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Direct Versus Indirect (Advice Needed!)

Okay let me get this off my chest. I am a flipper by nature. That is how I learned to grill. You flip it every two minutes until it is done to keep it from burning. 

This weekend I went the "redneck raised" route and wrapped two bricks in foil so my grate would be at the felt line. 

I am thinking strongly about purchasing a Maverick 733, but here is my question or dilemma. Lets say I am cooking a pork loin or bone in chicken breasts, etc. how do I get the full benefit of the Maverick so I don't have to turn the meat all the time. 

I cook the big bone in chicken breasts all the time. The way I have been doing it is direct. I of course have to flip it often to keep it from burning. The same goes for the pork loin. Direct cook = lots of flipping.

I have a platesetter so should my approach be different? I am guessing that it should. 

Any advice would be appreciated. With that being said, I would prefer to use the tools I currently have (platesetter, and homemade raised rig). I am not opposed to buying a Maverick, but I don't want to buy anything else at the moment if I don't have to.   

Louisville, GA - 2 Large BGE's

Comments

  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
    If you put in the platesetter, the becomes more like an oven than a grill. Not a bad way to cook, but it takes the 'setter about 20 minutes to heat up.

    If you are cooking raised direct, you should not need to flip so frequently if your dome temp is in the 350 - 400 range. The main source of heat in a direct cook is not air temperature, but the IR from the lump. The intensity of that falls off with distance. Typically, for most grilled items, I turn once at ten minutes. I note if anything is over a hot spot, and shift items around if so while flipping. Then wait another 8 min, or so. I may spend a minute of two with the dome open at the end, trying to even everything out if I am not getting grease flare-up.

    For myself, most direct cooking can be handled with a quick thermometer reading. Not that a Maverick won't be of use in other situations.
  • Rednecks use beer cans, not foil or bricks.

    Little Rock, AR

  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    Little science lesson on direct cooking.

    Most people have noticed charcoal grills have a mechanism to adjust the distance between the grill to the fire.

    If your fire were a single point, the IR (heat) radiation, between a point, say 4 inches to 8 inches follows the inverse square law.   The amount of heat is inversely proportional to the square of the distance. 

    So if your heat is (arbitratry number) say 10 at the coal.  at 4" it would be 1/(4*4) = 1/16th.  At 8" it would be 1/(8*8) = 1/64.   Moving the food away from the coals twice the distance gives you a reduction in heat of 4x.  1/4th the heat for doubling the distance. 

    This is why raising the grid can make such a difference.  Raised direct versus default direct.

    Now you have other things at play, like convection, and more coals.  The coals that are diagonal at 4" will still be diagonal at 8", but the distance isn't doubled.  So calculus comes in to play here and the difference is going to be less than 1/4th the heat, but still significant.

    This formula works well with light intensity from a flashlight and sound from a single source, like a loud brother in law.

    Sorry it doesn't answer the OP's question.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • johnkitchens
    johnkitchens Posts: 5,227
    Maybe I am not as "redneck" as I thought it was. 

    I guess a couple of PBR cans would have made it official! 

    So since I am new to the "raised" game can I should be able to get away with cooking the big bone in chicken breast and pork loins without flipping??? 

    Or would I need to use the plate setter for that? 

    Sorry to ask so many questions. I am still learning and trying to expand my cooking horizons! 

    Louisville, GA - 2 Large BGE's
  • And now Nolahead will derive the theory of relativity for you even though it has ZERO to do with your question. 


    We're waiting smart guy...............................


    I cook my pork loins indirect until they hit about 145 with the platesetter.  Turns out great. 

    Little Rock, AR

  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    Ah yes.  The theory of relativity.  When cooking for relatives on the other side of the family and you screw up, the theory states you will be sleeping on the couch.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • That's just for the inlaw relatives. 

    Little Rock, AR

  • Egglegal_Alien
    Egglegal_Alien Posts: 113
    edited May 2014
    Maybe I am not as "redneck" as I thought it was. 

    I guess a couple of PBR cans would have made it official! 

    So since I am new to the "raised" game can I should be able to get away with cooking the big bone in chicken breast and pork loins without flipping??? 

    Or would I need to use the plate setter for that? 

    Sorry to ask so many questions. I am still learning and trying to expand my cooking horizons! 
    No need to flip, so long as you've given your lump time to develop a thin ash film, don't have open flame, and you keep the birds raised direct at dome temp of 400-425 or less.

    No need for the maverik for the chicken either (but i'd be nice for the Butt), just a fast read thermometer (Thermapen would be my choice), you might want to flip chicken for the last 5 mins if skin don't seem crispy enough for your taste.
     
    XL BGE + Large BGE @ Monterrey, Mexico
  • johnkitchens
    johnkitchens Posts: 5,227
    Sounds good to me. I have a Thermapen and use it religiously. 

    I was thinking about the Maverick for butts, etc. 

    Louisville, GA - 2 Large BGE's
  • tksmoke
    tksmoke Posts: 776
    Wait a minute @nolaegghead!!!  My head is spinnin with all this theory of relativity/divide by zero/square root of Pie/uncertainty principle crap.  Conversely, the other part of the equation is that the higher you move it up into the dome, the more radiant energy from the dome can be interacting with the electrons in the chickie, which is all good when you wants to evenly cook witout flippin.  I'm going right now to see how Stephen Hawking feels about raised direct. 
    Santa Paula, CA
  • leo123
    leo123 Posts: 101
    If using Red-neck technique with the beer cans just make sure that they are empty.
  • leo123
    leo123 Posts: 101
    Or if using full ones, sit back and enjoy the show
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    tksmoke said:
    Wait a minute @nolaegghead!!!  My head is spinnin with all this theory of relativity/divide by zero/square root of Pie/uncertainty principle crap.  Conversely, the other part of the equation is that the higher you move it up into the dome, the more radiant energy from the dome can be interacting with the electrons in the chickie, which is all good when you wants to evenly cook witout flippin.  I'm going right now to see how Stephen Hawking feels about raised direct. 
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn7-fVtT16k
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,669
    I never flip spatchcocked chicken or turkeys and always cook direct and raised at 400. It just works for me. Oh,@nolaegghead stayed at a Holiday Inn Express
    Salado TX & 30A  FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now). Plus a couple Pit Boss Pellet Smokers.   

  • NPHuskerFL
    NPHuskerFL Posts: 17,629
    Waiting for STY to chime in here ;-)
    LBGE 2013 & MM 2014
    Die Hard HUSKER & BRONCO FAN
    Flying Low & Slow in "Da Burg" FL
  • tksmoke
    tksmoke Posts: 776

    @Mickey - Exactly - no flippin necessary, even with Turkey!  Electrons, gotta love em.

    The video was sort of irreverent - but very funny!!!

     

    Santa Paula, CA
  • Waiting for STY to chime in here ;-)

    He's busy translating his post into Latin for your enjoyment. 

    Little Rock, AR

  • stevesails
    stevesails Posts: 990
    Einstein's fear of relatives
    XL   Walled Lake, MI

  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,168
    Now suppose your lump is burning as a plane source??  Changes the reduction over distance factor.  But that's a lesson for another day :)>-
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
  • Ladeback69
    Ladeback69 Posts: 4,482
    I'm cooking legs and chicken grillers and flipping them every 15 minutes or so. Bone breast or spatchcock I doing flip. I cooking raised direct.
    XL, WSM, Coleman Road Trip Gas Grill

    Kansas City, Mo.
  • NPHuskerFL
    NPHuskerFL Posts: 17,629
    edited May 2014



    Waiting for STY to chime in here ;-)

    He's busy translating his post into Latin for your enjoyment. 



    Maybe he is? :)) That would be informative and in a dead language nobody understands.
    LBGE 2013 & MM 2014
    Die Hard HUSKER & BRONCO FAN
    Flying Low & Slow in "Da Burg" FL