Flank & veggies in the chiminea

Been meaning to try this for a while, since these things can get HOT. The Primo XL grill extender fits perfectly in the standard Home Depot clay chiminea, and can serve as a rack for a cast-iron skillet or a hunk of meat.



Broccoli needed constant stirring/flipping so it didn't burn, but did cook quickly. Possibly need to use Lodge 2qt covered dutch oven so veggies can bathe in their own steam first. More experimentation needed.



After the broc came the flank. I should have stoked the fire in between, as the fire was not nearly as hot as it could have been and the steak browned less deeply than I hoped. I may also try a different cut next time, as flank seems to hold a relatively large amount of moisture and so browns more slowly.




Pros:
* Capable of extremely high heat, without the danger of opening a huge air-starved 800F kamado
* Applies a kiss of clean wood smoke to everything
* Get to play with fire

Cons:
* Low ability to manage temp
* High heat production & high heat loss from front probably limits meals to fast-cooking foods

Will definitely be exploring this more. Fire was probably too warm for veggies but too cool for meat. I need to either develop a better fire management technique, or just suck it up and prepare sides elsewhere.

jdefran said:

Your skillet seasoning seems odd. Was some of it burnt off in this cook?

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Nope - what you're seeing is nickel plated Griswold. This was fashionable at some point long ago. It's probably my best performing CI, though I'm not sure whether it's the nickel or that the seasoning is older than I am.