stevez wrote:I grilled a masive amount of kebabs (lamb and chicken) yeasterday on my new 27" (26.75" for you pureists) Weber. That thing has some pretty decent capacity. I was able to grill an entire party's worth in only two loads. Followed that up with toasting 8 pitas at a time. Sorry, no pictures.
I thought about breaking mine out yesterday for a medium-sized group but instead used my beloved (15-year-old) 22.5" kettle. It was mostly laziness that made my decision but given what I was cooking, I'm not sure I could have gone much faster with the 27".
First, I grilled about 4 pounds of asparagus all in one shift. Next, 36 Vienna natural casing dogs (12 4-bys and 24 8-bys) in 2 shifts (the one place where using the 27" would have definitely made things go faster). After that, I finished up with a 4-pound side of wild King salmon. So, even spacing it out the way I did, I spent less than an hour at the grill (including chimney time), which was just enough time to enjoy it without feeling like I was stuck there. Also, I had some great help from my guests who did a lot of other stuff -- like slice up a brisket and a whole mess of baby backs that I did on other cookers -- while I 'worked my station.'

Recipe-wise, it's all completely straightforward, especially for this seasoned group. Asparagus gets tossed in olive oil, then sprinkled with kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper. After that, lay it down on the indirect side of a covered kettle for about 10 minutes or until it's done to your liking. For the salmon, I rinsed and dried the fish, then hit it on both sides with some rub (I make my own, which I use on just about everything), then patted some olive oil evenly on both sides. Cooked it on the indirect side, covered, for about 12 minutes (internal temp about 130 when I pulled it). Important to remember to rub the grates with some oil (using a saturated paper towel) before laying the fish down. I also like to lay out the fish lengthwise, parallel to the grates. This way, when you finally have to move the fish around, you're sliding your spatual with the grates instead of across them, which makes keeping the fish intact much easier. Dogs, I spiral scored and cooked on the indirect side, covered for about 6 minutes, turning them once about halfway through. For a little more char, you can move them over to the direct side, uncovered, for a few seconds at the end.
No pics here either but I swear, it really happened.

=R=
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