Slow 'n Sear

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Slow 'n Sear

Postby mattsday » 06 Aug 2016, 17:32

Hi all, I'm new here but a passionate BBQ-er (my girlfriend hates me going on about it, but loves the food - go figure).

I've had a Smokenator for some time, but really tempted to order a Smoke 'n Sear as recommended on Amazing Ribs. I have a few problems with my Smokenator this contraption seems to fix (difficulty to add coals, hard to sear after a smoke, difficulty even lighting so few coals to get it going...).

Anyone have one of these? What are your thoughts? They're £90 which isn't cheap, but if it lives up to its promises then I think it could be worth every penny..!
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Re: Slow 'n Sear

Postby sleepybones » 08 Aug 2016, 12:18

I don't own one but, ever intrigued by accessories, I couldn't help but take a look.

To me it just looks like a device to bank the coals up with some added water? Please correct me if I'm wrong on this (only quickly scanned the web page).

I guess it would also depend on what your'e using it for/what your target temps are?

When using my Mastertouch for, say, a reverse sear on some steaks, I just use a couple of house bricks as a retaining wall to bank up the coals to one side. The bricks also act as a kind of heat shield to prevent the direct heat that would otherwise travel diagonally towards the meat positioned on the other side. Then I would just stick a drip pan under the meat and add water to that if required. This technique works ace for spatchcocked chicken too :)
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Re: Slow 'n Sear

Postby TonyB » 08 Aug 2016, 15:17

I've recently bought one and used it a couple of times but only for relatively short cooks (1-2hr). I find that I can control the temperature pretty good on my cheapo weber 57cm bbq using the air vents and I'm pretty sure it will do the quoted cook times at the lower temp. I do find it takes quite a while to get the coals going because of the small number of briquettes involved and this can cause a problem at the beginning of the cook, though this could be the way I operate it. I will be trying to light a slightly larger pile of briquettes in the future.

The searing part seems to work ok but you don't have a large area of very hot coals to work with, unless I am doing something wrong.

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Re: Slow 'n Sear

Postby mattsday » 08 Aug 2016, 15:42

I'm mainly doing long cooks (mostly spare ribs with the occasional pulled pork). I need to keep around 110C for a good 5-6+ hours and prefer a method with as little maintenance as possible.

I've gone ahead and ordered the Smoke 'n Sear - hopefully it'll dispatch today and I'll write up a report on it. The Smokenator gave the results I wanted but I find it tricky to push past 4 hours and I've resorted to using a blowtorch to get a sear after a long cook (it's too much effort trying to disassemble the damned thing!)

I like the idea of the house bricks for reverse seared steaks - how long do your coals last with this method? I have to confess to just firing up my gas BBQ for most things like that these days unless it's a special night!
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Re: Slow 'n Sear

Postby mattsday » 09 Aug 2016, 14:19

The accessory arrived somewhat unexpectedly today (DPD man showed up with it - no tracking or shipping confirmation though!). It was £89.99 from Wishbox, expensive as a headline price but I fancied treating myself.

It came boxed up fairly well and is surprisingly heavy - it's definitely high quality stainless steel and the water reservoir is pretty deep - on inspection I can believe the claims in their marketing that a cook can last ~8 hours.

In the box was an Amazing Ribs 90-day pitmaster membership offer with a food temperature guide on the reverse. It also included an instruction booklet with colour pictures explaining the process on lighting it and setting up for a long cook.

Here it is unboxed:
http://matt.fragilegeek.com/sns.jpg

My first impression (other than the weight of it) was that it looked a little 'used'. I don't think it has actually been used, but the construction isn't elegant. Now, I'm going to be shoving lighter cubes, charcoal and wood in there to burn away so I guess it won't matter after my first cook, but it was surprising:
http://matt.fragilegeek.com/sns-build.jpg

I have a few folk coming over this weekend and I'm going to cook 3 spare ribs with it and I'll report back how it goes. I might sneak out tomorrow morning and put some baby back ribs on for lunch just to see...
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Re: Slow 'n Sear

Postby mattsday » 10 Aug 2016, 22:06

So for anyone curious, I did a cook today with this contraption - some meaty spare ribs I trimmed roughly to a St. Louis Cut.

The cook took about 4.5 hours.

Some observations:
  1. It burns very, very well - I had major troubles keeping the temp around 110C, it burns HOT. I think this is because I put too many coals in the initial start - next time I'll dial down from the recommended dozen to about 8. As a result of this, the ribs I cooked had more 'pull' on them than I'm used to, so weren't the best (but still bloody good!)
  2. The water reservoir works really well. I had a constant supply of steam and quite a bit left at the end. Normally I'd be changing a water pan at least once in a 4.5 hour cook
  3. Wood distribution is good - I got some really nice 'blue' smoke throughout the cook (not overbearing)
  4. About 1/4 of the coals were left at the end which I'll reuse at some point to sear something.
  5. The searing feature works well, except I had some wood left in there smoking away - I didn't remove it and as soon as I started searing on it, it burst in to flame. I'll put this down to user-error, next time I'll open the grate hinge and take any wood left over out

I'm doing a much bigger cook on Saturday (3 big slabs of ribs) and I'll be MUCH more in control of the temp (I'll be vigilant enough to use a water pistol to cool it down if needed). Based on this I'll post my results.

Is it worth the money from my initial impression? I think so - it's really nice to stuff it in the side of the kettle, light up some coals, pour in water and forget about it for 5 hours. Could you build something yourself? Probably, but the water reservoir acting as a heat buffer and the solid construction makes me think it's got the edge.

I'll let you know how Saturday goes!
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Re: Slow 'n Sear

Postby sleepybones » 11 Aug 2016, 07:37

mattsday wrote:I like the idea of the house bricks for reverse seared steaks - how long do your coals last with this method?


I've never timed them to be honest. I tend to make use of my leftover/part used briquettes for these sort of cooks so it's hard to estimate. When cooking this way I always dump at least 2/3 of a chimney in so it never dies on me.
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Re: Slow 'n Sear

Postby mattsday » 14 Aug 2016, 18:07

OK, this is the last I'll post on this in case anyone is considering this purchase in the future and wanted to see how I got on with it...

I cooked three sets of spare ribs on it yesterday for a gathering in the afternoon. Learning my previous lesson, I started with about 8 coals and once ready added a chimney full of unlit ones, a bit of wood on top and poured hot water in the reservoir.

This time I was able to consistently hit between 105-110C with very minimal adjustment (anyone without a wireless thermometer is making for a miserable life!)

The ribs in a holder took about 5 hours to cook and the water reservoir was still about 10% full at the end and I had about 40% of my coals left still ready to go. Everyone loved the ribs (my 4 year old niece ate 4 which my brother considered 'a waste of the good stuff').

All in all I was very happy. Definitely something I'd struggle to do with other methods (snake method, smokenator etc) considering how little maintenence it required (virtually set & forget save for a couple of adjustments when the wind picked up considerably).

I'd highly recommend it!
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Re: Slow 'n Sear

Postby processchip » 24 Apr 2017, 15:20

Hi,
Do you have any dimensions you could share for the Slow n Sear?
The manufacturers website lists some of them but not the measurement if you flipped it upside down and measured from the centre of the curved edge to the bottom of the water trough.
The top measurement for this is 8.5"
Thanks in advance
:)
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Re: Slow 'n Sear

Postby processchip » 26 Apr 2017, 19:21

Hi,
Could you supply any measurements as I'd like to have a crack at building my own and save a few quid.

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