Father’s Day is right around the corner, and although we aren’t giving out anything here, we have some friends (I know, you’re shocked that we might have friends…) that are giving away some BBQ-related swag just in time to make your Dad a real happy camper, er… outdoor cooker.

First up is the opportunity to win a Hydro Grill Blaster and a nice assortment of grill tools over at The BBQ Grail. The contest is sponsored by MrBBQ.com, and the full set of instructions can be found at the first link above. Or click on the picture below.

Next on the list is a nice set of stainless steel Rosle BBQ tools being offered up by The Grill Grrrl, another one of our 4-ingredient bloggers. As before, if you want to win, click on the picture below, go to her site, and follow instructions. Hey, I never said this would be easy, did I?

And in order to keep things on the up and up, I have nothing to do with either of these contests and no real pull with those running the giveaways. But I would like to see one of my readers take away some of the swag. So enter early, and enter often. Or at least as often as contest rules permit.

Since all I cooked tonight was some burgers and tater tots on the BS Keg, I figured I’d use this opportunity to review the GrillStar app for iOS devices (iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad) since I’ve been playing with it for a couple of weeks now and used it (instead of the clock timer in my iPhone) to keep track of time for tonight’s meal. And as per my normal review behavior, I’ll be presenting the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in the public interest. And because it makes me happy.

First off, the disclaimer for all the Federalis out there with nothing better to do than annoy well-meaning bloggers with threats of the IRS swooping down in black helicopters with tax forms and penalties in hand. Although Ryan from BigGreenButton Software was kind enough to throw a few promo codes my way, I had already plunked down $.99 in the App Store and was already playing with the application. And I gave away most of the promo codes. And intend to dispose of the rest in a responsible fashion that doesn’t make me any money or affect my opinions on this application.

Now that we have that out of the way, on with the review. GrillStar is a timer that tracks multiple items on a grill. As you can see from the picture below, it has the ability to have three different zones on the grill, one each for searing, direct grilling, and indirect grilling. If you don’t know why this is important, I would suggest that you go find someone that knows what they are doing with a grill and get some basic instruction. But for the rest of us, this is great as times will vary greatly depending on how you are cooking, and GrillStar took this into account when developing the app. For me, this is table stakes (no pun intended, but you can read one in if you like), so without this basic function you wouldn’t be reading this review.

The (really) Good

As you can see from the picture above, you can add items to each area, and the next alarm will go off for the next item that is ready to flip and/or remove based on the time you set when you add them to the grill. Adding an item is as simple as clicking the Add button, which presents you with a menu of choices that include a selection of Meats, Seafood, and Veggies. Clicking on one of these takes you to a menu of different selections, that although a bit light at the time in selections, I am assured by the nice developer that is being extended in future releases. I won’t give away all his secrets now, but if he continues to deliver these in incremental releases this application will only get better and better with time.

You can easily customize the recommendations provided by the menu selections to meet your own personal preferences and to adjust for differing grill temperatures or other factors that affect cooking times. There are also “wild card” entries that allow you to add your own items if what you are looking for doesn’t already appear in the list of menu items.

There are two other items I would list in the Good category, the first being the ability to turn zones on or off and easily adjust their size. This is done by simply clicking on the settings wheel on the main grill screen and playing with the controls. And if you can’t figure out how to do this yourself, the other Good item is the quality of the Help screens available with the application. They are clear and comprehensive without requiring a college degree to understand. This is important, as there are a lot of features under the hood of this app that aren’t always completely intuitive. On the other hand, once you understand how the app works, it’s pretty simple to use.

The (not really that) Bad

The not-so-good (not really bad, but not yet great; the fact that they exist at all is better than any others I’ve seen) things I found with the GrillStar app are as follows.

• There is no customization of alarm sounds. Although the existing alarm is loud and distinctive, I’d really like to change this to Homer Simpson saying “Mmm… Barbecue” like I have for my iPhone clock timer.
• There is no Recipe section for Fruit or things other than Meat, Seafood, and Veggies. I often grill fruit, cook bread, and throw other things on my grills that don’t fit into the Big 3. An “Other section would be appropriate, and greatly appreciated.
• The existing list of recipes is still a bit on the light side. It will be nice when more items are available from the stock menu.
• There is no ability to add custom icons for items users add to the database. Which turns out to be related to an item that shows up in the Ugly category. See if you can figure out which one it is…

Now as I stated above, I have these items listed in the (not really that) Bad section, but the developer (did I mention he is very responsive and appreciates constructive feedback?) is very interested in adding some (if not all) of these to future releases. And they aren’t really that bad, when you stop and think about it. None of them kept me from using the app in an effective fashion, and if you really want to see proof, here is a gratuitous shot of those burgers and tater tots I mentioned earlier.

As you can see, everything is cooked, nothing is burned (other than the one burger which was hockey-pucked on purpose for the wife). And I timed it all with GrillStar.

The Ugly

Ok, I have a couple of ugly items, although neither will stop me from continuing to use the app.

• Only one flip time is available. There are times I’d like to check on things, not necessarily flip them and I still have to set an additional alarm to do this or futz about with the application. I normally subscribe to the “if you’re looking you ain’t cooking philosophy”, but there are still times when it is appropriate to go check on things even if you aren’t going to peek.
• Custom items you add aren’t preserved in the items database beyond the grilling session, nor are custom times remembered. Once removed from the grill they have to be reentered from scratch. If I was to ask for one item to be improved as soon as possible, this would be the one I would rank the highest. In my opinion, this would be a killer feature for this app and allow people to save their recipes and not have to reenter them every time they get ready to cook.

Having said this, the app is only a buck and well worth the money for what it already provides. My conversations with the developer lead me to believe he is firmly committed to addressing the issues above and adding additional features not already mentioned here. Some of his plans absolutely rock, and my belief is that adding some of them will allow him to potentially raise the price of the app in the future. We aren’t talking about lipstick on a pig here, we’re talking about elective surgery to remove the warts and tighten and firm the, well, you get the picture…

So what are you waiting for? If you grill and have an iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad (or any combination of them) run right out to the App Store and get yourself a copy before the price goes up. It is a buck well-spent. So what are you waiting for? Go. Now. And no, I don’t make a commission on any of this. However, I do have an interest in getting those new features in, and the more of you that vote with your dollar, the more likely the developer will be to put them in.

Are you still here?

As promised, I punched out another stuffed (and non-stuffed) burger using the Burger Pocket Press and smoked it (them) on the WSM the other day when pork butts were the main attraction. This time around we used ground beef that was fully thawed (but still direct from the refrigerator). As you can see from the following pictures, similar issues were encountered with the self-sealing claims of the manufacturer.

Since I was still in Mad Science mode, I didn’t bother to seal the burger any more, especially since I don’t flip the burgers when smoking them. And as you can also see, the Burger Pocket Press kicked out a non-stuffed (flat) burger just fine. There wasn’t enough ground beef left to make another stuffed burger, so instead we made up that 1/3 pound monster you see there.

As you can see from the picture above, there was some separation and leakage from the stuffed burger on the grill. Pay no attention to those monster pork butts next to it; if you want to go drool about those check out the link above for more pictures.

Once again we ended up with some tall sandwiches once assembled. Younger Daughter and I chowed down on these while SWMBO and the Little Red-haired Boy were out and about. Which is where I should have been when they got home and found out we had burgers without them. But I digress…

In summary, the Burger Pocket Press isn’t perfect, but it does a pretty good job of doing what it says it does. It is really good at cranking out flat, even burgers from fresh ground beef. If you are looking to do stuffed burgers without having to get your fingers messy when sealing, then keep looking for another solution. If you don’t mind a little handling of your meat (once again, I can hardly wait for the spam comments to come rolling in) then it does make nice, even patties in a quick fashion. You won’t ever lose track of it in the cupboard with those bright colors, and it cleans up nicely in the dishwasher.

I guess the real question is do you want to spend around $20 for another kitchen gadget? This one is fairly single-purposed, although my wife suggested we try making enormous ravioli with it, and I suppose you could stamp out some mean biscuits or large cookies with it. If you make a lot of burgers (stuffed or regular) out of fresh ground meat and don’t like getting your hands real dirty, this might be just the thing for you.

Or you could invest in some nitrile gloves and make your own irregular sized stuffed burgers. That seems to work well for us…

The nice folks from Burger Pocket Press sent me one of their stuffed burger makers to try out and review. In spite of being warned that I don’t do a lot of burgers, prefer to smoke them instead of grill them, and am generally skeptical of additional gadgets that take up space in the kitchen (where we already have way too many gadgets). This must make them nice folks that are comfortable with their product, because they went ahead and sent one in spite of being warned.

I’ll let you go to their site and get the history of the Burger Pocket Press yourself. While you are there, you can watch their videos, get some recipe ideas for stuffing your own burgers, and find links to some of the other reviews that have been done. And for all you FCC types out there that might be personally concerned about my opinion of this product, go back and read that sentence about them sending me one. For free. Now go away and bother someone else.

Now that Big Brother is off elsewhere saving the world from bloggers with bias, lets get on with the first part of this review. It’s the first part, because my tests today led me to conclude that to be fair and compare it with the monster stuffed burgers I made awhile back I would have to smoke them, and tonight was about grilling.

Opening the box led to the discovery of four colorful pieces of dishwasher-safe plastic and a small set of instructions. Which not surprisingly to those that know me, I immediately set aside without reading. I have to admit I did read over the instructions on their web site at some time in the past; as it turns out I probably should have read them again before using the press as I ended up having to refer to them anyway. So much for my street credentials as a former engineer…

The four pieces consist of the Bowl, the Pocket Press (fits tightly in the bowl), the Ring (looks suspiciously like some plumbing fittings I’ve seen in Home Depot, except for the color), and the Flat Press (which fits tightly in the ring). The Ring also fits in the Bowl without going all the way to the bottom, which turns out to be important a few steps into the assembly process.

The idea is to take about 1/4 pound of meat to form each of the patties. This small piece of information was noticeably missing from their instructions, but something I derived (after the fact) from reading their recipes online. First you form the top of the burger by loading up the Ring over a piece of wax paper and then pressing it with the Flat Press. A bit of twisting is involved to flatten it out and distribute the meat with it, but when you are done you have a nice even flat burger patty that is just the right size for most commercially-baked burger buns on the market.

For those that want to crank out a bunch of evenly formed burgers made from their own ground meat this portion of the press works as advertised; quickly and precisely. Now that I think about it, you could also adjust the thickness of the burgers simply by adding more or less meat. I assume there is a bottom limit, but the top limit might be a pretty large burger. I might have to give this a try at some point in the future…

The next step is to load up the Bowl with some meat, then press it into a “Pocket Burger” (their words, not mine). Unfortunately I neglected to take a picture of this step, so you will have to imagine a burger patty with a 1/2 inch depression in the middle and vertical sides about 1/2 inch thick. Into this you are instructed (if you actually read the instructions) to put your stuffings. Tonight I used chopped mushrooms, diced green chilies, and a Mexican shredded cheese blend.

The next step is to press the Ring down into the bowl (with the bottom burger patty and fillings still in it), then fit the flat burger from step one into the Ring. The last step is to use the Flat Press to squish it all together, being careful not to press too hard. Removing the assembled burger was pretty easy; it involved twisting the Ring while holding the Bowl stationary. The burger sticks to the inside of the Ring and can be easily transferred to a plate while the other burgers are assembled.

The assembled burgers displayed a need for more sealing around the edges, something pointed out by one of the other reviewers, and something I avoided doing as the goal was to touch the meat as little as possible (at least for forming purposes).

The assembled burgers went on Bubba Ho-Keg running at about 400°F. I purposely kept the temps lower as I was concerned about the insides cooking properly (and I hate charred burgers). When it came time to flip the burgers, it appeared that some additional separation was occurring.

They did seem to seal up ok after being flipped. I didn’t notice a lot of leakage, in spite of the fact you could still see the obvious separation in the burger halves.

And for anyone out there that might be wondering about them taters, those are original recipe Trashbag Potatoes. It turns out that Costco is stocking the McCormick’s Lemon Pepper Salt again, and I stocked up. But back to the burgers…

When all was said and done, the burgers turned out pretty good, in spite of my preference for the smoked variety. As for the Burger Pocket Press, it’s a handy little gadget for those that are so inclined. As I mentioned about, it’s great for stamping out uniform flat patties. I was less than impressed with how the burgers sealed, but I suspect that might have something to do with using barely thawed ground beef. I suppose it wouldn’t have hurt me to take a few extra seconds per burger to work the sides together after the burgers came out of the press.

Having said all this, the jury is still out for me. This gadget has its positives and negatives, and I want to give it one more shot before passing judgement one way or the other. So stay tuned, as I am on vacation this week and when I get to feeling better have plans on smoking some pork butts. Sounds like a perfect opportunity to use the extra space on the WSM for a stuffed smoked burger or two.

Who knows, I might even read the directions a bit closer next time and watch the videos. I don’t want my wife accusing me of being too dumb to figure out how to use four pieces of plastic, especially when they are similar colors to those used by Fisher Price in their toys…

The Amazon stork (disguised as a UPS driver in a big brown truck) came last week and left Bubba Ho-Keg a brother. It took a week for it to hatch (mainly because I wasn’t home) and get prepped for cooking duties at our primary residence. For those who haven’t had the pleasure (or are looking forward to having it in the future), the Big Steel Keg (yet to be named) arrived in a big cardboard box. My wife swears that although the UPS driver wasn’t happy (when is he ever?) he at least had the decency to lower the box to the ground gently rather than just shoving it off the back of the truck.

Assembling this critter took a bit longer than the 15-20 minutes the assembly instructions claimed. It took about 15 minutes just to get it unpacked and all the packing materials removed. I won’t bore you with assembly details and pictures, other than to say you really should have two people available to slide the keg onto the leg assembly. But I did prevail, and even managed to complete the task without any parts left over. Here’s proof…

Take a close look at these pictures as you will likely never see it this clean again. It already has shortening stains on it from the seasoning process (currently underway).

Some of the changes are readily apparent and are a direct result of feedback from owners. That and field modifications many of us made to the original Bubba Ho-Kegs. The first thing you notice is that the top vents now have a triangular groove at the big end rather than an even triangular opening. According to the theory (and what I have read from other people’s experience) this allows better control for lower temperature cooks.

The other noticeable change (also related to lower temperature cooks) is in the lower vents. The top vent now has a triangular end (rather than rectangular) that extends beyond the bottom vent. Now when the vent is closed down to setting #1 only the top lower vent is exposed, and you have better control of the airflow in the bottom of the keg. This is very similar to the modification I made to Bubba Ho-Keg using the metal duct tape.

One of the items I wished they had changed (and haven’t gotten around to modifying on Bubba Ho-Keg) is the tool holders on the removable tables. The only purpose these seem to serve is to catch on your pants and jab you in the leg. You can hang utensils on them, but don’t try to move the cooker with them hanging on them (unless you like picking them up and rewashing them every time you do this).

Other than that, the only other noticeable changes are the color (Younger Daughter has already stated that she prefers Bubba Ho-Keg’s skin tone over this one) and the lack of extra stuff in the box. The hitch attachment is a separate purchase, but they did include a cover. Which will likely never get used around here since the grill will get used so much and I can’t be bothered fooling around with covering and uncovering it all the time. Maybe I can sell it on e-bay to one of those fair-weather grillers…

At any rate, time will tell if the improvements make a difference in low-and-slow cooking. Maybe Older Daughter will see this post and decide she wants something smoked for her birthday dinner this weekend. Hopefully by then we will come up with a proper name for this critter. BS Keg seems a bit disrespectful (not that something like that matters around here) and Big Steel makes me think of failed corporations.

All suggestions will be considered, feel free to make them in the comments…

Hey, pay attention here! My fellow blogger, 4-ingredient challenge participant (well, most of the time) and buddy Chris over at Nibble Me This is giving away a Cast Iron Grate System from Craycort. Even if you don’t win, you’ll want to check out the grate system; it’s one that has recently made it to the No Excuses BBQ Christmas list for BBQSanta (that’s a not-so-subtle hint to my family, in case they actually read this).

And Chris, make mine a 22 1/2″ for one of the Weber kettles. Bubba Ho-Keg already has a cast iron grate and can wait his turn for an upgrade.

Of course, when I win this one my family is going to have to figure out something else to give me…

This morning started out as a manic Monday, and this evening was no different. Without boring you with all the festivities at the job, I’ll stick to this evening’s topics as there is plenty to discuss. We got sauce reviews, Bubba Ho-Keg mods, and (of course) the latest meal cooked outdoors. Not necessarily in that order…

First off, the friendly neighborhood postal carrier was kind enough to deliver a large batch of Big Butz BBQ Sauce, this of the special No Butz variety. Now before I get into my (mostly) unbiased review, a little disclosure up front. I paid for this sauce, so anything I have to say about it is untainted by bribery, freebies, or other such things frowned upon by the FCC and other Big Brother agencies that seem to want to save us from ourselves.

The first thing you notice when you open the box is that whoever was writing the labels by hand had been in the sauce, and it was affecting their writing style.

This stuff is so new that Tom from Big Butz BBQ hasn’t had time to get labels printed yet. From what I can tell he is more interested in keeping up with the demand than fancy packaging. And for that we are grateful.

The other thing you should notice is the warning on the label. For those of you that don’t know what Bhut Jolokia is, I suggest you follow that link on over to Wikipedia and take a real close look at the end of that first sentence. The part about it being the hottest pepper in the world. Pay attention, this is important. This sauce is pretty spicy and should not be poured on things in large quantities like you might with ketchup and other wimpy sauces.

Understand that we like hot food in this house (cayenne pepper is a food group) and have a pretty high tolerance for spicy eats. Even so, we approached this sauce carefully. On opening the lid you get a whiff of aroma that is distinctly Big Butz. It’s sweet, smokey, and enticing. A quick dip of the finger into the sauce didn’t light my skin on fire, and a quick taste led me to believe I could get away with putting a fair amount on the main course for tonight, chicken burritos. Or soft tacos, as they get stuffed so full around here that you can’t always roll them.

As you can see from the picture, I was fairly generous with the No Butz sauce, yet restrained from going overboard. The verdict? No Butz was a huge hit as it is flavorful as well as spicy. The sweet and smoke flavor combine well with the bite from the pepper. This sauce is not for the faint of heart, but will likely become a staple around here. My wife liked it a lot, and suggested (rightfully so) that this would be an excellent sauce for pulled pork. I have some on the menu for the 4th of July, so you can bet some will make its way into the meal. At least ours, I don’t think most of the guests would be able to handle it based on previous celebrations. Bunch of wimps…

A little of this sauce will go a long way. And Liz, don’t try this at home; it will put Bob in his grave. This sauce is not for the faint of heart, but if you like spicy, you’ll want to get yourself some of this. And no, I don’t get commissions if you buy some. But tell Tom you saw the review here and had to try yourself some No Butz sauce. You have to ask for it special on his website; as of this writing he doesn’t have it listed yet. It will likely become an everyday staple around here.

Now on to other topics. Tonight was the second cook on Bubba Ho-Keg since modifying the lower vent. Since you already saw the end result of the main course, here it is cooking on the grill.

For those keeping track, those are grilled sweet white onions and jalapeno peppers in the grill basket. They were hidden under all that sauce and guacamole in the plated picture. The chicken breasts were dusted with some taco seasoning, red chili powder, and Cajun seasoning mix. I was going to add some cayenne, but figured I’d leave that out so as not to confuse the sauce tasting. And as long as we are on the topic of food from Bubba Ho-Keg tonight, grilled pineapple was for dessert. Served over vanilla ice cream, it was a welcome addition considering the heat from the main course. Other parts of my anatomy may thank me later…

I did mention a modification to Bubba Ho-Keg. I finally found a lower vent mod that was simple yet appears to be very effective at adjusting temps at the lower range of the spectrum. I took some foil duct tape (the kind recommended for HVAC applications, not the standard duct tape), cut it into triangular pieces, and applied it to the lower vent as you see in the picture below.

This is similar to those where people have cut pieces of aluminum and stuck them in the vents, but using the tape is not only easier but also seems to stick in the same place better. Although neither of the two cooks since applying were truly low-and-slow, I did notice a big difference in how the kettle responds based on vent openings. My belief is that this particular configuration will result in better low temperature control without sacrificing those extreme high temps we like so much for steaks and pizza. Time will tell…

I finally broke down and purchased a large BGE plate setter for Bubba Ho-Keg and it showed up on the day before the Superbowl. Since babyback ribs were already on the menu, I figured I might as well go ahead and put it to use since nothing else productive was going to be accomplished today.

Knowing that once it was used it would never look as clean as the day it arrived, I figured I should take some pictures and talk about first impressions. The first thing I noticed was that it fit pretty well, but the legs stand up higher than the top grate setting and that there isn’t a lot of overlap where it sits on the lip of the fire bowl.

The next thing that occurred to me was that drippings from ribs and MOINK would mess this thing up pretty quickly. I thought about wrapping it with foil, but instead went with a metal pizza pan that was slightly bigger than the round part of the plate setter.

The grate went on next; as you can see from the picture, the grate is sitting just below the top of the base unit. Although there were no plans for using it, this would have cut down on the height of anything put on the upper grate.

Ribs and MOINK went on next. Both were liberally dusted with the standard rib rub. I wanted to compare results with babybacks from the WSM, so I stayed with basic recipes as much as possible today.

Everything went on the grill around 11:00, and grill left to cook at 250°F, slightly higher than I normally run the WSM for ribs. By 1:30 the MOINK was ready for glazing, and everything was pulled off the grill by about 1:45.

The MOINK was treated to a mango-peach pepper jelly; we’ve used this before and one of my worst fears is that when we run out we won’t be able to find this particular brand anymore. My wife had stocked up last Christmas when she saw them at Costco, and we haven’t seen them at any of the stores we frequent since. I’ve used a lot of other glazes for MOINK, but this one is my favorite by far.

The ribs were good, but a bit disappointing. They were done much faster than I thought they would be, and were a bit drier than usual. I like my babybacks dry, but these were better once they had a bit of sauce to dip them in. Clearly not one of my best efforts…

Looking back on it, although the results were good, I think I will go back to cooking the ribs at lower temperatures, and likely stick with the WSM. The cleanup is easier, and I can put a lot more food on the WSM. Having said that, if all I had was Bubba Ho-Keg I would feel confident in my ability to turn out a better product now that I’ve seen what happens at the higher temp.

As for cleanup, I’m really glad I put the pizza pan over the plate setter.

Another lesson learned here; next time I think I will foil the platesetter, or possibly use the pan and foil it. As it is, the plate setter has lost that “just out of the box” look…

I’m not sure how much of that will come off; I may have to get out the pressure washer or rent a steam cleaner. Good news? I am very happy with the ability to cook indirect on Bubba Ho-Keg; I would imagine that plate setter will be getting a lot of use in the future.

In spite of my desire to extend the running gag on this blog about the review that will be written “tomorrow”, I did promise a lot of folks that I would eventually get around to writing my impressions of the Bubba Keg Convection Grill (aka: BKCG or more commonly know as Bubba Ho-Keg around here). This post would be that review, and we’ll have to come up with some other topic for the post that will be written “tomorrow”.

In order to give a fair and (relatively) unbiased review, I will follow the time-honored tradition of exposing the good, the bad, and the ugly of Bubba Ho-Keg, while serving up memories of one of my favorite movies and bad movie poster mashups. Does anyone besides me look at this effort and start thinking about Luke and R2D2 from Star Wars?

But I digress… On with the review.

The Good

Bubba Ho-Keg has a more good things to talk about by far than Bad or Ugly. For starters, the thermal properties are outstanding. I’ve had the grill up in the 700-800°F range and still been able to touch the exterior of the cooker with bare skin and not having to treat for burns afterward. The fact the the thermometer even goes up that high is another point in its favor; this grill can really bring the heat for cooking steaks, pizza, or other high heat meals. Add to that the cast iron grill, and you have a real winner for getting those grill marks coveted by outdoor cooks everywhere.

In spite of the high temps available on Bubba Ho-Keg, it is still miserly when it comes to charcoal use. A bag of lump seems to last forever, and the ash removal is no longer a chore as the amounts are much less than when using standard charcoal briquettes, and easily done using the handy multi-tool and the bottom vent. Although the initial cost of purchase is more, and bags of lump charcoal are generally more expensive than standard charcoal, the overall cost of operation is less as it only takes a handful or so of lump per cook, and any leftover is easily saved by simply shutting down the vents and closing the lid. After a few cooks, the top vent and lid seal had both seasoned up nicely and created an air-tight seal that will put out the lump pretty quick, saving whatever charcoal might be left from the cook for the next meal.

Another positive is the ability to move the main grill to a different level, thus giving you the ability to get things closer to the flame, or just give yourself more room for chili pots or large cuts of meat that might need a bit more space between the grill and the lid. The stainless steel top rack is also handy, and allows you to load up the grill with sides, desserts, or even other entrees. The extra space it provides comes in handy when you cook entire meals on the cooker, something we do quite often. And speaking of extra space, the wing-like shelfs come in real handy to hold plates, sauces, or other useful items (live beverages) that always seem to find their way around the grill.

Last, some comment must be made on the quality of construction. Bubba Ho-Keg is well-made and appears to be sturdy enough to survive several years of weekly cooking, dragging around in the gravel, and hauling around attached to the rear of the truck. Assembly wasn’t traumatic, there were no parts left over (none missing either), and nothing had to be taken apart and put back together due to poor instructions. Although we haven’t taken it on a road trip yet, mounting it to the receiver hitch on the truck wasn’t difficult in spite of the recommendations that you should use two people to do this. I managed it by myself, but I wouldn’t recommend that to most folks as I am a tad larger than most people I know.

The Bad

No grill is perfect, and Bubba Ho-Keg isn’t without areas that could be improved. First is the stainless-steel top grill. Although it is very handy and swings out of the way nicely, it only sits above the main grill by about 6 inches, and isn’t the most stable of platforms due to the single-post stand. The grill has a tendency to sag toward the unsupported end (not surprising) and is limited to the amount of weight it will hold. I use enamel-on-steel pots and pans on the grill, and some of the larger ones really put a strain on this grill when they are full. I wouldn’t recommend putting cast iron pans or dutch ovens on it, although the cast iron main grill is more than strong enough if that’s all you have.

Another good idea gone very wrong is the tool holders that screw into the molded plastic side trays. These are basically three stainless steel prongs on each tray designed to poke you in delicate places and guaranteed to drop any tools hanging from them on your toes if you try to wheel Bubba Ho-Keg anywhere. These could be improved tremendously by turning them into hooks rather than slightly bent rods; one of these days I’ll make a trip to the hardware store and come up with something to replace them with.

The last item on the Bad list is the steep learning curve associated with temperature controls, especially at the low end. High heats are pretty easy, but it took quite awhile for me to figure out all the tricks in keeping the temps in the 200-225°F range without having to check the cooker every 5 or 10 minutes. Close it down too much and the fire goes out; open it up too much and low-and-slow turns into not-so-low-and-burnt if you aren’t careful.

The Ugly

The topic of temperature control leads directly into the ugly. My single biggest complaint about Bubba Ho-Keg is the lack of a diffuser and/or plate setter. This would greatly improve the ability to cook low-and-slow, should help in controlling lower temps, and provide the ability to cook indirectly as well as provide a place for a drip pan (or a pan of beans to catch all those wonderful juices dripping off the meat). You could also put a water pan on it if you wanted, although i do have to admit that I am doing this less and less, even on the WSM.

Now I know I could buy a ceramic plate setter from the BGE folks, but one would think that those folks at Bubba Keg would have been able to come up with a reasonable solution for this by now. That would have been a much better accessory than the cover they are offering now that they have changed the name to The Big Steel Keg and made the trailer hitch an added accessory rather than part of the main packaging. They have been promising one for months, their customers are begging for one, and yet they haven’t been able to come up with a solution. Looks like I will be contacting a BGE dealer one of these days real soon…

Random Musings

This quite possibly might be the longest post I’ve written since I started this blog. Hopefully it has been of use to those of you out there trying to decide if a BKCG is for you. Bubba Ho-Keg has displaced a Weber Performer as my primary grill and has served us well since its arrival. I do feel I am getting my money’s worth, and would recommend it to anyone out there considering a kamodo-style grill to add to their arsenal. It might not be the best grill for a rookie outdoor cook, as the learning curve is a bit steep. However, if one has the patience to master the temperatures and air flows, it will turn out some fantastic meals and is well worth the investment in time and money.

Now that this is done I need to figure out what to not write about tomorrow…

Back in October of 2009 we bought a Bubba Keg Convection Grill (BKCG, or more commonly known as Bubba Ho-Keg around here). As early as the second post about Bubba Ho-Keg we started getting questions about why we decided to buy one of these rather than a Big Green Egg (BGE) or other similar cooker. At the time I promised to do a post about it. For those of you still waiting, this would be that post.

First of all, I have to admit that lack of a good outdoor cooker was not an issue; if anything I had more cookers than space to keep all of them. Most of them were Weber charcoal models of some sort, ranging in size from a Smokey Joe to a Ranch Kettle and pretty much everything in between. I’d recently acquired a brand new 22″ One-Touch Gold and a Performer for ridiculously low prices at a local sporting goods chain going-out-of-business sale, and had given away one of my older OTGs to Pigdog to replace an aging gasser that died on his patio. So none of the buying decision had anything to do with need, perceived or otherwise.

As much as I hate to admit it, the decision to get another cooker had a lot to do with pizza. Although I had successfully cooked pizza on the Webers, I wasn’t real satisfied with the process and degree of difficulty involved in turning out good pizza in a consistent fashion.

It also didn’t hurt that I’d been looking at pictures of BGE results on the BBQ Brethren forums and over at Nibble Me This. And since I had an unexpected bonus check from the day job arrive in late September, there was some discretionary income sitting in the bank account that pretty much determined that it was time to go spend some money on (yet another) new grill.

So what to buy? I wanted an insulated cooker that would cook at extremely high temps but also work for low-and-slow (if I wanted). Whatever I bought had to have enough grill space to cook entire meals all at once for a family of four that includes a couple of big appetites. And here is one of the most important items; it had to be portable, both from the ability to load it on the truck and haul it around as well as just rolling it around the yard. We don’t have a covered patio where the cooker can sit out all year, and most of our flat areas where I cook are covered with large gravel. I also wanted something that had a decent warranty and good quality construction. No one wants to spend a lot of money on a cooker only to have to replace it after a season or two (Note: BBQ season for us is from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31 every year).

Ultimately it was a combination of the portability factor and price that caused Bubba Ho-Keg to come into our life. Although there is no question of quality construction, flexible cooking, and great warranty coverage when it comes to the BGE, you just can’t get around the weight and portability issues associated with ceramic cookers. Shipping alone would have cost a fortune, and I probably would have invested in a nest had I bought a BGE. By the time I was done, I likely would have spent over twice as much money and still had to worry about ceramic breakage if I ever wanted to take it anyplace. Not to mention the weight issues and degree of difficulty in loading it on the truck.

Any regrets? None worth talking about; Bubba Ho-Keg has become the primary grill at home and displaced the Weber Performer, causing it to be moved to the lake. But more on that tomorrow when I review life with Bubba Ho-Keg, and how it could improved.