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Hello from Solihull

Posted: 07 Feb 2012, 08:49
by hifigary
Hi,

New to BBQ'ing and thought the best place to come was a decent forum (so here I am). Have a large(ish) gas
bbq and a small bucket style bbq (for Yakiniku). Now looking at purchasing a 57cm Weber (wanted add in the sales/wants
section - hint, hint).

Just about to order a Maverick ET-732, and will be good to go.

Not into the competition side of things, but will be looking at going to a couple of competitions to see what
it is all about.

Toying with doing the Weber training course, does anyone have any experiences of this?

Regards,

Gary

Re: Hello from Solihull

Posted: 07 Feb 2012, 09:15
by esselle
Hi Gary and welcome to the forum.
What's Yakiniku?
If you are thinking of courses I think the society has some lined up for this year but I'm sure Toby will confirm that.

Re: Hello from Solihull

Posted: 07 Feb 2012, 09:41
by Toby
hi Gary, Welcome to the forum!

People rarely get rid of their WSM's so you may be waiting a while for a second hand one ;) there are some good deals around at the moment on new ones. i hold my hands up to not having had any experience on the Weber courses, i know a couple of people on here have been on them, so am sure feedback will be given shortly. I am lining up a couple of training days but they will be covering the 4 main categories (brisket, pork, ribs & chicken) so I am not sure how much value you would see in them.

Happy Weber hunting!

Toby

Re: Hello from Solihull

Posted: 07 Feb 2012, 10:01
by hifigary
Thanks for the replies....

Yakiniku is a Japanese/Korean style of bbq, thin slices of marinated meat cooked quickly over hot coals. I tend
to do thin slices of beef or chicken marinated in a homemade Terriyaki sauce.

Those are the kind of courses I am looking at. Trying to move away from the typical burgers and sausauges (although
I have been looking at maybe griddling some homemade burgers), and wanting to move onto indirect cooking.

I think your right about finding a used Weber (was after a kettle to start with), think that smoking is next years
project!

Gary

Re: Hello from Solihull

Posted: 07 Feb 2012, 12:54
by keith157
hifigary wrote:Thanks for the replies....

Yakiniku is a Japanese/Korean style of bbq, thin slices of marinated meat cooked quickly over hot coals. I tend
to do thin slices of beef or chicken marinated in a homemade Terriyaki sauce.

Those are the kind of courses I am looking at. Trying to move away from the typical burgers and sausauges (although
I have been looking at maybe griddling some homemade burgers), and wanting to move onto indirect cooking.

I think your right about finding a used Weber (was after a kettle to start with), think that smoking is next years
project!

Gary
Good thinking, hey even Mr Usain Bolt started of walking (not for long though I guess ;) ). Is your Yakiniku grill similar to a Hibachi?

Re: Hello from Solihull

Posted: 07 Feb 2012, 17:04
by hifigary
yep too many times have I tried to run before walking.

I use a fire bucket style to emulate a habichi - put a smaller holes grate on it, works fairly well for what it
is.

On my hunt for a Weber found an online shop selling the one touch original for £89 and the premium for £129
is there any benefit from paying the extra?

Gary

Re: Hello from Solihull

Posted: 07 Feb 2012, 17:18
by Chris__M
hifigary wrote:On my hunt for a Weber found an online shop selling the one touch original for £89 and the premium for £129
is there any benefit from paying the extra?
The premium gives you a fitted ash bucket, as opposed to a shallow dish; which makes cleanup much easier and cleaner, in my opinion, but isn't a biggie.

The big difference between the two is that the premium comes with a hinged grate, that makes it easy to add charcoal or wood chips during the cooking, without having to remove the grate. However, that shouldn't stop people buying the original, if that is all their budget stretches to, especially if they plan to get fancier grates (i.e. with cast iron inserts etc) some time in the future. The hinged grate is also available separately.

I think (but am not entirely sure) the premium also comes with a dome thermometer - which I wouldn't bother too much about anyway, and charcoal baskets, which again aren't essential. These weren't standard when I bought mine, but I think they are now.

Re: Hello from Solihull

Posted: 07 Feb 2012, 17:33
by hifigary
Thanks for that Chris, I think the hinged grate is a good idea, so will most likely go for that one.

Gary

Re: Hello from Solihull

Posted: 07 Feb 2012, 20:08
by JEC
Chris__M wrote:
hifigary wrote:On my hunt for a Weber found an online shop selling the one touch original for £89 and the premium for £129
is there any benefit from paying the extra?
The premium gives you a fitted ash bucket, as opposed to a shallow dish; which makes cleanup much easier and cleaner, in my opinion, but isn't a biggie.

The big difference between the two is that the premium comes with a hinged grate, that makes it easy to add charcoal or wood chips during the cooking, without having to remove the grate. However, that shouldn't stop people buying the original, if that is all their budget stretches to, especially if they plan to get fancier grates (i.e. with cast iron inserts etc) some time in the future. The hinged grate is also available separately.

I think (but am not entirely sure) the premium also comes with a dome thermometer - which I wouldn't bother too much about anyway, and charcoal baskets, which again aren't essential. These weren't standard when I bought mine, but I think they are now.
I bought the original (silver as it used to be) and regretted it, the extras that you get hinged grate, ash bucket, thermometer and charcoal baskets more than make up for the extra £'s, the ash catcher assembly alone is £30 and the hinged grate is £20

Re: Hello from Solihull

Posted: 08 Feb 2012, 07:27
by Steve
First off welcome to the forum.

I'd have to second JEC and Chris, the features on the Gold/premium are good value. I have one of each, an older silver and a premium I picked up last year. I always said I thought the inbuilt ash catcher was pointless until I got one :)

Both are great but the premium is better value and the features are well worth having.