PRE-Smoking on the Weber Kettle

Sept 27th Update.  Meathead (amazingribs.com) asked me to emphasize that pre-smoking is NOT COOKING it is a way to impart smoke then cook as normal.  Cold smoking fish and meat is a preservation process best left to the pro’s.  Pre-smoking food followed by a normal cook still requires proper food safety handling and cross contamination awareness.  Be careful out there! We want all our grate friends and customers healthy!  Thanks Meathead! (the post below has been modified to eliminate the improper use of the word cold-smoking)

I’ve found a new use for my old Weber Kettle.  I only break it out for steaks anymore and the Kettle actually got removed from the deck… for a while. But the Weber Kettle is back on the deck and smoking again! 

Lit the tube before the grill

I have to interject a recent conversation with a customer who emailed pictures of BBQR’s Delights pellets in the valleys of his GrillGrates. I emailed him back to ask about the smoke profile he achieved with the rib-eyes. “Some smoke flavor but not much” was Chris’s reply.  He sent me to his post on the Virtual WeberBulletin Board where he shares his perfect way to grill smokey rib-eye steaks. His technique calls for using two grills:

• Weber Kettle with lots of chips and low temps to pre-smoke and slowly bring the steaks up to temp. 
• Then onto a very hot gas grill with GrillGrates to sear in the end.  
• This technique is known as “sear in the rear”

This led me to the idea of pre-smoking steaks on the Weber before grilling them hot and fast as normal. No charcoal heat, just smoke for 20 minutes, A modified sear in the rear– Pre-Smoking followed by Hot Grilling!

Pre-Smoking on the Weber Kettle- No heat, just smoke!

Thank You to 2 Grate customers for the inspiration and Meathead for his help on my misuse of the term cold-smoking!