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Onlyfire Santa Maria for Weber kettle

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    Onlyfire Santa Maria for Weber kettle

    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.

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    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.

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    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.

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    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.

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    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.

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    Now the bride is thinking she wants to do some shishkabob soon. Yeah, it's contagious.
    Last edited by Uncle Bob; June 30, 2020, 06:41 PM.

    #2
    Looks great and thanks for sharing. Looking forward to seeing your experiments and how well it holds up.

    Comment


      #3
      Nice, I'm glad you're liking it and appreciate the review.

      Comment


        #4
        Very nicely done, an I appreciate yer takin me along on th walkthrough, amigo.

        Comment


          #5
          Thank you for sharing. Looks great!

          Comment


            #6
            Nice write up.
            thank you

            Comment


              #7
              Thanks!

              Comment


                #8
                Onlyfire is the company that has knocked off the Slow 'N Sear and infringed on our patents multiple times. I'll just throw that out there. This looks similar to another American company's product.

                Comment


                • DavidNorcross
                  DavidNorcross commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Good to know. Thank you David.

                #9
                So, for those interested in learning the adventure continues. Our second cook on the Santa Maria accessory is a fajita cook. Yeah, I know most folks prefer a skirt steak for this, but we like flank instead. It adds a step or two, but we just like the cut better. The meat was marinated for around 24 hours and then onto the grate. We expected a 15-20 minute cook but this one was thick enough that it took close to 25 before rest. I'm still playing with the inverted vortex and had a pretty good fire going. We ended up with a decent sear, though my "student" (the bride wanted to take a hand at using the cooker) wasn't fully engaged as I might have been. Lousy teacher...…. However, the char was not destructive and ended up very nice for mouth feel and taste while looking just a tad darkish. Inside was relatively tender, and remained juicy even after a bit of "sizzle platter" action after the carving (not pictured, sorry). All in all, the accessory continues to function well. Durability of course will remain a question until enough time and cooks passes. One other note that I did photo was dropping the lid on after the cook to see if I can preserve some of the left over coals. The lid mates to the flat ring platform reasonably well, though not as well as it does to the lower kettle lip in original configuration. We'll see tomorrow morning if it was successful.

                Some additional commentary on the grate configuration. I've seen one other "knock off", if you want to call it that, that, like the Gabby's, doesn't have a removable grate. Also, in pictures it really looks flimsy so in person it probably could look worse. It's marketed by Titan Accessories for $99. As I mentioned in the earlier post, ignored by some apparently, the removable grate is a pleasing feature that, so far to my knowledge, is unique to Onlyfire. I also mentioned that it looks cheap, though it hasn't shown any issues at it's young age. I've ordered a stainless grate to try that is half "normal" bar type, and half griddle. Those elements are also removable so there may be other options to try in the future. Right now it looks like a good prospect for a full, reverse sear after initial cook on the bar grate portion. Again, experimentation is the driver here, so adventure on.

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