I have taken three approaches to grilling steaks on the Weber Jumbo Joe.
Technique 1: New York Strip
The New York Strip is a relatively lean cut of beef. Since it is so lean it can easily be grilled directly over the charcoal as you don’t need to worry about flare ups from dripping fat.
I seasoned these steaks with salt and pepper then let them warm towards room temperature on the kitchen counter. While the steaks were warming I lit a chimney full of charcoal (Kingsford blue). It takes about 15-20 minutes for all of the coals to light; once they were lit I spread them evenly across the charcoal grate.
The grilling was extremely simple. Put them on the grill and cook about four minutes per side for medium rare. I made a little video of the entire cook. I have been told that the video is exciting as watching paint dry but it still makes me happy. You can see that the four steaks easily fit on the Jumbo. By the way, that’s my Weber Smokey Joe Gold in the background 🙂
Technique 2: Surf and Turf
In this cook I was working with Flanken Style beef ribs. These are actually cross cut ribeye steaks and are a real treat if you can find them. These steaks have a significant amount of marbling so cooking entirely over direct heat would be a bad idea.
I set up the Jumbo with two zone heat. There were hot coals covering about two thirds of the charcoal grate with cool zones constructed along the back of the grill.
I grilled the beef for about two minutes per side over the direct heat. Towards the end I was managing some flare-ups. I then moved the beef to the indirect heat and added some shrimp skewers over the direct heat. I closed the lid for three minutes then flipped the shrimp and closed the lid for another three minutes. Anything that cooks quickly would work great with this technique instead of shrimp: scallops, mushrooms, zucchini slices, etc.
Here is what the cook looked like on the Weber Jumbo Joe.
Technique 3: GrillGrates
The problem with setting up a two zone system on the Jumbo Joe is that you don’t have a ton of space to work with. I spent about $50 and bought an upgrade (a two panel GrillGrate assembly) that lets me grill choice ribeyes directly over high heat without worrying about flare ups. Since GrillGrates eliminate flare ups you get to use more of the grilling surface on the Jumbo.
Not only do GrillGrates prevent flare ups but they also let you put down some major league grill marks.
It might seem silly to spend $50 on an upgrade for a $60 grill but you can use these things on any of your grills, not just the Jumbo. Besides, you will have at least $50 worth of fun laying down sick grill marks. Here is a full write up about GrillGrates as well as a link to the exact ones that I bought for the Jumbo Joe.
Be sure to check out some other Weber Jumbo Joe Upgrades!