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My Weber gasser as an oven...

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    My Weber gasser as an oven...

    This past week, I've been having the bestest time using my Weber Genesis 3-burner gasser for regular cooking as well as grilling. It's been unusually warm and super humid lately here in northeast Iowa, so cooking and baking in the house is out of the question.

    We have only a tiny window AC for dehumidification and some cooling, because a lot of years we might only need air conditioning for a week or two in the hottest part of the summer. This summer, we've already put about 2 weeks of use on the AC this summer and have most of July and August yet to come.

    So necessity being the mother of invention, I turned to my gasser for help.

    I baked a loaf of white no-knead sandwich bread earlier this week and two loaves of banana bread today. The sandwich bread turned out really nice -- the temperature in the Genesis was spot on.

    I had to fiddle with the burners to get them adjusted right for the banana bread -- the grill-level temp wasn't getting quite hot enough. I bake my breads until they reach a desired internal temp, so I baked the banana bread about 10 minutes longer to reach the right IT. I cut one of the cooled loaves in half this evening to check how it cooked, and it looks pretty good in the middle.

    What I'm doing for baking is setting up the classic 2-zone indirect cook. I put my Grill Grates on the indirect (left) side laid on top of the regular wire grates to raise the food a little bit further from the burners. I use the middle and right burners as needed to get the temperatures where I want them (always a bit of an adventure.) I set up one temp probe right at grate level near the food and I'm also monitoring the dial thermometer in the dome. For future cooks, I'm probably going to put a second temp probe on the wire warming rack to get a more accurate dome temp.

    I also simmered a 7 quart Dutch oven's worth of chicken stock today along with grilling chicken thighs for supper. As the liquid level dropped in the Dutch oven, the exposed veggies and chicken bits roasted a little in the heat of the dome, which added a nice savor to the broth.

    I'm going to be a lot more willing to bake and do general cooking on the Weber in the future. Maybe when I'm more confident with my Hasty Bake I'll try cooking/baking on it too, but I'm satisfied with honing my skills with the Weber for now.

    #2
    I used to put a large pan or some foil over the flavorizer bars, with a opening around the perimeter of the grill to give me a larger indirect zone on my old Genesis, and bake stuff on it. It was one of the old ones where the burners run left to right, and there was no other way to get a usable indirect zone. Worked well at the time.

    We are cranking the A/C down here in Alabama, and trying to avoid cooking inside at all costs.

    Comment


    • Jerod Broussard
      Jerod Broussard commented
      Editing a comment
      Flavorizer bars......my fave part of a gas grill.

    • jfmorris
      jfmorris commented
      Editing a comment
      Haha yes, maybe they should be stamped with ‘do not touch while hot’ @Jerod Broussard... how is your hand?

    #3
    I used to bake bread and rolls on my Summit. Works perfectly as an oven. Good thread. Thank you for sharing.

    Comment


      #4
      Nice topic, IowaGirl . Thanks for starting it.

      I always bake my bacon on a rack in a foil-lined tray at 325° on my Summit gasser. It's a 6 burner dude, so keeping one or two outermost burners lit on each side does the trick. It keeps the bacon smells out of the house. It allows me to save all that precious bacon grease as well. I do a pound or two at a time, and what we don't eat goes in the freezer for quick access for when my body sends out a Low Bacon Alert. Good for quickie BLTs, etc, too.

      If you haven't done so already, you may want to try frying chicken in a dutch oven in your gasser following Meathead's recommendations. I've done it and it works great.

      https://amazingribs.com/bbq-techniqu...rying-on-grill

      In future, you may want to look at some of the Camp Chef outdoor gas ranges. Outdoor gas ranges are the bomb, especially for frying, and most especially for summertime cooking. CC's powerful 30K BTU burners make frying a breeze, keeping the mess and smells outside. They beat the heck out of my gasser's sideburners for almost every range cooking need.

      Kathryn
      Last edited by fzxdoc; July 5, 2020, 05:56 AM.

      Comment


      • IowaGirl
        IowaGirl commented
        Editing a comment
        I cook 2-3 pounds of bacon on the Genesis at a time using low to moderate, direct heat. I use 1 or 2 half-sheet pans with no rack, no foil. Remove the bacon when it's browned but not crisp, drain well, put in freezer. Drain bacon fat into a container for other uses. If I stop cooking the bacon before it gets super crispy, the cleanup is not too tough. Of course I have the ultimate pre-wash gadgets for initial bacon-pan cleanup -- my 3 dogs. Crisp and heat the strips in the microwave as needed.

      • IowaGirl
        IowaGirl commented
        Editing a comment
        I used to use foil in the pan and put the bacon on a rack (a basic wire cooling rack you'd use for cookies). I never can get a leakproof foil covering, so I still had to clean the pans AND discard foil. Not much benefit there. I also really dislike cleaning wire racks, so I avoid using them unless there's no other option. Not sayin' my choice is the only one true way -- it's just my preference. My Genesis 3 burner can take 2 half-sheet pans, so it's ideal for a messy bacon cook.

      • fzxdoc
        fzxdoc commented
        Editing a comment
        I soak the rack, IowaGirl , so it cleans up pretty easily. The 18" wide heavy duty aluminum foil works pretty well.

        When at my daughter's (no racks that can work), I line a rimmed sheet with foil and then crumple then semi-smooth-out another piece of foil so it's full of ridges. I set that in the foil-lined pan in lieu of a rack. Works great. Then once the bacon fat is drained, the foils get tossed.

        K.

      #5
      richinlbrg I use a something close to a half sheet rimmed pan lined with aluminum foil with a rack placed in it. I have the USA Pan extra large size mentioned in the Amazon link, but have used the regular size half sheet pan as well.

      It holds about a pound of bacon at a time, with some overlap until the pieces start to shrink up.

      It's always started in a cold gasser, allowing to heat up slowly to 325-350° for good fat rendering. I flip the bacon a couple of times during the 30-45 minutes or so that it takes to get the bacon the way we like it--floppy crispy.

      Kathryn
      Last edited by fzxdoc; July 5, 2020, 07:07 AM.

      Comment


      • jfmorris
        jfmorris commented
        Editing a comment
        Great way to do bacon! We used to bake it in the oven, but that made a mess of the oven, as does frying it on the stove top. I think I've been making it on the Weber gas grill for a few years now using a similar method. Once I got Grillgrates I started just doing it on those, on low heat, and letting the Weber funnel all the grease into the pan underneath. I guess now I'll do it on the flat top!

      • richinlbrg
        richinlbrg commented
        Editing a comment
        Thank you so much, Kathryn!
        Really helpful, and a great idea!

      #6
      I haven't made it since I became Paleo years ago, but this pizza dough recipe from Raichlen's first book was always a favorite. I see that whole wheat flour has been substituted in the online version with rye flour. I don't know why it was changed, I used whole wheat.

      Here's the simple grilled tomato, basil, and cheese recipe I always made. My notes in the 20-year-old softbound book say to use LOTS more tomatoes.

      On my Weber gasser, I just grilled the tomatoes and stretched the dough out on a porcelain grill topper.

      Comment

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