OT-CharGriller Akorn Jr (long and lots of pics)-OT

Carolina Q

This thing has been mentioned quite a few times recently and a few have said they'd be interested in a review so...I like it. It has it's drawbacks, but I like it. Some random thoughts...

I had a Mini, used it a lot until my dog knocked it over and smashed it. So I wanted a replacement. 

I've had this thing for a week or so and have cooked burgers, a spatched game hen, chicken parts, and salmon. Did the salmon in an 8" Wagner CI skillet, the largest that will fit without cutting off the handle. Best of all, yesterday I smoked an overnight Mojo-marinated pork shoulder (picnic) at ±300°. LOL, I may never go back to NC style!!

This grill comes with a CI grid. Didn't really want that so I bought a Weber 14" Smokey Joe grid for it. Perfect fit. Haven't even heated up the CI yet. I like the fact that the CI has a removable center piece (like a donut hole) for adding lump or smoke wood, but so far, I haven't needed to. Wouldn't help with an indirect cook anyway.

Grid size wise, It's halfway between the Mini-Max and the Medium. MM grid diameter, 13", Medium, 15", Akorn, 14". The Akorn has 154 sq in of grid space, is 26" high with the bolt-on legs and weighs just 30 lb.  

It took me a while to get used to my Mini. To the point where I mostly stopped using it. Then, I gave it a second chance and wound up loving it! I've had some temp issues with the Akorn Jr, but I think it is just a matter of learning it's idiosyncrasies, just as it was with the Mini. Biggest problem is controlling temp below 300°, but I'm getting better. Then again, I'm fine with a 300-320° "lo n slo" so it's not really an issue. Actually, I was never able to control temp well on the Mini either. 350-400° or nuclear were about all I could hold with any consistency. So that's where I cooked. This thing is a bit erratic too, but I'm learning.

Like the Mini, the Akorn heats very quickly, maybe even quicker. I can get to 400°, stable, in about 15 minutes, probably quicker with practice. The spatched game hen was cooked over lump from a previous cook. I stirred it, lit it with my torch, set the vents where I thought they should be and came back in 15 minutes to find 400° on the nose. I waited a while to see if it would change. It didn't so I put the bird on.

I use my large egg, almost always, without a top vent. I don't think I could control temp very well without it on the Akorn. And it doesn't just sit up there anyway, it has to be bolted on. 

The thermo was perfectly calibrated out of the box. It's only 1 3/4" diameter though and has a black face which I find harder to read. 

For indirect cooks, CharGriller sells a legless platesetter for $35 delivered, but in my usual fashion (i.e. cheap bastid), I made my own for $6. . I bought a 10" terra cotta planter tray and a 36" x 3/16" steel rod from HD. Bent the rod into a triangle like an old west chuck wagon dinner bell. The planter tray sits on it nicely. Worked great on yesterday's butt cook (first time I've used it). Pics below.

If I decide I need to raise the grid above the gasket, I can place my Mini Woo in the grid and the Mini grid in top of that. Smaller, but still what I had when I had the Mini.

I need a table! With the bolted on legs, it's too low if I set it on my patio. If I set it on my standard height patio table, it's too high. Need a coffee table I guess, or maybe an end table. Wherever I put it, it WILL be out of the reach of my devastating dog!!

I don't know how long this thing will hold up. The inside parts appear to be the same as Weber grills and those last forever. We'll see. Five year rust thru/burn thru warranty. One year other stuff.

Bottom line, I'm pleased.

•Temp control is coming around. For yesterday''s butt, it worked pretty well, even when it started to rain.
•It's affordable,
•Doesn't burn much lump,
•Offers plenty of grid space for my needs,
•it's larger than the MM, but at 35 lb, it's less than half the weight (MM 76 lbs). It's even 4 lbs lighter than the Mini. 
•Every component part is readily available from the manufacturer (affordable too - Fire grate $7, Firebox $30). 
•Now I can cook Mom some Q when I visit!

Some pics...

Chicken thigh


Cornish hen


Where it spent much of yesterday. No temp controller required, though I did check often. After some early temp chasing, it settled down right about here, ±.


A 6+ lb chunk o' pork after a couple of hours...


After five hours, done! About 203°. Excellent bark and flavor!


Here's my $6 foil covered terra cotta "platesetter/drip pan" and support triangle. I filled the firebox with Wicked Good right up to the triangle. Also, several chunks of pecan and apple. Actually, the triangle was resting on the lump at the start.

I didn't notice any burnt smell or taste from using the platesetter as a drip pan. Though it looks like I should have! In any case, I have a fix for it - just didn't think of it yesterday. One of those 8 1/2" pizza stones from amazon on the triangle, then foil balls, then the PS/drip pan. Next time.



Without a doubt, I will be using this often and I would definitely buy again.

Almost forgot, yesterday's Cuban mojo criollo pork, brown rice and black beans from my pressure cooker (unsoaked, 30 minutes!) No bun, no sauce needed! Delicious pork! Marinated in homemade mojo criollo overnight (all outer fat and skin removed) and then basted with more marinade throughout the cook. But it sure is a brown meal, eh?


And finally, to give credit where credit is due, the reason I was even in the market for another small cooker...


Thanks for lookin!'

lousubcap

Great cooks and even better review.  Fortunately for me I am not in the market other-wise I would give that rig a serious look.  And the closer, a Devastated story with a great out-come.  Thanks for the write-up.

waegger

Love your dog.

Florida Grillin Girl

#1 - You cooked something!

#2 - You own real plates!

#3 - You drank the koolaid and purchased this ugly red thing that looks like it will tip over with a loud clap of thunder.

Other than that, hey, it's getting you outside. And doing stuff. For that, this post gets a AAAAAA# WAY TO GO, Q! from me.

Let the other judges here have their say. You only need 3 yesses.

HeavyG

What mojo marinade did you use? I've only used Badia and it is fine but wonder if there are others I should give a try.

Ooops...I see you mentioned it was homemade.

FearlessTheEggNoob

The Akorn Jr smoking stone just became available again. I decided to grab one and ditch my Joe Jr stone with its improvised coathanger support.

Not much space between the lump and the grate so I figured every mm helps with airflow.

I made 4 pie pan spacers by crumpling up a small ball of foil, then stamping it into a shallow dome shape using the bottom of an unopened beer can. No burning within the pan, but I do add some beer to the pan every couple hours.

Nice use of the butcher twine to keep that roast compact and use of the WSM grid. I see myself getting one of those in the future if I can buy it separately.

JohnInCarolina

Nice, thorough review. The only thing that surprised me was your comment about having difficulty with low temps on your Mini.

I have a MiniMax, and have never had trouble with low temps on it.  That said, it's quite a bit larger than the Mini so who knows.

Carolina Q

.lousubcap said:

Great cooks and even better review.  Fortunately for me I am not in the market other-wise I would give that rig a serious look.  And the closer, a Devastated story with a great out-come.  Thanks for the write-up.

Thanks. Been a couple of years without the Mini. Good to have a small grill again.

Carolina Q

waegger said:

Love your dog.

Me too. But he's been kind of expensive.

Carolina Q

Florida Grillin Girl said:

#1 - You cooked something!

#2 - You own real plates!

#3 - You drank the koolaid and purchased this ugly red thing that looks like it will tip over with a loud clap of thunder.

#1 - I cook everything I eat.
#2 - AND, they all match!
#3 - It's heavier than it looks, we don't have a lot of really windy days here and besides, it'll still work if it tips over. Will yours?

Happily egging on my original large BGE since 1996... now the owner of 6 eggs.

WHO drank what Kool Aid?

Carolina Q

HeavyG said:

What mojo marinade did you use? I've only used Badia and it is fine but wonder if there are others I should give a try.

Homemade. I've used Goya's Mojo Criollo on chicken, but can't do the sodium these days. Started looking around and found several recipes. They're all the same, or close anyway. What I used was...

1 cup sour orange juice. Can't find it here so the typical sub is 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice + 1/3 cup orange juice.
10-12 cloves garlic
1 tsp salt (I used 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp oregano (I used Mexican)
1/4 cup olive oil

Place all in blender for 30 seconds.

From  http://www.thehungrycuban.com/mojo-criollo/

I also stabbed the beast in several places before adding the marinade (poor man's injector. )

Carolina Q

FearlessTheEggNoob said:

The Akorn Jr smoking stone just became available again. I decided to grab one and ditch my Joe Jr stone with its improvised coathanger support.

Not much space between the lump and the grate so I figured every mm helps with airflow.

I made 4 pie pan spacers by crumpling up a small ball of foil, then stamping it into a shallow dome shape using the bottom of an unopened beer can. No burning within the pan, but I do add some beer to the pan every couple hours.

Nice use of the butcher twine to keep that roast compact and use of the WSM grid. I see myself getting one of those in the future if I can buy it separately.

Thanks. I knew about the smoking stone, just too cheap to buy one.

No butcher twine.

I found the 14" grid at Ace. No one seems to carry them locally any more. These guys had ONE left.

Carolina Q

JohnInCarolina said:

Nice, thorough review. The only thing that surprised me was your comment about having difficulty with low temps on your Mini.

I have a MiniMax, and have never had trouble with low temps on it.  That said, it's quite a bit larger than the Mini so who knows.

Thanks. Yeah, low temps were difficult at best. On mine anyway.

Florida Grillin Girl

Yes, I drank the Kool Aid, but only 6 times (actually, I think they were margaritas!). I will never have to buy a new grill ever again, while you will be buying a new ugly red 3 legged thing in -I'm guessing- a YEAR.

TN_Sister_State

Well I'm sold, been on the fence for a while but a small cooker next to the egg will come in handy and I can easily take it camping.

Carolina Q

I'm surprised it wasn't white wine. hahaha

If I'm buying one in a year, it will NOT be that one! 

HeavyG

Carolina Q said:

HeavyG said:

What mojo marinade did you use? I've only used Badia and it is fine but wonder if there are others I should give a try.

Homemade. I've used Goya's Mojo Criollo on chicken, but can't do the sodium these days. Started looking around and found several recipes. They're all the same, or close anyway. What I used was...

1 cup sour orange juice. Can't find it here so the typical sub is 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice + 1/3 cup orange juice.
10-12 cloves garlic
1 tsp salt (I used 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp oregano (I used Mexican)
1/4 cup olive oil

Place all in blender for 30 seconds.

From  http://www.thehungrycuban.com/mojo-criollo/

I also stabbed the beast in several places before adding the marinade (poor man's injector. )

Thanks.

I get the sodium thing. If you wanted to try a sore bought brand you might give the Badia a look - it has a fraction of the sodium of the Goya brand. Doing the quick calcs in my head (results not guaranteed ) the Badia appears to have about the same sodium level as your recipe with the 1/2 tsp.

I'm in the "there's no such thing as too much garlic" camp. What I do after the marinade and before cooking is stab a bunch of holes (which you have already done) and insert whole garlic cloves in the "wounds". Love the squishy roasted cloves that results. If you try that stab deep and shove the cloves in far otherwise as the pork shrinks the cloves may pop out.

Carolina Q

HeavyG said:

Carolina Q said:

HeavyG said:

What mojo marinade did you use? I've only used Badia and it is fine but wonder if there are others I should give a try.

Homemade. I've used Goya's Mojo Criollo on chicken, but can't do the sodium these days. Started looking around and found several recipes. They're all the same, or close anyway. What I used was...

1 cup sour orange juice. Can't find it here so the typical sub is 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice + 1/3 cup orange juice.
10-12 cloves garlic
1 tsp salt (I used 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp oregano (I used Mexican)
1/4 cup olive oil

Place all in blender for 30 seconds.

From  http://www.thehungrycuban.com/mojo-criollo/

I also stabbed the beast in several places before adding the marinade (poor man's injector. )

Thanks.

I get the sodium thing. If you wanted to try a sore bought brand you might give the Badia a look - it has a fraction of the sodium of the Goya brand. Doing the quick calcs in my head (results not guaranteed ) the Badia appears to have about the same sodium level as your recipe with the 1/2 tsp.

I'm in the "there's no such thing as too much garlic" camp. What I do after the marinade and before cooking is stab a bunch of holes (which you have already done) and insert whole garlic cloves in the "wounds". Love the squishy roasted cloves that results. If you try that stab deep and shove the cloves in far otherwise as the pork shrinks the cloves may pop out.

I've never seen Badia anything except spices, but then, I haven't looked for those types of marinades in several years now. I'll check it out.

I've inserted garlic into slits in pork tenderloin, but never in a butt. This marinade already has a whole head of garlic!!

Thanks!

SmokeyPitt

The grub looks great. I can suggest another cheap "spacer" for the drip pan. Put the foil on pretty tight like you are trying to make it flat, then push it down just a little. You basically make  "foil hammock" over the plate and no other spacers needed. 

Like so:

FearlessTheEggNoob

Carolina Q said:

Thanks. I knew about the smoking stone, just too cheap to buy one.

No butcher twine.

I found the 14" grid at Ace. No one seems to carry them locally any more. These guys had ONE left.

Sure looked like twine wrapped around the cut end of the bone.

Anyways, twine also comes in handy when coiling ribs to fit.

Florida Grillin Girl said:

Yes, I drank the Kool Aid, but only 6 times (actually, I think they were margaritas!). I will never have to buy a new grill ever again, while you will be buying a new ugly red 3 legged thing in -I'm guessing- a YEAR.

You ma'am are sorely misinformed.

Adorable in your loyalty, but misinformed.

Carolina Q

SmokeyPitt said:

The grub looks great. I can suggest another cheap "spacer" for the drip pan. Put the foil on pretty tight like you are trying to make it flat, then push it down just a little. You basically make  "foil hammock" over the plate and no other spacers needed. 

Like so:

I like it! That's enough of a well for a butt's worth of fat? I guess if it's not, I can always empty it mid cook. Love free solutions!

SaintJohnsEgger

Great review Michael. I would love to have the recipe for the Cuban mojo criollo pork. It looked and sounds delicious.

One question:  What is the thing made of? Its not ceramic so what is it?

Carolina Q

SaintJohnsEgger said:

Great review Michael. I would love to have the recipe for the Cuban mojo criollo pork. It looked and sounds delicious.

One question:  What is the thing made of? Its not ceramic so what is it?

Thanks! Recipe above (3:42 PM). Just pour it over the pork in a zip bag and into a tupperware thing in case it leaks. Flip from time to time. I had never had it before, but it is outstanding. Saw the mojo suggestion from @Webass recently. Forgot to mention that, so THANKS, Webass!!

I decided to baste throughout the cook, so I made more marinade the next day (half a batch). Could probably have used what was in the overnight bag as long as I stopped basting early enough to let the heat kill he nasties. But I didn't.

According to their website, this thing is "triple wall steel with insulation" . Seems pretty solid. Faith says I'll be looking for a replacement in a year.

DoubleEgger

My BIL has the regular Akorn. It's 4 years old and getting towards the end of it's life. Maybe another year or two he says. It does stay outside full time. 

Carolina Q

DoubleEgger said:

My BIL has the regular Akorn. It's 4 years old and getting towards the end of it's life. Maybe another year or two he says. It does stay outside full time. 

Where does he live? Near salt water? My grills are always outside too, Maybe I'll keep it in the garage. Would be easy since it doesn't weigh much. Then again, my Weber is about 25 years old and has only recently started to rust. Though I'm sure an Akorn is no Weber!

I know! I'll throw the CoverMate cover I bought for my large over it. I sure never use it for anything else! t'll just be a little baggy. 

Carolina Q

FearlessTheEggNoob said:

Florida Grillin Girl said:

Yes, I drank the Kool Aid, but only 6 times (actually, I think they were margaritas!). I will never have to buy a new grill ever again, while you will be buying a new ugly red 3 legged thing in -I'm guessing- a YEAR.

You ma'am are sorely misinformed.

Adorable in your loyalty, but misinformed.

Faith's just yankin' my chain. It makes her happy so I don't mind. But you're right, she IS adorable.

SaintJohnsEgger

Thanks Michael. So the only secret to Cuban mojo criollo pork is the sauce you posted above. I'm guessing cook until its pullable and then remove and rest. Do you also put the sauce on the final product for eating or eat it dry?

Carolina Q

SaintJohnsEgger said:

Thanks Michael. So the only secret to Cuban mojo criollo pork is the sauce you posted above. I'm guessing cook until its pullable and then remove and rest. Do you also put the sauce on the final product for eating or eat it dry?

Beats me. I did what I did. It was good. Yesterday was a first Cuban anything for me. I did cook to pullable temp though (I think I mentioned 203° or thereabouts, no?) I rarely rest a butt cook.

There was a discussion the other day about cooking a butt until is was sliceable vs pullable. @Webass chimed in with his Cuban suggestion. Sounded good so here we are. http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/comment/2163596#Comment_2163596

I did not sauce with the marinade (or anything else), but I would have reserved some to try if I had thought of it. 

BTW, I had some of this (cold) for lunch today. No sides, no bun, no sauce. Just cold pork. Wonderful!!

Skiddymarker

Awesome post Mr. Q from Carolina. Much appreciated. Have a friend who is considering the "kamado leap" and he has been looking at an Akorn Jr - where do we send the commision cheque?

ewyllins

great review and pics!!

DoubleEgger

He's in metro Atlanta Carolina Q. Hot and humid...