First Burn with the New Vermont Castings Grill

Well....got the natural gas line installed Friday.....assembled and first burn done today....up to 560F it got....ouch. Will try steaks tonight. Took me about 2hrs to assemble. Hardest part is getting that stupid blue plastic wrap off all the Stainless Steel.

Looking forward to having this one for a long time.

NEW VERMONT CASTINGS GRILL!!!

Well...a deal to good to pass up.....we are now a proud owner of a Vermont Castings 5027N Signature Series Grill. Picked it up Saturday from Wheatland Fireplace in Regina for a $1000. Regular price on these are $1800 and local guy wanted $1300.

http://www.vermontcastings.com/catalog/view_product.cfm?ProductId=280

Came in a huge...heavy box. Have to get my local plumber to hook up the Natural Gas....thats right...no more running out of propane.

Comes with 5 burners, infrared burner, rotiserie, cover, SS burners and all around, Ceramic coated lid, side burner, front bun warmer, and LED LIGHTS and BACKLIT Burner controls for Grillin' in the Dark!!!.

Cannot wait to fire this thing up.

NEW GAS BBQ....SOON??

Well The ol' Fiesta BBQ has served its time....couple of new burners, 2 or 3 igniter wires...quite a few selections of new lava rocks....and oh....a little cleaning out occasionally. The wife and I believe it is time to bring home a new BBQ for the back deck this time it WILL be a natural gas unit.

God I just hate running out of propane.............#**^#**

Well we have begun the hunt and I am limiting myself to three brands.
A Napoleon Prestige II PT485RB or similar model....tah daa!!(Nice "Ted Reader" Edition at Cdn Tire)
Vermont Castings Experience 400 model
or a Weber Genesis S 320
Local dealers are around for all of them....so hopefully with a price tag around $700 to $900 I can round one up.

My Dad still wants to build a new walk-in smoke house this spring....I was going to make a barrel unit this summer but if I can get one of the above units with 3 burners and plenty of grill space I can make due to do some offset smoking.

Stay tuned!!!

Pulled Pork ....Crock Pot Again....

Yep...simple...easy....tasty and not much monitoring time needed. Did a pork leg in the crock today....added a jar of Diana's Gourmet BBQ Sauce and some orange juice. I have always like her sauces proly cuz they resemble what I really like.....basic sweet bbq sauce. (I always add some Maple syrup to add an extra finger lickin' kick)

Turned out good....however.....the only bottle we had left was the "Cracked Pepper" kind. Well I guess when you slow cook for 5hrs the pepper really comes out. It was a little too peppery for me...and waaaay to much for the kids and wife.

Ol well.....I put the left over in the freezer to bring out and reheat. Will add some more sauce to lighten the pepper taste the next round.

Long Winter....2008 BBQ SEASON HAS STARTED!!!!

I am far from a diehard BBQ guy....no -40 temps and standing out tending the fire....nope....

Weather is nice here....plus 10 today...snow is melting....proly gone by weeks end.

Saturday I grilled some pork ribs.....sorry no pics....did a quick rub of oregano, cayenne, rock salt, fresh pepper, brown sugar, onion and garlic powder. Added some soy sauce, Worchestershire(sp?), orange juice and Extra Virgin Olive oil. Let that rest for 6 hrs or so then did then on extreme low heat my gas BBQ. Mixed up some BBQ sauce and Nice Canadian Maple Syrup and lathered them up a couple times before taking off. They turned out quite good....A little on the over done side but I liked the crunch.

So I start the 2008 BBQ season...this (yesterday) March 8, 2008 here on the prairies.......