Disappointed roasting using plate setter

Unknown · December 2003

Over the holidays, I roasted both a large pork loin roast and a 14 lb. turkey on my large Egg, using the plate setter inverted to make indirect cooking. I placed the meat in a V-rack and placed a foil drip pan beneath them. In both cases, the top of my roast/turkey was cooked perfectly well, which I attribute to the convection effect in the dome, but the bottoms of both remained much more uncooked because very little heat is able to reach them in this setup. I probably should have turned the roasts halfway through cooking. Also I think next time I will try just the V-rack and drip pan, without the plate setter, in hopes to get more even cooking. Any thoughts or similar experiences?

djm5x9 · December 2003

fred:[p]Next time, just for grins, consider cooking on an elevated grill "direct" and let us know what you think . . . You ever see a happy Cave Man cooking with a plate setter?
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Nature Boy · December 2003

<p />fred,
Gotta agree with Darryl (the King of direct cooking). Try it direct up in the dome next time, and I think you will get what you are looking for.[p]I have also found the platesetter to mess up the "balance" for many cooks. I really only use mine for pizzas and baking. When cooking indirect, I normally use a dry pie pan.[p]Beers
Chris

Wino · December 2003

fred,
I did a 20 lb Turkey indirect Christmas day. The key is to start the turkey, breast side down. When the breast hits 125 degrees flip the turkey. This way you make sure to get the convection effect you are looking for.[p]Ron

JSlot · December 2003

I'm not gonna disagree with Darryl or Chris...awww, what the heck. I'll disagree with 'em! You can still achieve doneness all the way around any piece of meat using the inidirect method. I did it with my turkey at EGGtoberfest. You didn't mention EXACTLY where you put your drip pan. Was it actually on the cooking grid, or was it down between the legs of the plate setter? Was your V-rack sitting directly in the drip pan? I place my drip pan directly on the plate setter between the legs. The cooking grid goes over that and the meat goes directly on the grid. I don't usually use a V-rack, but that would elevate the meat even more. I usually cook at 325°-400° using this setup. The standing rib roast on Christmas day was unbelievable!! You could cut it with a fork and it had a nice crust all the way around. Best of luck!![p]Frosty Ones!
Jim

Hammer · December 2003

JSlot,
Jim, I do the same thing, and have had no bad results. I'm well pleased with the platesetter, except that my grid doesn't cover all the leg's. Covers two, but not all three. I'll get a bigger grid.
I also use fire bricks sometimes depending on what and how much meat I am cooking.
Hammer

Tim M · December 2003

JSlot,[p]I get a kick out of how so many people forget the lessons of the past - I see you have not. Back in the stone age when we started inserting firebricks and setters and pizza stones it was soon realized that you could, and needed to, up the dome temps when you went indirect using the extra ceramics. Today I read a lot of posts that say stuff like cook at 250° with a setter in there. Back then we found that we needed to use figures like 350° with the setter or firebricks to get the best results with them and slowly everyone went back to low temps and uneven cooking -- along with the old argument about grid vs dome temps. Using just a drip pan alone with 300-350° temps will yield a burnt mess in the drip pan as the drippings burn with a foul odor, but not with a couple firebricks or the setter in place. Glad to see one of the old timers still teaching the young bucks the lessons we learned a few years ago by trial & error.[p]Tim

JSlot · December 2003

And wasn't all that learning fun, Tim?! Of course, it probably added about 6" to my midsection, but who's counting! Have a safe and happy New Year![p]Jim

Unknown · December 2003

Tim M,
Thanks for the advice. My exact setup was: inverted plate setter, grid on top, drip pan on grid, v-rack in drip pan, turkey on v-rack. Which put it quite high in the dome. And I was not pleased with the results: breast cooked perfectly, underside was undercooked.[p]SO please recommend the best setup, still making use of indirect heat and a drip pan. Is it placing the drip pan directly on the plate setter, followed by the grid, followed by the meat directly on the grid? Does this result in more even cooking.[p]Thanks.

Disappointed roasting using plate setter

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