The extra steel from my smoker build became my first Santa Maria grill. Wanted to get into live fire cooking. Did my research. Built it. Got it completely wrong.
Here's what most people miss: Santa Maria grills aren't about the adjustable grates. They're about the brasero. I did not learn this until I built my 1st one and cooked on it.
The brasero is a separate firebox where you burn wood completely down to coals – not embers, full coals. Then rake them under your cooking grates exactly where you need them. No flames. No flare-ups. Just radiant heat from coals you can control.
Why this matters: Live fire cooking isn't cooking over flames. That's grilling. Live fire is cooking over coals. That's Argentine asado. That's what makes Santa Maria grills different from everything else.
My first build didn't have a brasero – just grates over a firebox. Flames everywhere. Heat all over the place. Cooked ribeyes on it once. They worked, but I was fighting the fire the whole time. Friend bought it that night. Had to build another one.
Second build – proper brasero: 24×18 separate coal chamber. Burn wood in there, wait for perfect coals, rake them under the 30×28 main grate exactly where I need them. Now I've got multiple heat zones from one coal source – sear zone, medium zone, warming zone all controlled by where I rake the coals.
Added iron cross capability for whole cuts. Adjustable grates: 4-24 inches. This is what I should've built the first time.
Did a full Argentine asado. Vacío on the iron cross – just salt and coals. That's when it clicked. After 40 years cooking, this showed me something different about fire management. If you never had Vacio – you need to try it. AMAZING!
I've got my offset for low and slow. Kettle for quick cooks. But the Santa Maria changed how I think about heat control.
This weekend: suckling pig on the iron cross. I cant wait!
If you're thinking about building a Santa Maria grill, get the brasero right first. Everything else is secondary.
Build photos and asado cook: https://postimg.cc/gallery/Fhh1MSr
What's your experience with live fire cooking – flames or coals?
by nybbqguys
9 Comments
The brasero is the key – separate firebox where you burn wood to coals, then rake them where you need them. No flames on the meat.
First build didn’t have one. Second build did. That’s when I got it. More build picks here [https://postimg.cc/gallery/Fhh1MSr](https://postimg.cc/gallery/Fhh1MSr)
Here is the Vacio cook I mention – [https://youtube.com/shorts/qob-t2TSnqQ?feature=share](https://youtube.com/shorts/qob-t2TSnqQ?feature=share)
Happy to answer questions about building or cooking on these.
That thing looks awesome. Just out of curiosity, do you spend a lot of time on LinkedIn?
It’s absolutely stunning
First order of business, what is the time and cost investment for a person without welding experience ( or *any* experience for that matter).
Wow. Nice work. Looks great! 👍
That’s an excellent build.
I’ve been toying with building something similar as we’re a little slow in the fab shop….
I just paid a ton of money for one of these! Should be arriving soon.
Not to be pedantic, but I think a Santa Maria has no brasero and an Argentine grill does? I’ve spent a lot of time on the ca central coast and rarely (never?) saw a brasero. Their loss though — I love em
only have room for a Weber so i got a santa maria attachment. Now i need another weber for wood/coal management lol
This is awesome. I am in the process of drawing up plans to do the build my own. I want to do something similar with pneumatic wheels. The commercial version I have been using for inspiration is one from Lone Star Grillz.
I want wheels on my Santa Maria just like you have. I cook a lot offsite and tailgate. The trailer smoker offset I have is fine for tailgates but I feel like this is way more mobile. I also have teenage boys to help load and unload.
I will have so many questions as I move forward. I was going to build a 24×48 cooking surface w/o a brasero. You post has me re-thinking my plans. I feel like I dogged a bullet by reading your post.
Awesome job.