Pizza stone in a gas grill - considerations

[marinade]

Back on topic for a moment. That tile setup that I used in my smoker's fire box will not give you an exact match to a true wood burning oven. It will get you close. If you look at typical wood ovens from a spatial standpoint and notice the interior size in comparison to a gas oven, it's about heating air. It has an almost convection quality to it as opposed to radiated heat from a gas oven. I got some air througth the slider vents and was able to run some temp control with it but it was hit and miss. The firebox lacks the air space of a typical woodburner. I was getting a combination of air and radiated heat. Still my faux wood burner beat out my indoor oven flavor wise. There's got to be a design waiting to happen with this.

[ronnie_suburban]

I apologize for straying off topic with this but heat and metal reaction seem to be an issue. I do remove the flaking. It's the one garnish I don't need. These cooker's paint jobs seem to be close to that of automobiles (prior to body damage). The parts are primed and  either dipped or sprayed, then sent to a dryer to bake on the finish.  Since the metal is so thin it does expand and contract over high heat. It looks to me that the paint can't withstand the heat.  Think about it for a moment. Would happen if you had that paint on the bottom of saute pan (with that kind of thickness). There was a time when someone mentioned a BBQ pit it was something that looked like a stone throne in someone's back yard. Ah progress.

the weber, at the very least, has no paint on the inside of the lid. the flaking is harmless carbon.

Good to know it's not paint but still annoying to have it falling on the food. It's not a major obstacle by any means, but a constant one.

=R=

[fresco]

I apologize for straying off topic with this but heat and metal reaction seem to be an issue. I do remove the flaking. It's the one garnish I don't need. These cooker's paint jobs seem to be close to that of automobiles (prior to body damage). The parts are primed and  either dipped or sprayed, then sent to a dryer to bake on the finish.  Since the metal is so thin it does expand and contract over high heat. It looks to me that the paint can't withstand the heat.  Think about it for a moment. Would happen if you had that paint on the bottom of saute pan (with that kind of thickness). There was a time when someone mentioned a BBQ pit it was something that looked like a stone throne in someone's back yard. Ah progress.

the weber, at the very least, has no paint on the inside of the lid. the flaking is harmless carbon.

It does, though, bear a remarkable resemblance to flaking black paint--it's glossy, and about the right thickness.

[tommy]

Good to know it's not paint but still annoying to have it falling on the food. It's not a major obstacle by any means, but a constant one.

=R=

when i brush the grates, i brush the inside of the lid. i rarely have an issue with flaking unless i don't keep up with it.

[sng sling]

the bad news is, i made the pizza on the stone in the oven instead of the grill, so i really have nothing to add.  but the good news is that it was prosciutto and blue cheese, and turned out as one of the best pizzas i've ever had.  highly recommended on the grill, in the oven, or anywhere you can make it.

The blue cheese - prosciutto combination sounds great --- anything else on the pie -- no sauce or anything??

[tommy]

The blue cheese - prosciutto combination sounds great --- anything else on the pie -- no sauce or anything??

the first few times i tried a blue cheese based pizza, i used only blue cheese. i found the cheese really overpowered the pizza. that might have been a function of the type of cheese i was using, but regardless i decided to mix it with fresh 'muzz' this time. the result, i thought, was a more balanced pizza. additionally, a few of the pizzas i had in italy were like this, so i figured there must be something to it.

i used a bit of sauce, but not much. i'm using pomi strained tomatoes, as i've found them the best of the bunch. a bit of dried oregano, s/p on the sauce as well.

[SiseFromm]

I'm so glad to hear so many people are using gas grills for pizzas, as I thought I was the only one! I used to cook pizzas on stones in my oven, but I found the temperature of the stone went down quickly and my oven wasn't doing a good enough job at quickly heating them back up if I was doing multiple pizzas for a larger crowd.

When I threw them on the surface of my Weber grill though, it was magic. I have two round stones in that grill at all time. I simply crank all three burners up to maximum and let the stones cook in there for a good 10 - 15 minutes. After that, my thin pizzas take no more than about 5 minutes each. I just have to be a bit careful because the stones can get so hot that the bottom of the crusts can blister quickly, before the topping has melted. I tend to turn the burners to medium or medium high after the stones have gone through their initial blast of 600-degree heat.

My buddy had a big built-in wood oven integrated with his outdoor grill space, but he rarely uses it because the set-up and use is so involved. It takes awhile to heat up and you have to keep the fire going for a while to get desired results. With the Weber, I'm in and out in 20 minutes.

R. Jason Coulston