flip Flop grill

[BDAABAT]

Decided to try the Flip Flop cooker. It's been ~ 20 years since I've grilled over charcoal. The last time I was using charcoal to grill was probably 10 years before finding this site. My cooking and understanding of cooking has changed a bit over the years. Figured it was time to jump back into charcoal.

Grill is really basic....just four thin metal sides that have notches to link them together onto a solid metal base. The base has thick wire legs to keep it elevated.



Started off cooking a sausage. Not bad!



Next up: chicken quarters:



Chickens were coated with a simple rub of seasoned salt, pepper, and rotisserie chicken seasoning. Tasty!



The next day, got some Prime rib eye steaks from Costco, so those were next.



Just seasoned with Kosher salt and pepper. Delish!



Needed something to go with the steak, so I made some creamy mushrooms.



Had a small amount of old Madeira available and decided to toss it into the sauce. YUM!



Unfortunately, I didn't get a pic of the steak and the shrooms plated...I started nibbling on the steak and forgot all about getting a picture! It was a very good quality steak that was cooked nicely and had a lovely smoke character that I hadn't realized I'd been missing from cooking steaks over gas.

Overall impressions of the FlipFlop grill: It works! The flipping mechanism is kinda neat, but nothing to go toooooo crazy over. Not something anyone would need if they already have a charcoal grill, unless you want something "portable".

I like the fact that it's transportable...meaning, I wouldn't take it anywhere you have to carry everything with you, but it's something worth bringing car camping or perhaps if you go on vacation and don't know what the cookers are like at the rental place. I think it weighs ~ 30 lbs. It packs down pretty small. It seems well designed. I was originally thinking that this would be ideal for bone in, skin on chicken. It does chicken really well. It also seems like a very decent charcoal cooker. The sausage and steaks I cooked this weekend were tasty. The grill is super easy to use and to clean up. The grates are a bit more involved to clean (totally expected considering the surface area where the food come in contact with the metal or where grease can drip). Overall, pleased with this little cooker!

Thanks for looking!

Bruce

 

[B-More BBQ Junkie]

Looks good, interesting grill!

 

[SMOKE FREAK]

Looks like fun to play with.

 

[WilliamKY]

Awesome cook, Bruce. I bought one a few months ago and I love it. It's heavier than it looks and the chicken is spot on every time. I see you used the foil in the bottom. Makes cleanup a breeze. Welcome to the club and your cooks look delicious.

 

[Stingerhook]

Mighty fine Bruce.

 

[cowgirl]

Nice!!

 

[oldgfbbq]

I saw this concept at a Belgian beer festival in Cooperstown, NY. They were cooking chicken for a crowd, so their "cooker" was approximately (memory is fuzzy) 3.5' tall, 4' deep, by 20' long. It took two people on either side to flip a 4'x4' section. I thought it was pretty neat and efficient. Same principles are present with yours, direct heat, flip numerous pieces at once, metal sides are hot as hell. They kept people away from the thing, so I'm not sure what they put on the ground, under the burning wood.

Didn't realize smaller versions were produced. In addition to your model, a double-wide version is for sale here.

Thanks for reminding me of the great time my friends said I had.

 

[BDAABAT]

Awesome cook, Bruce. I bought one a few months ago and I love it. It's heavier than it looks and the chicken is spot on every time. I see you used the foil in the bottom. Makes cleanup a breeze. Welcome to the club and your cooks look delicious.

Thanks William! Your posts and the fabulous looking chicken were what started me on this path!

Bruce

 

[BDAABAT]

@ G-man: Thanks for providing the link to the "double wide" version of this cooker. I was sorely tempted to go with the larger version! At this point in my life, I'm not typically cooking for a crowd.

FYI: I just received this carry bag yesterday. It fits decently well (it's not snug...not like it's made for this grill). There's room inside for other stuff. Am betting that when traveling, that extra space will be used for things like lighters, utensils, starters, etc.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F8R95R8?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Bruce

 

[SweetHeatBBQnSC]

Bruce or William have y'all tried to cook bbq chicken on it yet? Wondering how the saucing process will go?

 

[BDAABAT]

Hi Joedy. I just got mine and have only cooked a couple times...and each of those cooks is what's posted at the top of the thread. The chicken quarters I cooked were dusted in rub, but not sauced.

Bruce

 

[ssv3]

Looks great Bruce and doesn't look like there was any lapse with you charcoal grilling. Really mean that. If I didn't have my WGA I'd totally get one.

 

[roademier]

Cool little portable grill.
The web site states :
"The charcoal grill can hold approximately three whole chickens or 30 medium-sized brats!"

Maybe (?) the 30 brats but do you think it can hold 3 chickens?
Cut up, spatchcocked or even quartered?

 

[BDAABAT]

@roademier: Yeah, not sure how three whole chickens would fit on the single version. In the above cook, I had 4 leg quarters that fit well with some space available, but would not expect to be able to get two more quarters plus breasts to fit (at least, not with the somewhat mutant sized chickens that are available for cheap!). I believe the cooking grate is ~ 16" * 16". The longest side for the cooking grate is ~18.5".

Also important to note that the food needs to be arranged in a way that keeps each side reasonably balanced. The grate pivots in the middle. If one side is too heavy, the grate will start to move. Will need to use it more to see if that's a big issue or not. When I initially loaded the grates, I didn't get it balanced exactly. Needed to scootch some of the protein a bit to make sure the grate stayed put.

Bruce

 

[BDAABAT]

Looks great Bruce and doesn't look like there was any lapse with you charcoal grilling. Really mean that. If I didn't have my WGA I'd totally get one.

Thanks Sako! I can't really say much about charcoal cooking after three cooks. I can acknowledge that my overall cooking has improved, mainly as a result of everyone at this site.

Back in the day, I was a chowderhead. I never paid attention to the type of charcoal used. I just bought what was cheap. I was also lazy...I frequently didn't clean out the ash from the grill, which meant sometimes temps were different. I didn't follow temperatures, just sort of winged it. Resulted in more hit or miss food. Never really understood why sometimes things turned out better than others. Things have (thankfully!) improved as I learned more...again, mainly from you and the rest of the folks at this site. Thank you! I'm still working on getting things down!

Bruce

 

[WilliamKY]

Bruce or William have y'all tried to cook bbq chicken on it yet? Wondering how the saucing process will go?

I add the sauce at the very end. Like just a couple minutes before done. Sauce and flip for a minute or two each side. There is a lot of heat coming straight up and the sauce sets very quick. If you sauced too soon it would almost certainly burn.
I dont see 3 chickens fitting unless they are really small and trimmed a lot. I also haven't ruled out buying the double wide down the road. It has taller legs and sits considerably higher too.