Steak & Pork Burger on the Davy Crockett Grill

The first part of this cook was done on the Davy Crockett pellet cooker with my cast iron grilling insert and using a grid temp of about 450 degrees.



Ribeye was trimmed up a little and then rubbed with one of my steak rubs and then left out on the counter top to warm up for about 45 minutes.



Steak was on the grill for about 7 minutes total and this resulted in a nice medium rare cook.



Came out looking pretty nice and sure smelled good.

Dropped the temperature on the Davy Crocket grill to about 350 degrees, removed my grilling insert, and added a round cast iron griddle for my pork burgers.



I formed up 4 patties of my homemade pork burger and then added some simple SPG rub and they were ready for the fire.

Placed my four (6 oz each) pork burgers on the cast iron griddle and cooked them until done.





Sure made a nice lunch.

Prime Rib & More on the Davy Crockett Grill

Since there will only be the two of us for our Christmas dinner this year and the weather looks nasty for 13 of the next 15 days, we decided to celebrate our Christmas meal a few days early as we do like to do it outside on a grill.





I started a green bean casserole with a few slices of bacon and about 1/2 pound of aged (20 months ) country ham for seasoning.

I also rubbed peanut oil over a couple of those big baker potatoes and then added a sprinkle of rub.

We plugged our 5.10 pound roast with garlic, rosemary, and thyme and Jan selected a rub with some dill in it for the meat. I sprinkled on a fairly heavy dose of the rub and the first stage of our meal was ready to go on the cooker.





I rolled the little GMG Davy Crockett around to our cooking patio and fired it up and set the temp at 170 degrees for the first hour to be sure we got some smoke flavor into the roast. I then raised the temp up to about 325 measured on the cooking grid to finish this part of the cook. Was a cool 19 degree morning for the cook.



Just before the meat got done, we made up the Pineapple Upside Down Muffin Cakes for our dessert. I also got my yeast rolls ready for the cooker.



When the meat was done (120 internal), I pulled it along with the potatoes and green bean casserole off of the cooker and added the yeast rolls and the dessert cakes. I then foiled the potatoes and the roast for about 40 minutes before serving.







The meat and potatoes looked great coming out of the foil after the rest period and the balance of the meal looked good as well.



I sliced the roast into three pieces for serving.







As plated...Jan made up a pound of compound butter for the potato and rolls and also a nice tossed salad with some sliced hard boiled eggs and poppy seed dressing on top. The dessert cake was plated with some ice cream and this was our early Christmas dinner.

High Temp Steak, Burger, Tenderloin and more

This is a high temp steak, burger, grilled tenderloin, and homemade brat cook on the Green Mountain pellet grill.  



I added my steak insert which is two adjustable Brinkmann heat tents which I have sitting on a couple of firebricks for the correct height. They are used as flame tamers to keep the flame where I want it. 



Next step was to place the standard grates back on the cooker and then I added my Grill Grates on top of the standard grates. I didn't use any of the standard drip shield or the two wind deflectors that come with the cooker.

I fired up the cooker and set the controller to 350 degrees which is all I need for my high temp grilling. Remember, this setup will grill at the tip of the flame so a fellow doesn't need those crazy hot temps that will warp and spring the parts in the cooker. 



As soon as the cooker got up to 700 degrees which took about 10 minutes, I added the burgers. 



By the time my burgers were done of the first side (about 3 minutes), the cooker had reached my target temp of 775 degrees. Again, the controller is set at 350 degrees. My setup allows me to cook at the tip of the flame with my insert. 



Next up was two rib-eyes cut about 1-1/2” thick.



The rib-eyes cooked about 3 minutes on the first side and then 2 minutes on the second side. 



I then did my 2 grilled tenderloins and they took about 2 minutes to get done.

I also cooked 3 homemade brats on the indirect side of the grill. I didn’t want to break the skin with the high temps.

The results of the cook.









The burgers as served.



The steak as served.





Now that some good stuff!!

Along with my rotisserie mod, this high temp setup is one of the better modifications I have  done to this fine cooker.

High Temp Grilling GMG Pellet Cooker

This is my attempt to modify my new Green Mountain Daniel Boone grill to sear, grill, and cook high temperature items. About all pellet cookers are setup to cook indirect which makes it a little more difficult to accomplish this task. A few of the better pellet cookers do have an insert which can be installed or setup for just this purpose. Much of the ideas and data used in this modification comes from the Pelletheads.com forum and I have refined it to suit my method of cooking. 

In my opinion, the very best steak or chop must be cooked direct at the “Tip of a Charcoal or Wood Flame” and I feel that this modification comes pretty close to what I can get out of cookers that are designed for this task. 



This is a State Fair cut ribeye which I have cut 3/4” thick out of the whole ribeye loin and will be used in a sandwich just like one would purchase at the fair. It was cooked for 4 minutes, turned 90 degrees and cooked for 4 more minutes, turned over and cooked for 4 minutes, and the turned again 90 degrees for 4 more minutes and removed from the cooker. Totally overcooked at well done but this was my first attempt and very easy to fix.

Here is my setup in my Daniel Boone GMG cooker. 



I started by laying two firebricks on each side like you see in the picture. My plan is to use a couple of Brinkmann Stainless Steel heat tents over the firebox and up as high as I can get them in the cooker. These heat tents will protect my firebox and the bottom of the grill from all the grease and juices that might come out of the meat. They will also prevent some of the flame ups and still allow some of the drips to get thru and sizzle on the tents producing some of that great grilled flavor. I want my fire to get plenty of air and as much flame as possible to hit the bottom of the heat tents and spread out under my Grill Grates. Again, the closer I can get to cooking somewhat direct at the “Tip of the Flame” is what I want. 



These are my two adjustable Brinkmann Stainless heat tents installed in the cooker. 



I put the standard grids into the cooker and then added my two Grill Grates which gives me a very high temp cooking surface of about 13-3/4” by 10-1/2 inch total. 



The setup works perfectly in my opinion and the flame or tip of the flame from the fire box is right at the cooking surface of the Grill Grates. At this raised height, the fire does spread out under the heat tents as planned and gives me an even very high heat cooking surface over the total area of the grates. If you look close, I think you can see the flames thru the holes at the grate level.

I was also hoping to be able to cook at under my cookers top temperature range of 500 degrees and still get great results as I felt that it is kinda foolish to have to run at these temps which can lead to warped parts and wasted fuel. I am happy to report that all my cooking is being done at 350 degrees set temp and I am getting great results. 



My second round of State Fair steaks were cooked 2 minutes and then turned 90 degrees and then cooked for 2 more minutes and turned again for 2 more minutes and pulled off the grill. This 8 minute total cooking time produced a medium done steak. Still a little too much time as I prefer a more rare steak. 



Next up were a couple of boneless chicken breasts and these were cooked for 2-1/2 minutes, turned 90 and cooked 2-1/2 more, then turned over and followed the same on the second side. This 10 minute total cook time produced a final internal temp of 165 degrees.



Chicken just off the cooker. 



I also cooked three 1/4 pound fat burgers. These were cooked the same total time as the steaks and were just slightly over done.





The results off my first high temp cook.



The State Fair ribeye is normally served on a bun but since we low carb, I put them on a couple pieces of toasted low carb bread. I then add some lettuce, a thin slice of onion, tomato, and a slice of pickle. 



That is one fine sandwich!

I am very pleased with this setup and just need to work on my cooking times.

Steak & Grilled Romaine Lettuce on the CB 500X

This no-carb short cook was done on the CB 500X with some of that fine Wicked Good charcoal. Nice cool morning with the temp at 31 degrees and nice sunshine. I started a chimney full of the charcoal and went inside to prep my food. 



The ribeyes are cut about 1-1/2 “ thick and weigh a little under a pound each and are choice graded.

The romaine lettuce was cut into two pieces each and then I drizzled on some olive oil, some garlic powder, some sea salt, and some fresh cracked black pepper on both sides. 



By now the charcoal was ready so I poured it into the cooker. I then started the lettuce cut side down and just gave it a short char to get a few leaves blackened up a little and then turned them over.



As soon as they are turned over, Jan added some fresh grated parmesan cheese to each clump.



Just about done on the cooker. 



Next on was the ribeyes. 



I seared the first side about 6 minutes and then turned them over. The second side took about 5 more minutes to get to my finish internal temp of 120 degrees and they came off the cooker. 



I plated the steak and my grilled romaine lettuce up with a couple of slices of tomatoes and my no- carb recipe of “Brown Butter Cauliflower Mash” which is a work in progress at the present time. 



Sure made a nice lunch...the little cooker is a joy to use.