Slow 'N Sear / Competition Steak Cooking

I did this cook today in my Weber Gen 2 Performer Kettle in another one of those middle of the Winter warm and wonderful Spring like days. I think it’s our third day at about 70 degrees. 

Trimmed up a couple of steaks that weighed about one pound each and were about 1-1/8” thick and applied two different competition rubs. The top steak has a rub with dill seed in it and is my wife’s favorite and the bottom steak is my favorite and has a little heat in it. Both are very good rubs for competition steaks. 

I moved the Slow ‘N Sear as far to the middle of the cooker as it would go and then foiled each side of the unit to force all the intake air up thru the center of the accessory for maximum air flow and heat. I filled a Weber chimney full of all Kingsford Professional  all hardwood charcoal briquets for this cook and lit if off for this cook. I would rather use all lump but I think that SCA and Kingsford will team up again this year and offer the additional “double your contest purse” if you win and I sure can’t pass on this great offer. 

My tools for this cook. I decided to try two different methods of cooking the steak in the Weber Kettle to see which one might be the best for the setups I had on hand. 

I did the first steak on my standard size Grill Grates after a 15 minute warm up (to 625 degrees) and this took a total of 10 minutes to get it seared up and looking good. 

After the first steak was done, I setup the kettle with my cast iron steak grid setup and let it warm up for about 20-25 minutes to my cooking temp of about 500 degrees and this steak took about a minute less to get to my pulling temp of about 136-138 degrees for that perfect finish temp of medium that the SCA rules call for. 

You know...I think both of them looked great and would be competitive in a contest. 

Both steaks in the presentation box and ready for turn-in. 

The results of the cook looked about right on the doneness of warm and pink in the center (medium) and my sear marks on both steaks came out well. For ease of cooking, I thought the steak on the cast iron grid was the easiest to cook. I also found out that I could have used much less fuel (maybe 2/3rd chimney of charcoal) for this type of cook. 

I sure feel that a fellow could do quite well with either of these setups and method for cooking a competitive steak in a SCA contest with the Weber Kettle and the Slow ‘N Sear accessory. 

Holiday Rib Cook / Weber Performer / Slow 'N Sear

I did this cook for my youngest Daughter and SIL who were in from North Carolina for the Christmas Holiday. She always wants my ribs and rolls.

Ok, I started with some Rick Salmon’s BBQ Pit Beans which features about a pound and a half of pulled and chopped pork for this smaller pan of beans. This picture shows the beans before I put the sugar on top. 

This was the total cook which included 3 slabs of loin backs, some big baker potatoes, and the Pit Beans. My rolls will be done in the kitchen oven. 

I fired off about 12-14 good Wicked Good hardwood briquets in the corner of the Slow ‘N Sear and when they were ready, I poured in another full Weber chimney of the Wicked Good briquets into the device and then set up my cook. I placed my beans in the “basement” or on the charcoal grate as I wanted my rib drippings to go into them for that additional flavor. 

Next step was to use a Weber Rib Rack for my three slabs of loin back ribs right over the top of my Pit Beans. I then added some hickory chunks for my smoke wood and I was on my way.

Got an early start on this colder 17-18 degree overcast day but at least it should be dry for my cook. 

I did spin the ribs around later into the cook to be sure I had even cooking. 

Later into the cook when my ribs looked right, I wrapped them with some goodies and placed them back on the cooker. Also added some peanut oiled and SGH rubbed baking potatoes. 

I also glazed my ribs with a mix of some Blue’s Hog and other products later into the cook and just before they were ready to come off of the cooker. 

These Pit Beans were the last thing off of my Performer. 

The cook took a little over 4-1/2 hours at a temp range of about 275 - 300 degrees. 

Ribs cooling down some for slicing. 

My cloverleaf yeast rolls ready for the oven.

This several year winning Indiana State Fair recipe is the best I have ever tasted. I couldn’t help myself and ate one right out of the oven with some clover honey. 

Sure made a nice holiday meal for part of my family.

Hot 'N Fast Pork Butts / Weber Performer

This cook was done on my Gen 2 Weber Performer running the Slow ‘N Sear charcoal accessory. The temperature used was about 325-340 degrees measured on the cooking grid. 

The two  butts were pretty large and weighed a total of19.4 pounds. I trimmed the fat off of the fat side and then cut each butt into two pieces. This will give me about 25% more surface area for bark and also cut the cooking time down as the pieces are smaller. 

The butts were then injected with Chris Lilly’s 6 time World Champion pork injection and then rubbed with SGH rub. 

Ready to go on the kettle

I believe I had a full load on the Performer!

Got this cook started about daylight this morning and hoping to get the cook done by about noon before it gets too hot.

Cooked the butts for about 2hours and 45 minutes and then wrapped them with some Stubb’s Pork Marinade and placed them back on the grill. 

After a little over three more hours, I started getting the butts off of the cooker. The total cooking time was 6.2 hours.

After a rest period, I unwrapped the meat and got it ready to pull. 

The results of my cook...

Slow 'N Sear Country Ribs and more

Purchased the Slow ‘N Sear a few months back and just got around to trying it out on my Gen 2 Weber Performer along with some country style ribs, brats, and pork burgers.



The two country style ribs on the left are cut off of the upper portion of the shoulder or pork butt and in my world, are really not country ribs at all. The six remaining real country ribs which are cut out of the back or loin are what I have cooked for over 50 years when I can find them. Both are pretty good but must be cooked quite differently.

I took the ribs out of the cold fridge and rubbed them up with some SGH rub and left them on the counter to come up to the sweat stage.

I followed the instructions on the Slow ‘N Sear and started about 6-7 briquets in the corner of the unit. After they had ashed over, I poured in about 2/3rd of a Weber chimney full of briquets and let it go with all vents open.



By now my ribs were ready and up to a sweat.



Placed the ribs on the kettle with the two larger butt cut ribs closer to the fire as they will take longer to get done. I also add two big chunks of hickory to the fire as I needed much smoke in not much time for the loin cut ribs. Got the cooker dialed in at about 285-300 degrees and cooked the loin cut ribs for about 30 minutes and then sauced them with the new Heinz Memphis Sweet and Spicy sauce. At about 45 minutes into the cook I had an internal on the loin cut ribs of about 140-145 and I took them off as they are done.



Let the butt cut ribs go about an hour longer and I wrapped them with some goodies. I also added my Grill Grates to the kettle at this time. Upped the temp on the cooker for some indirect grilling.



I added a package of Brats along with a couple of fresh cut hot Hungarian yellow wax peppers out of the garden to the back side of the Grill Grates. The Brats cooked quickly and I checked my butt cut ribs and found them at 200 internal so they all came off the cooker together.



Next up was five of my Pork Burgers and I placed them on the Performer.



I also opened up the vents all the way to increase the temp for the burgers.





The results of my first cook with the Slow ‘N Sear looked great. I found it very easy to use and it sure controls the kettle very well. I do like it and think it’s a great addition or accessory for the Weber kettle.







For an “off the shelf sauce”, I thought that the Heinz Memphis was pretty good. I think mixing it with some Tennessee Red would really make it great.