Speaking of Santa Maria's...

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SmokinVOLfan

Smoking Guru
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OTBS Member
Feb 27, 2018
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Knoxville, TN
So my good friend Robert tx smoker tx smoker and I have had several discussions through the years about the SM grills. I always admired the large one he had and the food that came off of it. Well as you have seen in other threads he recently took up the hobby of pit fabrication. He was nice enough to help me out in fabricating a custom tabletop SM grill. Saw TNJAKE TNJAKE thread and knew I needed to get mine up. Have been wanting to show this thing off since it arrived on December 2nd but due to the holidays, work, and an abundance of shit weather I haven't had the time to cook on it like I would have liked.

Here is the beautiful grill.
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Unfortunately UPS beat the package up pretty good while they were shipping it and the initial plate was broken off. No worries as I am in the process of getting it back to 100%. Amazing craftsmanship as you can see.

Initial run was a chimney of Kingsford, a hickory split, and a couple pork tenderloins.
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The flavor was unreal. I didn't use enough coals and had to lower the grate more than I would have preferred but they came out amazing.

Onto the next cook. I have been saving this tri tip for over a year for a special occasion. This was gifted to me Christmas 2020 from Robert as well.
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I wanted to do this classic santa maria style. Probably totally wrong but I mixed up salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, cayenne, and rosemary and rubbed it down.
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Two chimneys of coals this time.
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Threw a hickory split on. Nice cold night. But you cant grill without a cold one!
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Tri tip on.
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Wife doesn't eat a whole lot of red meat. Threw on a couple pieces of salmon for her. One Horseradish mustard crusted and the other was pesto crusted.
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So while the meat was cooking I mixed up a concoction of red wine vinegar, garlic and herb infused EVOO, minced garlic, and a dash of dijon mustard. Basted the meat with it every time I flipped. Unfortunately I underestimated once again the amount of coals I would need and didn't much factor into the fact it was 20 degrees outside. Instead of lighting another chimney to sear this beast off I threw it on my gas grill real quick to finish it off.
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After about a 15 minute rest.
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Threw together an arugula salad compliments of xray xray , added a baked tater, and the tri tip.
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The tri tip was out of this world good. The taste of it being slow cooked over hickory was very distinguish. Just amazing. I have plans to build a permanent table to keep this on while it is not in use. Haven't gotten to try the rotisserie yet but that is also in the works. Cant thank my good friend Robert enough for this beauty. It will be getting a ton of use for sure!
 

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Boy howdy John that is one really fine looking setup! I'd be thinking of a cover to keep that baby out of the rain, it's far too pretty to get rusty. RAY
 
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WHOA BABY!! That is one beautiful cook right there. Absolutely outstanding medium rare on the TT, that's fur sure. I just hope that the SM lived up to the expectations you have had for several years. I loved mine but it just did not get used often enough and was far larger than we really needed. Having seen yours and Jake's Tracy is pounding me build one for us to keep and use.

One thing you might want to consider is getting a heavy duty rectangular pan which is smaller than the fire pan on the grill to put your charcoal in. This way you can use far less charcoal for smaller cuts like the TT without having to fill the entire grill. I did it with the SM and do it with the Weber still. Saves a ton of time getting the coals ready and saves a ton of charcoal but you still get all the benefits of the SM.

Robert
 
Your santa maria grill is beautiful! As is the food you made on it! Look forward to seeing the rotisserie in use!

Ryan
 
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WHOA BABY!! That is one beautiful cook right there. Absolutely outstanding medium rare on the TT, that's fur sure. I just hope that the SM lived up to the expectations you have had for several years. I loved mine but it just did not get used often enough and was far larger than we really needed. Having seen yours and Jake's Tracy is pounding me build one for us to keep and use.

One thing you might want to consider is getting a heavy duty rectangular pan which is smaller than the fire pan on the grill to put your charcoal in. This way you can use far less charcoal for smaller cuts like the TT without having to fill the entire grill. I did it with the SM and do it with the Weber still. Saves a ton of time getting the coals ready and saves a ton of charcoal but you still get all the benefits of the SM.

Robert

Cant thank you enough man! And thanks for the tip on the pan. I am going to order one for sure. I think that would help out a lot with the temp control and the amount of charcoal I burn. The grill is truly amazing. Another fine quality build from ARMSTRONG PITS!
 
Your santa maria grill is beautiful! As is the food you made on it! Look forward to seeing the rotisserie in use!

Ryan

Thanks Ryan. Yeah man he killed it on this build. Its a lot of fun to cook on. Cant wait to get some warmer weather. Going to spin a turkey first to try out that rotisserie.
 
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Awesome cooks ! Try beef over red oak burnt down to coals . Fantastic .

Thanks Rich! I am on the hunt for some red oak as we speak. Going to order a pan like Robert mentioned and I think I will get a lot better fire control. The taste of the meat that comes off this thing is great!
 
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First John, let me say just how fantastic those pork tenderloins look, absolutely perfect. And that tri-tip, well I've never had it or seen it around me, but that looks phenomenal as well. Keep on enjoying that grill, it looks very nice and what a great friend to have in Robert. Everyone needs a friend like that...

TNJAKE TNJAKE , it's your turn, bring it on...
 
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Thanks Ryan. Yeah man he killed it on this build. Its a lot of fun to cook on. Cant wait to get some warmer weather. Going to spin a turkey first to try out that rotisserie.
That will be good! Cornish hens are good on a rotisserie also, and don't take long. Doing a couple on rotisserie in air fryer tonight but would taste better off your Santa Maria

Ryan
 
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