A couple weeks back that troublemaker Attjack tossed out an Amazon ad for the Onlyfire Santa Maria accessory. I bit, ordered one and had a bit of frustration as the tracking showed it just sitting at the origin warehouse for 4 days going nowhere. But eventually it got here. It went together easily though some folks who don't have much mechanical aptitude might complain because there are no instructions, just the blow up graphic showing all the parts and their locations. Frankly they're not needed as it's pretty simple, but......………………...… As Troutman noted in that thread it's much like the Gabby's though almost half the price. I've not seen/felt a Gabby's so I can't do a like for like, but it's reasonably stout for the material that it is. If I try to shake it the Performer cart has all the movement, so it seems well built. As often happens, some members were "guessing" at what they thought could be problems. One was grate size. This not only has a removable grate supplied (albeit a modest quality in my opinion), which is great for cleaning (apparently Gabby's isn't), it's also sized so that the original Weber grate fits, even just a tad loose though secure enough. That opens a whole world of replacement/substitution options from the Weber aftermarket. The other projected "negative" was that the grate couldn't get close enough to the coals for good sear. Again, without seeing or using the product how would one know that. The movable grate carriage does bottom out on the mounting ring at the top of the lower kettle portion so there could be some possibility of excess distance for some folks desire. But, I'll show in the first pic how I rigged it with maybe 20 seconds of thought and effort to bring the coals nearly even with the mounting flange. Admittedly I have a lot of "junk" at hand to McGyver this kind of solution, so someone with a less "cluttered" life might have to scrounge a bit differently/more.
Tonight we did the first cook with the rig. My choice was a Yakitori protein course coupled with a Shiitake mushroom brown rice side and broccoli. Before getting to the meat/hardware combo I'll just say, the rice dish was killer good and a near perfect compliment for the yakitori seasoning.
So this first pic is the setup for fire. I used some scrap metal pieces I keep in the outdoor kitchen for just this kind of setup which I've done in several different cookers for various reasons. I used the 12" side of a vortex up just to concentrate the fire for the size of the skewers and conserve fuel, it was just the right size for the three skewers I'd prepared. Had there been more skewers I'd have gone a different route, either the larger vortex, the Bronco fuel bin, or just a pile. I could have used the Weber baskets as well, but felt they might be a bit light on fuel never having used this before. They probably would have worked fine.
At go time I dropped the grate down to about 3-4 inches from the coals guessing that would be about right. I checked a couple times to make sure and fortunately I'd guessed well.
I basted them just before they went on, and then again just before flipping and they started to take on a nice, delicate char while appearing to cook through to the center. It ended up approximately 5 minutes on each side with the intensity of heat I had. Once flipped another brush of glaze.
Then for the finale, another brush of glaze, drop the grate down to within 2ish inches of the coals and give it 30ish seconds of final sear/char before raising them up to keep warm for a moment or two.
Finally on the table and down the gullet...………...turned out pretty good for a first shot on a new toy if I do say so myself.
Now the bride is thinking she wants to do some shishkabob soon. Yeah, it's contagious.
Tonight we did the first cook with the rig. My choice was a Yakitori protein course coupled with a Shiitake mushroom brown rice side and broccoli. Before getting to the meat/hardware combo I'll just say, the rice dish was killer good and a near perfect compliment for the yakitori seasoning.
So this first pic is the setup for fire. I used some scrap metal pieces I keep in the outdoor kitchen for just this kind of setup which I've done in several different cookers for various reasons. I used the 12" side of a vortex up just to concentrate the fire for the size of the skewers and conserve fuel, it was just the right size for the three skewers I'd prepared. Had there been more skewers I'd have gone a different route, either the larger vortex, the Bronco fuel bin, or just a pile. I could have used the Weber baskets as well, but felt they might be a bit light on fuel never having used this before. They probably would have worked fine.
At go time I dropped the grate down to about 3-4 inches from the coals guessing that would be about right. I checked a couple times to make sure and fortunately I'd guessed well.
I basted them just before they went on, and then again just before flipping and they started to take on a nice, delicate char while appearing to cook through to the center. It ended up approximately 5 minutes on each side with the intensity of heat I had. Once flipped another brush of glaze.
Then for the finale, another brush of glaze, drop the grate down to within 2ish inches of the coals and give it 30ish seconds of final sear/char before raising them up to keep warm for a moment or two.
Finally on the table and down the gullet...………...turned out pretty good for a first shot on a new toy if I do say so myself.
Now the bride is thinking she wants to do some shishkabob soon. Yeah, it's contagious.
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