Mission accomplished

You were designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness.

- Zig Ziglar -

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A couple of weeks ago, after making some home made pizza, I began to think about getting a pizza oven for outside under my entertaining area. I had grand visions of one of those rendered brick-style ones where one stokes up a wood fire for a few hours to get the temperature up then slides in pizza to cook the age-old Italian way; there's nothing quite like a wood-fired oven pizza after all.

Thinking on it though, it seemed like a very long process for a couple pizzas now and then and when I looked into the space I'd need and the process of it all I decided to abandon the idea as a pipe-dream. That's when my attention shifted to the alternatives like those portable BBQ-style gas-fired ones. That was my Sunday mission today...To locate one I liked.

I failed.

Well, not entirely I guess...Let me explain.

After seeing a few reasonably legit pizza ovens I began to question the validity of having one, certainly considering the one I liked was $429AUD.

Yes, it would make good pizza and that's what I want but I didn't really see value and as a need over want buyer I figured I didn't need to spend that much to make good pizzas. I was a little disappointed but headed back to the car deciding a pizza over wasn't going to happen.

That's when I saw the Weber store

I have a Weber Q, the medium sized one, and use it as my BBQ mostly. I cook over the fire occasionally, braai-style, but generally just use the Q. I've never used it to bake in although they are apparently very good for that purpose so I headed into the Weber store to see if they had some sort of pizza set-up that might work for me.

I'd not been into this particular store before and was amazed at how cool it was; everything Weber was on display and they had so much more than just BBQ's as well. The Weber product comes in gas, wood-pellet, charcoal and electric versions so I probably shouldn't have been surprised at the range on display - But I was.

Furthermore they had a huge kitchen set-up where they do demonstrations and classes also (after hours) and I spent some time speaking with a legit Weber-know-it-all lady who really opened my eyes to the possibilities.

They had several Weber BBQ's on the go with all sorts of things cooking for tastings, one of which she opened for me to reveal that legit turkey you see below top left. They'd just cooked up some beef sliders also, pictured above, and I got to try one half. OK, I actually had four halves so that makes a total of two whole ones...Hey, she offered ok? It worked well because I was hungry. There was no beers though.

They had so many products as well: Rubs, marinades, hot sauce, spices, relish, jams and just about anything one would need to create some tasty goodness on the BBQ. The chili sauces were awesome, names like: Sudden Death, Mega Death and Ultra Death sort of set the tone. There was also an Australian range with names like: Scorpion Strike - 'On Steroids!', Satan's Spit, Dragon's blood, Morning Afterburn, Funnelweb Bite, Fiery Frillneck Hiss and Kangaroo Punch which I'm assured will set your world on fire. Cool!

But back to pizzas

I met the owner of the store and had a chat about what Weber can offer as far as pizza-cooking options for my Weber Q and as it turns out they have a pretty legit option. The have developed a pizza stone that goes inside the Q and when hot (about 20-25 minutes) one simply places the pre-made pizza onto the stone and close the lid. Eighteen minutes later...LEGIT PIZZA.

Ok, it's not that simple. I'd also need a specially made foil tray which one places on the grill to divert the heat from radiating straight up to instead travel to the sides and back around the curved lid creating a convection effect. One places that foil tray then the Weber trivet onto the tray, places the pizza stone onto the trivet and then places the pizza tray with pizza on it right onto the stone, when hot enough. Close the lid and then eighteen minutes LEGIT PIZZA.

I wandered around thinking through the purchase and whether I'd be happy with the choice to use my Weber Q for pizza-making rather than buy a separate pizza oven.

Weighing up the cost was also important as it was far cheaper to get the Weber accessories than to buy a whole new pizza oven. In the end I decided to spring the $95AUD for the accessories figuring the $334AUD saving was worth it, especially considering how many pizza's I make a year...Not all that many.

I made the purchase and now look forward to trying out my Weber Q and its new pizza-making capabilities. Oh, as well as pizza's the tray/trivet system allows the Weber to be used for general baking, a roast for instance, or baking a pasta bake, and it's something I'll also try. Tasty times ahead I'd say.

I'm pretty pleased with my decision although only time will tell if I made the right one - It's all in the taste! I'm a bit of a cavemen to be honest and love cooking on open flames but I think going this way, using my Weber Q for a pizza oven, is a good all-round compromise...And I saved some money too. Mission accomplished.

I hope y'all are having a great weekend, mine has been good so far, including my shopping mission. I'll admit I don't really like shopping but today was fun...And I got to taste test! Happy weekend folks.