Napoleon Pro22K

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Napoleon Pro22K

Postby ChopperHarris » 02 May 2014, 19:51

Hi all, I've been mulling over what barbecue to buy for a little while. I've had an Outback Cookdome for 18 months and never really been happy with it - in fact my barbecuing had regressed to only things that could stand being close to the coals. Anything slower was done on my Cobb.

In truth, I really wanted to buy a Kamado Joe but had been entertaining the notion of cheaper cookers (hence my request for info on the Hacienda). However, my wife pointed out that we still have to pay for our summer holiday, need to redecorate the front room, buy the kids shoes, etc. and put the kybosh on the idea. My budget was set at £250.

So, I returned to kettle barbecues and settled on a short list of Weber OTP, OutdoorChef Easy 570 and the Napoleon Pro22k. All have 57 cm grills and, the reviews I've seen (lots for the Weber, fewer for the others) are equally positive all around. In the end, I decided to plump for the Napoleon. I used to have an adjustable height grill and found it useful when doing the typical burger and sausage party (sorry!) and this was the only BBQ to feature that. I also think it's probably going to help when cooking something large - there's a good 3 inches between lowest and highest settings and that will probably help out if I ever decide to roast a turkey in it!

There are a couple of other useful features in its arsenal - firstly, it comes with a cast iron grill (hinged for easy adding of charcoal during cooking) and it also has a removable air diffuser that you can place above the bottom vents but below the charcoal. The theory is that it diverts incoming air out and round, preventing the hot spot you sometimes get over the bottom vents. I'll see how that works out in due course.

Assembly went pretty smoothly - the instructions are really clear. Sadly I managed to drop a nut and can't find it, so I'll have to have a trip to the local hardware store to get a replacement. Fortunately it's non-essential and doesn't affect the structure at all. The finished barbecue is very sturdy - no rattles at all when I give it a good shake.

I thought I'd include a couple of pictures to show what it looks like. As always, having taken the snaps I now realise that I really need to pull up the weeds between my paving slabs! Here's the completed unit:

Image

And this is a close up of the grill (you can see the air diffuser at the bottom) - it's hinged on either side, where the lines go wavy:

Image

I haven't had chance to put it to the test yet - I'll update with first impressions tomorrow. However, I'm happy with it so far and really looking forward to giving it a go.

One final point for now is that I couldn't be more pleased with the supplier, BBQWorld. I ordered on Wednesday, received lots of progress emails and had the item delivered on Thursday - even the estimated delivery time was spot on. I bought a couple of accessories, including a pizza stone and, unfortunately, the stone was cracked in transit. I phoned the company today and was treated very courteously and have already received notification that the replacement is scheduled for delivery on Tuesday. Absolutely brilliant.
ChopperHarris
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Napoleon Pro22K - Part 2

Postby ChopperHarris » 03 May 2014, 17:22

So after yesterday's assembly, today presented the first opportunity to try the barbecue out. Nothing at all adventurous - just some fennel sausages from the local Italian delicatessen and a rib-eye steak.

I set the grill up for indirect cooking, with a charcoal basket on either side and a clear space in the middle. The fuel was Big K lumpwood charcoal, which I got off to a good start using a Weber chimney starter.

As the unit is new, I left it to burn unattended for approximately 45 minutes with the lid down. I tried to gauge the accuracy of the built in thermometer (handily named 'Accu-Temp') with a Thermapen through the top vents, but I was concerned about damaging the Thermapen in the end, so will have to test it another time. During the burnoff it was reading about 280 degrees centigrade and that probably wasn't too far from the mark.

The sausages went on first, cooked indirectly over the clear centre with the lid down. The conductivity of the cast iron grill was noticeable as I still ended up with some striping on the sausages despite not being directly over the coals. They cooked nicely - actually slightly quicker than I had expected - and I ended up popping them directly over the charcoals for the last couple of minutes to give them some extra colour.

For the steak, I flipped up the grill and added some extra charcoal to rev the heat up a little (the coals had been on for some time) and, once they had caught, I dropped the grill to its lowest position to see how it did at searing. Very well is the basic answer - the steak was cooked to medium rare in just a few minutes and had very attractive sear marks from the griddle.

I gave the grill a brush off and a light coating of oil to prevent any rust from attacking whilst the meat was resting.

So - the things I found today:
  • The finish on the porcelain is really glass like. It's a very well finished barbecue
  • The vents are solid and I was able to adjust the temperature fairly well - still need to experiment to improve accuracy
  • I like the cast iron grill. It worked very well for me

I've now got a decent feel for the barbecue and I'm looking forwards to trying something a bit more interesting over the weekend. I think a shoulder of lamb with a greek marinade is looking favourite. This is a recipe from the Cobb cook book and I'll be interested to see how it does on this grill.
ChopperHarris
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Napoleon Pro22K - part 3

Postby ChopperHarris » 04 May 2014, 18:08

Today I decided to cook something a little more interesting, that required some degree of temperature maintenance. Spatchcock chicken in a lemon and chilli marinade got the vote. Flattening it out made it a simpler thing to cook and shortened the cooking time. I'll save beer can chicken for another day.

First thing to do was to test the hood thermometer for accuracy. I used a mug of recently boiling water to test. I took a reading with my thermapen, which registered 88 degrees centigrade. I then put the tip of the hood thermometer into the same mug and it rose to something south of 95 degrees but probably slightly up from 88. It's difficult to tell exactly because the scale is delineated for fahrenheit rather than centigrade. However, for a hood thermometer to be within 5 degrees is good enough for me.

I set the barbecue up for indirect cooking (two baskets placed to the sides of the kettle with a drip tray between) and left it to heat up. The fuel was Big K lumpwood charcoal. I was aiming for a steady 200 degrees and started to close the bottom vent at 180 (probably halfway). It continued to rise and probably reached 220 before I closed it further. In the end, I found that the bottom vent barely open (a couple of millimetres was all) and the top vent slightly closed (probably a third closed) gave me a steady 210-ish. It stayed at this temperature (or within 5 degrees either side) for the whole cook.

The recipe had suggested that the chicken would take between 1 hr and 1 hr 20 mins. I checked the food temperature with my thermapen after 45 minutes and found that the thighs were cooked, but the breast was still a little under my target of 74 degrees centigrade. I gave it a further 10 minutes and the next check was good.

The chicken rested for 15 minutes and was truly one of the juiciest pieces of chicken I've ever had. I was very pleased with myself in all honesty!

Finally, just because I could,I made use of the increase in charcoal temperature once I opened the lid and bottom vent to cook off a couple of burgers - having dropped the grill to the lowest setting to allow it to sear nicely. They turned out as you would expect - plain old barbecued burgers, and non the worse for that.

So - thoughts for today:
  • The hood thermometer was better than I expected and gave a usefully accurate reading
  • It was pretty easy to get a nice steady temperature

I'm definitely pleased with purchase so far. Still looking forwards to trying something a bit more challenging - but so far it's a thumbs up.
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Re: Napoleon Pro22K

Postby Tiny » 04 May 2014, 18:19

Chopper,
Splendid work on an throrough review of the kit, not familiar with it but sounds like it is doing you proud, always good to hear that Weber don't have an monopoly. Used to be very anti Weber until someone here posted a link to a Kettle offer a couple of years ago and am now officially delighted with mine.

Interested in your cooking temp choice for chicken, I always go much hotter to avoid skin rubberiness, did you skin the beast before or after, or did you manage to get crispy skin at that temp???

Cheers
Tiny
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Re: Napoleon Pro22K

Postby ChopperHarris » 04 May 2014, 18:42

Thanks Tiny :D

I cooked with the skin on as I like the basting effect you get with it. The intention was then to reserve or discard it depending on how it turned out! In the end, it turned out surprisingly well - the marinade had some oil in it which probably helped, but it was nicely crisp on the tops of the thighs and across the breast. It was flaccid in the nooks and crannies around the wings and between the thighs and torso, but I was happy enough to accept the trade off.

In terms of deciding on what temperature to go for, it was really a confidence thing. The unit is new to me and I didn't want to risk drying the chicken out (which is less appealing to me than having to lose the skin). Having had a success today, I'd probably be willing to go a little higher next time but would definitely look to keep it south of 250 degrees on the hood.
ChopperHarris
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Napoleon Pro22K - Final Thoughts

Postby ChopperHarris » 05 May 2014, 21:40

I thought I'd add one last update to round off my initial views on the Napoleon. I've been really lucky to have the barbecue delivered just in time for a great Bank Holiday weekend, where every day has allowed me to get out and use it.

Tonight I decided to have a go at a butterflied (half) leg of lamb in a Greek marinade (recipe as here: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2220672/barbecued-greek-lamb-with-tzatziki). I switched fuel to Heat Beads and, as it was only a short cook (recipe suggests 30 minutes in total), I only used about three quarters of the smaller sized Weber Portable Chimney Starter - probably no more than 25 briquettes. I set it up for a direct cook today, but with the air diffuser in place to stop a hot spot developing right in the middle.

The hood temperature gauge read about 150 degrees centigrade throughout - I was quite impressed with how steady it stayed. This sounds (and is) quite low, but with the grill in the middle height it still got up to a high enough temperature that there was a satisfying sizzle as the lamb hit and there were some satisfying grill marks.

In the end, I allowed it to slightly overcook - I think five minutes less would have been perfect. However, it was still a flavoursome, juicy piece of lamb. Served in pita breads with home made tzatziki, it was thoroughly enjoyed by the family.

At some stage in the near future I will have a go at setting it up for a low and slow cook and will report back then, but otherwise I will sign off saying that I'm really pleased with this purchase. It is a great kettle barbecue and I think the cast iron grill (especially as it's height adjustable) is a differentiating feature that make it worthy of consideration. I'm not looking to justify my purchase and claim it's better than any other brand (except the Outback Cookdome, which it knocks into a cocked hat) as I haven't owned that many others to compare, but I have been barbecuing for 15 years or so now, having undertaken some fairly ambitious cooks along the way, and it is definitely shaping up nicely.

Hope this review proves of some use to someone - there aren't that many Napoleon reviews out there, so I took a bit of a punt, maybe this will help someone else to make a more educated decision.
ChopperHarris
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