The Grill as a Chafing Dish

The grill as a chafing dish? Yes!! It can be done. I did it and here how it worked.

This year on July 4th, I had a "ah-ha" moment. This isn't something "innovative" but something came over me to try. I decided to use the grills as chafing dishes. I guess part of it is that it was over 90 degrees that day and didn't want to heat the house up. So then, we can keep the food (ok, meat) warm by using the grills. As you can see in the picture above, most of the coals (in the coal boxes) are ash. They were still warm. I kept the fire going by adding a few more coals to keep between 150-175 degrees. The goal isn't so much to cook but keep warm or reheat. All the meat has been cooked already. I control the heat by opening and closing the openings on the top of the grill (just as you would when you grill but lower heat). Low & slow masters can do this in their sleep. 

 

If you use a kettle grill, I would have you try the following. First, use a pan like the one above. Second, keep the meat covered (I did the same with the dual-zone grill). How do you control the heat? In the kettle grill, move to coal boxes directly under the pan (direct heat) early in the warming process (to reheat). The time to reheat depends on how hot your fire is, how much meat you desire to warm up, and the temperature of the meat (directly out of the fridge or being at room temperature). This warming process can take at least 15-20 minutes but could take more. Once the meat is warmed to your liking, move the coal boxes towards the edge of the grill (indirect heat). Above are chicken legs, covered with foil.

Now if you have a grill like the one above, you can easily guage the temperature. This is a two zone grill. If you look closely, you'll notice the guages are reading between 225-250 degree mark. On the left side, I had the grill temperature at 300 at its highest point as I was still cooking some food. Ideally, if I want to "chaf", the temperature should stay under 175 degrees (200 at the very most).

Now for the fun part- the meat. My uncle made some good stuff- rib tips, hot links, and chicken wings.

More links, rib tips- ribs are a given (which is why I didn't add them). One day, I put out a rib tip post should time allow.