I remember the first day we brought Big Baby, my Weber Ranch® Kettle, home.

It was a crisp Thanksgiving morning and I'd found it for sale on a classified site. I already had two Weber Smokey Mountain Cookers and a Performer circa 1998, safe to say I was already a Weber fanatic.

This was for sale for such a stupid low price I bought it even though I didn't need it. C'mon, you'd do the same thing...I wondered as I drove her home if this would simply be a novelty item with major cool factor that would just sit without seeing much use.

Thankfully that did not happen, in fact as my hobby grew into my profession I find that I actually am in need of a second Ranch Kettle. This is, in my humble opinion, the best all around cooker out there. Here's a photo of a typical catering gig when I do ~50 lb. of whole chickens at a time:

In addition to being a hit with the crowds when I'm grilling burgers, steaks, kabobs, and sausages the Ranch Kettle has done for thousands of guests what my Performer has done for my friends and family.

The Weber kettle, regardless of size, offers a tremendous convection effect with a tried-and-true charcoal fire which makes it extremely well suited for cooking just about anything. Hot and fast, low and slow, grilling or roasting, the versatility of the Weber design is truly second to none.

So, while I absolutely adore my Weber Performer if I had to pick a 'desert island' cooker it would be the Ranch Kettle. You never know when you'd have to take on a small wild boar after all-or even a couple Thanksgiving turkeys!

The Culinary Adventures of BBQPHX