What the

  

I decided to slow cook some food on the grill instead of the smoker.  Food from the smoker is fine, it doesn't need to be any better than that, but sometimes I like to change things up.  I've mastered the technique on the grill.  I know how to set it and how long each step of the process will take.

 

So Friday, on goes the food; on goes the timer.  First check in an hour and wow, this is cooking fast.  I slowed the cooker down as much as I could, but by the end of two hours I was way ahead of where I should be.  It was supposed to cook for five hours.  I pulled it at three and it was overdone and dry.  What the heck happened?

 

Ambient temperature.  It was hot; blazing 100 degree hot.  And sunny.  Not a cloud in the sky.  Before I even lit the fire, with the lid closed, in the full sun, it was probably 150 degrees inside the grill.  Usually grilling is a matter of applying a lot of heat to food.  This time, with the lid closed, the heat was already there.  The least amount of heat I could apply was too much.

 

There won't be any cooler weather here for the rest of the summer.  For the next time I'm going to slow cook on the grill with the lid closed, I've backed the Mazda part way out of the car port and I've rolled the grill into that spot in front of it.  From now on, I'll be grilling in the shade.