Comments on Eating in a box: Gadgetry: Orion Cooker

Thanks for coming by Tim. Great Tip. I'll have to ...

2010-02-08T08:51:33.121-06:00

Thanks for coming by Tim. Great Tip. I'll have to experiment with charcoal use. I bet I could get away with half for the turkey.

The one thing I do like about the sealed part of the cooker. It seems to keep flies and other undesirables out while I wait (usually the next day) for it to cool off.

Sometimes you can get away with using less than 15...

2010-02-07T13:49:01.266-06:00

Sometimes you can get away with using less than 15 lbs of charcoal if you're not cooking large quantities. I did 4 chicken quarters and some brats the other day, used about 5 lbs of coals and since it was windy I stacked them all on the downwind side. I lit them and the top section and came outside about 20 min later and spread my hot coals all around the ring. 1/2 hour later I took the brats off and let the chicken go another 10 min, it was perfect and I didn't feel bad since I didn't waste coals.

Clean up is not fun on this thing but make sure you do it the next day or you will find a nice stinky surprise when you take the lid off! ick!

Wow great tips! Thanks! and of course thanks for d...

2009-07-20T11:21:39.483-05:00

Wow great tips! Thanks! and of course thanks for dropping by.

Couple of tips for easy cleanup: After a cook, ta...

2009-07-18T17:46:20.759-05:00

Couple of tips for easy cleanup:

After a cook, take one of those tin foil pans and place it under the hole where the coal should exit. Scrape all the hot coal into the foil pan, and cover it with a damp paper towel and some ice.

For a GOOD clean of the Orion, spray the whole thing with quick off oven cleaner and leave over night. The next day, take it to a car wash with a pressure hose and blast the grime off. I always rerinse when I get home in case the car wash used recycled water.

I'm a huge proponent of the "aging" of a grill, I ...

2009-01-27T22:04:00.000-06:00

I'm a huge proponent of the "aging" of a grill, I love charcoal and I hate propane :). I know it's a religion on cleaning grills or not, but in this case it kinda doesn't apply here.

The big pain on the orion grill is to break out the SOS pads. I have to scrub the "drum" and everything that is encapsulated inside the convection oven. The ashes are easy but I have to wait for the morning to scoop them into a plastic bag. The "gunk" in the drip pan goes to a plastic bag, the coals into another, and I have a small chore of washing it out and scouring out the carbon.

It's a bit of work. I have a superbowl party coming up and a I'm sure I'll whine some more about the cleanup. In the meantime I'm positive the ribs will be extremely YUMMY!

What a neat tool! The skin on that turkey looks ab...

2009-01-27T19:22:00.000-06:00

What a neat tool! The skin on that turkey looks absolutely amazing. I'm curious about the cleaning ... what exactly do you have to clean? Because I don't really clean my grill ... at least not with a hose and scouring pads! (suppose that takes care of any drop-ins on BBQ day!)