Results of using sand in drip pan of XL cook

easygoinjay

So I put sand in the drip pan of the half-moon raised grid on my XL so that I could quick-sear some chicken thighs and then finish them off indirect. The sand acts as a heat barrier. I posted this idea earlier.

So how did it turn out? the chicken was great. See below.



You can see I also cooked some asparagus. I just did them high-heat direct. I like a little char.

My impressions of the effectiveness of the sand-filled drip pan as a heat barrier? It's very effective. It's actually much more effective than I anticipated. I didn't preheat it very long before I put the chicken and it took the chicken forever to cook! They simply weren't getting much heat from below even with the coals blazing.

I don't think it's a problem at all, I think it's just something I will need to get used to. I will probably pre-heat the grid and sand more this next time so I won't slow things down as much.

It seems like it may be a valuable tool to use when you want to quick-sear something at high heat and then not wait for you grill to cool down to continue cooking. My next attempt will be to do the Trex technique except that I'll take out the waiting period for the grill to cool and just put in the grid to protect the steak from too much direct heat. I'll report back with results.

Good egging to all.

Rascal

Not sure I'm with ya here... Do you cover the sand with foil or just chuck it each time?

Thanks, Rascal

easygoinjay

Sorry, I'll post exactly what I did here.

Fill drip pan with sand:




Cover it with foil:




Then put in half moon raised grate for indirect cooking:

Rascal

Got it! Thanks!!

Mainegg

are those briquettes in there?? I just wonder cause they look so uniform?? Julie

citychicken

might be lump briquettes. there are lots of makers of the stuff. if you haven't used it yet, it leaves a lot of ash relative to the real deal. you can read about it at the naked whiz site.

easygoinjay

Oh no...I thought someone might catch me. Yes, those are Rancher natural hardwood briquettes. I bought a bunch of bags back before I got the BGE for my other smoker because they're all natural and were only $2 a bag. I researched a little and then tried them on the BGE. They're not as good as lump, and they create a lot of ash, but I have to use up these bags to make some space, so don't hate me too much. After they're gone, it's back to superior lump.

Besides, the Naked Whiz said it's not that bad: http://www.nakedwhiz.com/productreviews/occb/occb.htm

Mainegg

LOL i will not say a WORD shhh.......

Old Salt

I notice on the Weber forum they use sand or a clay saucer instead of water in their pans.

easygoinjay

Again, I am outed. That's where I got the idea. I haven't used my Weber since I got the egg, but I still remember some of the things I learned. Sand is a very good radiant heat barrier.

Avocados

I would think that it would work better if you dropped the 'sand box' down on the main grid level.

That way you would have the indirect heat barrier while leaving some airspace between the barrier and the grid with the food.

It would allow it to cook with hot air all around the food instead of just from the top.

Another interesting thing would be to use a pizza stone cut in half. Then you could set that half moon drip pan on top of it when you need to catch drippings.

easygoinjay

Putting it on the main grate is a really good idea. I will try that.

As far as the half pizza stone, that would work as well. BGE sells them. I was just being cheap and using what I already had.