Welcome!

**ofelles** · January 27, 2023, 01:19 PM

appreciate!

**tbob4** · January 27, 2023, 02:20 PM

Finding the sweet spots (height) relative to your fuel is the best advice I can give.

Err in the beginning on the side of cool (higher than you think). I can tell how hot my fire is using my hand above the flame. At first, you can put a small skillet on part of the grate and use an infrared thermometer to give you an idea about how hot the surface is at different heights. I have GrillGrates on mine that allows for that. I don't really use it any longer.

Have a nice dome for even cooking. I often start with the grill higher and dome the food in the initial stages of cooking. I like the 3 minutes per side rule for flipping under the dome. I then remove the dome, lower the grate and finish it off.

I love starting wood with charcoal - the splits make a nice fire and the charcoal bed underneath makes the wood start uniformly. If you have access to wood splits they are nice. While a bed of charcoal would seem to be more uniform the wood adds time, aroma and fun to the process.

**Donw** · January 27, 2023, 02:53 PM

What tbob4 said. I would also add keep a cool spot to shift food to when something is cooking faster than you want. This is especially needed if you are cooking more than one thing at a time. I have a larger SM with a brasero so fire management plays a large part too. The great thing about a Santa Maria is you get to play with both the fire and the food. Don’t stress, keep your steps simple and everything will just click after a few cooks.

**mrichie1229** · January 27, 2023, 03:00 PM

Following this thread!

**Old Glory** · January 27, 2023, 03:15 PM

I am still working things out. Starting with a coal bed then adding splits seems to work best. However if I have enough wood and enough time I like making a stack of wood and burning it down to coals better. Then I can keep adding small splits to keep things going. You can use a probe to judge temp. I have a Meater thermometer that I use that give me ambient temp and meat temp. For long cooks I use the brassero to keep a steady supply of coals available adding wood to the top of the brassero as the logs burn down. Raise and lower the grate to control temps and move piles of embers adjusting hot spots or making the pile bigger to add more heat.

**Steve B** · January 27, 2023, 03:28 PM

I generally use full length splits, 16” or so long and split those into roughly 2”diameter and spread them out over the bed of coals as mentioned above. Meaning 16” long and 2” wide. Several of those spread across the coals gives a fairly even heat source across the entire cooking area.

**CaptainMike** · January 27, 2023, 05:50 PM

Man, you got a lot of great advice! Everyone will be a little different on the hand temp technique, but Donw 's is a great place to start. Keep in mind that as your fire increases or decreases you will need to make adjustments to fuel loading and grate height. To me that's the most fun part of SM cooking. After a few cooks you'll start do develop a sense of how things are going by sight, sound, and scent. I like to think of my Santa Maria grill as the London Philharmonic and I am Leopold, The Long Haired Hare:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X66mR76km4M

**jjdbike** · January 28, 2023, 09:20 AM

Originally posted by tbob4 View Post

Finding the sweet spots (height) relative to your fuel is the best advice I can give.

Err in the beginning on the side of cool (higher than you think). I can tell how hot my fire is using my hand above the flame. At first, you can put a small skillet on part of the grate and use an infrared thermometer to give you an idea about how hot the surface is at different heights. I have GrillGrates on mine that allows for that. I don't really use it any longer.

Have a nice dome for even cooking. I often start with the grill higher and dome the food in the initial stages of cooking. I like the 3 minutes per side rule for flipping under the dome. I then remove the dome, lower the grate and finish it off.

I love starting wood with charcoal - the splits make a nice fire and the charcoal bed underneath makes the wood start uniformly. If you have access to wood splits they are nice. While a bed of charcoal would seem to be more uniform the wood adds time, aroma and fun to the process.

Thanks so much tbob & friends
tbob, can you please elaborate on having a nice dome? I don’t think my Weber done lid will fit over that SM attachment. Are you talking about something else?
JD

**CaptainMike** · January 28, 2023, 09:56 AM

Tri tips were on sale at our local grocer and a Santa Maria supper was already planned for last night so I'll share some pics and method:

This is the array of splits I usually lay out. I didn't use all of it, just enough to get the job done.

I start with a lit bed of charcoal then add some splits. I like to place a larger split to the front of the coal bed then add smaller ones to the coal bed. As they catch and start to burn I lower the grate to get it hot enough to brush, raise it up out of the heat zone and plop the TT on to take up some smoke while the fire burns down.

I started a pot of SM beans inside then finished them on the grill to take up a little smoke as well. Not pictured is a loaf of garlic bread that was nicely browned over dying coals. Keep in mind that this pic is to illustrate the versatility of the SMG and I lowered the grate for a better shot. You want to avoid actually cooking with a flaming fire like you see here and raise the grate as necessary.

And the final result. This was a pretty dang good one, too!! And before anyone gets all up in arms, I learned to slice TT on the bias starting with the corner of the triangle. It's not truly 90 degrees against the grain, but it works just as well and is a quicker way to slice it. And when you're doing several hundred TT's for a fundraiser dinner it's a very efficient way to hand slice a lot of them.

Good luck in your new endeavor, there's a lot of great food that can come off of a SMG!

**Greygoose** · January 28, 2023, 11:24 AM

Doing a cedar planked salmon on my Santa Maria grill and used an aluminum pan for a dome,,,

**Mosca** · January 28, 2023, 11:25 AM

This is a good topic! I’ve wondered many of the same questions that are answered here.

I don’t think I’ll go Santa Maria because I don’t want to learn another style of cooking, and I have nowhere to store the apparatus when I’m using my kettle as a kettle. But I wouldn’t mind showing up somewhere and seeing one, and learning that way.

**jjdbike** · January 28, 2023, 12:15 PM

I’m absolutely loving this thread!
Thanks everyone!
JD

**Old Glory** · January 28, 2023, 12:29 PM

Cooking Tr-Tip using the Brassero to build up the coals. Used the Fireboard to monitor internal temps. Goal was a reverse sear type of cook. Slowly bring it up to 120ish then lower to sear.