Gravy's Cooking Thread

Siliconemelons said:

I miss my charbroil infrared - but my parents gave me their Weber and its fine and durable.

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Back in college I played Star Wars galaxies with a big group of people when the game was coming out. I had rolled a bounty hunter, and we all know the state of the game when it launched, but they had finally fixed the heavy weapons or special weapons or whatever the hell they were, specifically the lightning gun that bounty hunters got. Once they had fixed that and it started doing real damage, you used to be able to go to the highest level planets take a mission that was worth 30 or 40,000 credits, just run up to the little node that spawned the monsters, blow it up, die, respawn, and and take another mission that was close. Rinse and repeat.

I think it took me about 4 hours and I made a few million credits, they patched it pretty quick. I done took those credits sold it to IGE, and got a few hundred bucks, and then went to academy and bought my first gas grill.

Was just a run of the mill charbroil with a side burner, and I believe it was four burners internal maybe three. I had that grill for eons, and what occasionally just replace the grates and deflectors. The nice thing about those older charbroils was the body or housing for the burners used to be made out of cast iron, and they were pretty heavy. Not a lot of heat leak out the back from where the hinge was. Problem is over the years the base just pretty much disintegrated while the top remained solid. I thought about building a new base for it but ended up just buying a newer charbroil and it didn't even last 2 years with the amount of cooking that I do on the grill. I mean when weather is good I probably grill two to three times a week, basically treat it like an appliance.

They just don't make them like that any longer, and most of your big box store gas grills are that way. Watch the video a long time ago about picking out and what to look for when buying that type of grill on a budget, and a lot of those checkboxes are absent now on any models that you find.

I was really happy with the one that I've got but it's to the point where I can't really repair it. Need some heat treat paint, but it started to rust out pretty bad.

I just know Weber makes a girl that's going to last for years upon years as long as you maintain it and occasionally have to replace some internals, but that's reflected by the price. One of my uncles had an old gas Weber that still had the little fake briquettes down in the bottom that he had for a couple of decades maybe, and he finally replaced it I guess with the newer Spirit model, or at least he had that the last time I visited.

You really do get what you pay for. I just need something small enough that I can roll into the garage when I'm not using it because I don't have any sort of coverage outback, and even using a grill cover doesn't keep moisture and stuff from getting at it.

I just know the last time I was in the market for a gas grill I did a whole bunch of research and was checking stores and looking at everything and it got real annoying because I wasn't wanting to drop 500 or $600 on something decent, because I sometimes still don't trust how long these things will last considering how much I use them.

I think I'm just going to have to bite the bullet though. I'd like to try to find one with an infrared side burner like the one I've got now to do quick Sears, or at least that zone within the body itself.

My 50% off bare Bones Weber 22-in kettle though is holding up perfectly fine and I don't know how many countless meals have cooked on it, I guess that's why I'm steering towards a Weber gas model, I just don't know if they have all the features that I'm looking for, and I'm not looking for something in the thousand plus range.

lurkingdirk said:

I prefer to cook with charcoal, but time doesn't always allow it. I've had a Weber for almost 12 years. It's fantastic. I also connected it to my home's natural gas so I never have to get propane cylinders filled. The Weber has been 100% reliable and does the job very well.

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Yeah, I cook on wood and charcoal a bunch, but normally just on weekends. Gas is just super convenient, and I also prefer it for a certain things where I don't want a heavy smoke flavor.

Thought this was interesting. Making vegetable treacle.

Don't really know anything about it, but seems like something useful instead of to tossing on the compost pile. Guy says it tastes similar to hosin which has me intrigued. Maybe one of you guys with a successful garden can give it a spin this coming season.

This looks pretty delicious. An Etruscan vegetable soup. I'd probably throw some pork fat in, maybe sweet or spicy Italian sausage, or a smoked ham hock, but that's just me. Not anything real complicated.

lurkingdirk said:

I also connected it to my home's natural gas so I never have to get propane cylinders filled.

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I've always wanted to do this but twice in my life I've either fallen asleep or just forgotten about something on the grill and it ran until the gas ran out. I have paranoia that I would do that again and the grill would be burning for a week before I noticed it.

Gavinmad said:

Any dutch oven recommendations? The cooking pot, not the war crime.

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Le Creuset. You'll have it for the rest of your life and be able to pass it down to your kids if you have any. I think Cuisinart makes one that's pretty decent, but just get a size you like and make certain it's enameled cast iron.

Go hit up a HomeGoods store if you've got one close and they'll typically have them floating around. Might not always be the case but you'll get a hell of a lot better discount, especially if they got a bulk of Le Creuset stuff in stock. I've never tried to see if they actually sell inventory online, but that also might be an option. Maybe they don't though I'm not sure.

If you typically see any professional chefs using an enameled cast iron Dutch oven, you can basically bet your ass it's Le Creuset. Yeah some of the cheaper options are fine if you only use it a handful of times a year, but if you're really going to put it through its paces, it can't be beat.

I typically agree with lurkingdirk on things cooking wise, but if you got the money, buy the best, and it's hands down the one you want, and you can still find it to be reasonably affordable.

I really want to get the gigantic one, I'm just waiting to try to catch it at a discount. I don't remember the volume on the big oval version, but it's a beast, and perfect for coq au vin or a massive pot of gumbo or jambalaya to feed an army.

Gavinmad said:

Jesus Christ bro I was already cringing at the idea of how much it was gonna cost me to get a bigger stock pot because the 16qt i got back in the day for mead/beer worts is a little smaller than I like for doing stocks and now you're like 'bro you cant go wrong with these 400 dollar dutch ovens'

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I honestly haven't looked at the price of them lately, but I'm sure with everything being more expensive they're not going to be cheap. I personally got my first one as a Christmas gift, and I'm picked up a couple more along the way when I've seen a good deal.

I didn't realize they were 400, but I'm pretty sure they also have outlet stores, but might not be one by you. HomeGoods though is the place even if you're going to get a cheaper one. Might have surprisingly great discounts on overrun inventory and stuff that just doesn't move.