Asado/Santa-Maria style grill

I read in Modernist Cuisine, the Cinnamon Club, and other food writers that when you grill meat directly over charcoal, the fat and drippings will hit the charcoal, ignite, and create steam and smoke that will coat the food giving it an unbelievable smoke flavor that’s incredibly delicious.

So I started avoiding grilling the indirect method - i.e., (where meat is placed on the side and not directly over the charcoal) and a cover is placed on so the meat cooks slowly without burning.

I saw in Mark Wiens videos on youtube that Thai, Japananse, and many East Asians grill directly over the charcoal (not indirectly like Americans for slower cooking meats) so I thought this method has some historical backing etc.

But I did want to control the heat for long cooks over direct fire. So the Argentinian asado style seemed like a good fit - i.e., you just raise the grill grate higher above the fire so the meat doesn’t burn while still cooking directly over the charcoal.

Most asado style grills costs like $5k or something but I found this neat Weber atttachment for like $120 or something. I’ve been using it now for a few months all summer and it’s working great. I highly recommend it. I got mine from Titan Outdoors but it looks like there are many sellers of this Weber attachment.

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Interesting concept

Love it. Didn’t know it existed. Now, they need a wok insert.

Finding the red oak is a whole other quest, I’d imagine.

Depends on where you live. It’s what I use to heat my home in winter. Burns long and hot. Still, hickory is the king of heat. Just not as many around.