Longing to participate in gratuitous grilling thread, need grill advice.

[Cameramonkey]

Huh? That's ridiculous... I grill several times a week, I don't have time to mess with charcoal. I turn 4 knobs, hit a button and go back inside to finish prep-work. You don't have to have charcoal or spend inordinate amounts of time to make a good grilled meal for your family, even if time is tight.

As a matter of fact, tonight I'll get home from work, and with 2 young kids running about under my supervision, I'll hop out on the patio, light the grill in 10 seconds and be back inside to get dinner ready for when momma gets home from work. 2 minutes later I'll go back out to the patio with my fully pre-heated grill and a plate full of burgers to throw on. And when they come off the grill they will be ALMOST as good as any burger cooked charcoal. Life doesn't have to be complicated, some people just choose to make it that way.





IMHO, my ideal grill setup would be a hybrid grill; one that has a LP burner for fast, convenient heat, but has the ability to use charcoal exclusively, or a mix of both LP (main heat source) and charcoal/wood for the smoke flavor. The problem is that my ideal grill isn't the ideal grill for the masses so target market would be people looking for the convenience of LP with a little of that wood-smoke flavor of a charcoal grill or smoker.

FIFY. Charcoal does taste a bit better. But sometimes its not worth the extra hassle to get that extra flavor. Its like the difference between a ground beef and a ground round burger. The latter is better but the former can be acceptable too.

Check out my second link in my post above. Its a hybrid, with a crank adjustable charcoal platform. I almost went with that one but with other things on my plate, I didnt want the added expense for no more than I would use it. I too dont have much time and the ability to turn a knob and go appeals to my lifestyle.

There is also one at lowes which is marketed for both. it has a tray that drops in on top the burners. Drop in the tray, add charcoal, then use the burners to start the coals. But to me that seemed like it would be asking for trouble with the burners given the corrosive nature of charcoal ash.

Sometimes to get what you want done right, requires more than one purchase. Good luck.

 

[Clay]

Huh? That's ridiculous... I grill several times a week, I don't have time to mess with charcoal.

I think where he's going with this.... or at least where I'm going with this... I used a gas grill for years. I would go outside, turn on the gas burners, then go back in the house to prep. At a minimum there was 10 or 15 minutes I let the grill warm up.

today (where I own 0 gas grills), I do the same thing except instead of turning on a gas grill I start the charcoal. 10 or 15 minutes later its ready and I grill.

So for me, there is very little time difference for one or the other.

 

[grunt soldier]

Pellet grills are far from a fad. They are the best grills out there imo. They are used very regularly in the competitions now. Almost all of them have a searing option. It's a simple swap out of the grates and heat deflector. Mine will easily get up to 550 degrees. It makes everything good. Burgers, brats, steak, chicken, ribs. All moist, tender and nice smoke flavor.

Only difference is that it's not a super heavy smoke flavor like a stick burner. But if you like heavier smoke buy an amazin tube off Amazon for 20 bucks. There are so many varieties you can even get charcoal flavored pellets.

The ease of clean up and no baby sitting make them a very ideal option.

Also for anyone who has not tried a reverse seared steak you are missing out. They are amazing.

 

[pack-indy]

BGE/Komodo hands down. Grill, smoke and bake on the same unit...haven't had a bad meal yet.

 

[CountryBoy19]

FIFY.

We'll agree to disagree, the horse has been beat to death and I don't want to derail this thread. I think a competent griller can make the fuel source indistinguishable.

Check out my second link in my post above. Its a hybrid, with a crank adjustable charcoal platform. I almost went with that one but with other things on my plate, I didnt want the added expense for no more than I would use it. I too dont have much time and the ability to turn a knob and go appeals to my lifestyle.

My buddy has that grill. Unless they've changed it you can't choose between charcoal and gas or run both in the same compartment. You give up a LOT of space and may as well have 2 grills at that point. One big downfall that he has to fight is the lid design gathers grease and when you open the lid it all runs out the back onto the grill and his patio. He likes the grill otherwise.

I think where he's going with this.... or at least where I'm going with this... I used a gas grill for years. I would go outside, turn on the gas burners, then go back in the house to prep. At a minimum there was 10 or 15 minutes I let the grill warm up.

today (where I own 0 gas grills), I do the same thing except instead of turning on a gas grill I start the charcoal. 10 or 15 minutes later its ready and I grill.

So for me, there is very little time difference for one or the other.

Maybe its just a difference in setup, practice etc, but for me, my process for a charcoal would go like this: Go fetch charcoal chimney & charcoal from garage, try to find newspaper or some other fuel source that will actually burn, **** around trying to get fuel source to burn, go out 10 minutes later to find that the newspaper in the bottom of the chimney fizzled out and I have to start over. Now dinner will be 15 minutes later... This begs the question, I don't get the newspaper, but when I do use a chimney I try to find newspaper to light it. It seems newspaper doesn't burn like it used to. What do you use for a chimney?

Even if everything goes perfect, I have a newspaper on the counter and the charcoal is easily retrieved from the garage I'm looking at a minimum of 2-3 minutes to get the charcoal lit. Do you have any idea what an unsupervised 1 y.o. boy can do in 3 minutes? The child eats rocks as a hobby, and that's when we ARE watching him... if he finds out he has free run of the place it's game-on. Haha

FWIW, I'm not anti-charcoal. My smoker is a UDS with a large charcoal basket. I hate lighting the charcoal enough when I smoke, I cannot fathom the inconvenience of doing that crap every time I grill. I hate lighting charcoal so much that I made myself an LP charcoal lighter, but I still wouldn't drag it out for lighting a grill...

They are used very regularly in the competitions now.

Used in grilling competition? Or used in BBQ competitions where low & slow is the name of the game? When you can provide a nicely browned burger that is still juicy from a pellet grill I'll take it serious as a grill; until then it's a glorified smoker IMHO.

That being said, we can agree on the reverse seared steaks, I started doing reverse sear on steaks 5 years ago and I get TONS of compliments on them (from an LP grill to boot).

 

[grunt soldier]

Yes bbq comps is what I was referring to and that burger comment is a non issue. I grilled 20 the other day and they had sear marks, browned up great while still a nice light pink inside and juicy was an understatement. The folks at the party all commented that they were some of the best burgers they had ever had. Either way I won't be going back to regular grills. To each their own. Best part about America so many choices and options for everyone

Maybe on cheaper low end pellet grills there might be an issue. I have only ever used higher end pellet grills so maybe that's why I'm getting better results.

 

[CountryBoy19]

Yes bbq comps is what I was referring to and that burger comment is a non issue. I grilled 20 the other day and they had sear marks, browned up great while still a nice light pink inside and juicy was an understatement. The folks at the party all commented that they were some of the best burgers they had ever had. Either way I won't be going back to regular grills. To each their own. Best part about America so many choices and options for everyone

Maybe on cheaper low end pellet grills there might be an issue. I have only ever used higher end pellet grills so maybe that's why I'm getting better results.

I guess I just don't have much room to talk, I've never had anything from a pellet grill and never cooked on one. Just going by my experience with temps on my grill and what people say pellet grills are capable of. I know that 550-600 grate temp on my Weber wouldn't cook a burger or sear a steak like I wanted which is why I pushed it up to 900. If pellet grills don't even get as hot as my Weber used to get on high then I don't see how they can be getting the browning but without actually experiencing it I can't say much more.

That being said, lots of options for the OP to consider. Ultimately, get a grill, learn to use it, and learn to properly prepare your food and you can turn out great food no matter what your grill is.

 

[chezuki]

I'll go against the grain here...

I love my Charbroil TRU Infrared. I cooked professionally for 15 years, and this is the closest thing I've found to cooking on a commercial kitchen grill. It heats up fast and has cast iron grates with plenty of heat for a great sear (900°+ on high).

 

[chezuki]

I guess I just don't have much room to talk, I've never had anything from a pellet grill and never cooked on one. Just going by my experience with temps on my grill and what people say pellet grills are capable of. I know that 550-600 grate temp on my Weber wouldn't cook a burger or sear a steak like I wanted which is why I pushed it up to 900. If pellet grills don't even get as hot as my Weber used to get on high then I don't see how they can be getting the browning but without actually experiencing it I can't say much more.

That being said, lots of options for the OP to consider. Ultimately, get a grill, learn to use it, and learn to properly prepare your food and you can turn out great food no matter what your grill is.

IMO, Weber kettle's Achilles heal is the wire grates. They lose heat too quickly, especially with something like a large steak. The aftermarket cast iron grates are a dramatic improvement for the trusty old kettles.

 

[Vigilant]

I'll go against the grain here...

I love my Charbroil TRU Infrared. I cooked professionally for 15 years, and this is the closest thing I've found to cooking on a commercial kitchen grill. It heats up fast and has cast iron grates with plenty of heat for a great sear (900°+ on high).

I used to have a commercial TEC infrared, AMAZING steaks, but totaling one sided, wouldn't do much of anything else but sear.

 

[alabasterjar]

Might I make a small comment. You are going to need three grills.

1: a propane griddle. These are wonderful for breakfast and burgers fast. Like the short order cook at the local bar and grill.
2: a smoker for low and slow something that makes turkeys and pork buts.
3: the original Weber charcoal kettle. For everything when you have time.

now you can get a kimono or big green egg and drop that to two grills. Still love the propane griddle we have. Make 10 pancakes at a time with bacon coming and hash browns also.

If you don't have time to light up the charcoals you don't have time to grill. Might as well move the kitchen stove outside.

F-I-L has the smoker; you're right, that's magic right there.

Can't say I'm following you with the "you don't have time to light charcoal, you don't have time to grill" statement. I've heard this a number of times before, but I don't buy it. CB19 nailed the argument, from my perspective. Additionally, I don't see the flexibility or cooking real estate available on the charcoal grill that is available in gas grill varieties.

Definitely missing the steaks & burgers, but we LIVED on grilled pizzas (I'll post some pictures in the gratuitous grilling thread once I'm back on the grilling saddle again) from our gas grill in town. To do these well (with homemade dough for the crust), I find that I need to be able to go from full on searing temps to flash cook the dough, then drop to almost nothing while I load top the pizza, then raise the temps back up to heat everything up & melt the cheese. We spread our dough on the back of a cookie sheet, so I need even heat on a big rectangle, not sure the charcoal will do it for me.

Still looking into the pellet idea, but when we built the house, I installed an LP connection in my future grilling spot to direct connect my grill...no more running out of fuel in the middle of a sizzling steak!

 

[chocktaw2]

I just wish I could grill, I can't get it right. Using a Weber 300 Spirit Edition.

 

[CountryBoy19]

I will say, one thing that I'm certain a pellet grill will do better than any other method is cook bacon (assuming they don't flare up)... Oven cook bacon the most evenly, add in smoking and it can't get any better. As a matter of fact, the best bacon I ever had was seasoned with a bit of chili powder and brown sugar, smoked for a few hours, then baked in the oven to crisp it up... Pellet grill would do both of those in one shot!!!

Cooking bacon on my Weber gives amazing flavor but its a nightmare; it flares up way too easily and cook way too uneven...

 

[grunt soldier]

I cook bacon constantly on mine. Love it. No mess no clean up. Gets nice and crispy and smoky. I'll cook 3 lbs on it and put about 1/2 in the fridge for sandwiches and the like.

I'm reverse searing some steaks now and will try to post pics if I remember before diving in lol. Also putting a 16 brisket once steaks are done lol. Can't wait for tomorrow's dinner lol

 

[bacon#1]

If I had a grand, this would be it.

Wood Pellet Grills & BBQ Smokers | Best Value | REC TEC Grills

 

[snapping turtle]

The "if you don't have time to light the coals you don't have time to grill" basically means that it takes almost zero time to get most good charcoal grill up to working temp's. Stack coals in chimney heat with torch a couple minutes walk way. Get meat from kitchen. Open a beer. Toss a cabbage on a beer can get the BBQ sauce. Bring all out the the grill area and the coals are just about ready to go. Plus look at the cost of a simple Weber kettle grill and all you can do on one compared to a propane grills cost.

Personally never liked propane beside beside the convenience factor. Just an outside kitchen stove. Cooking on the coals has a much better taste and that is the way the family has always done it.

Not the propane griddle is a wonderful thong bit thing but the wife was a short order cook at one time. She can time it all out so it all finishes at the right time. In a pinch some burgers get griddles.

 

[PUalum04]

I have a three burner Weber Genesis, classic Weber kettle and 18" Weber Smokey mountain smoker. I love and use all three on a regular basis.

I will say this, as I gain more experience with charcoal i find myself using the propane Genesis less and less. With a good lump charcoal (i said goodbye to briquettes, Rockwood is my go to lump), I can be ready to grill in 15 minutes. I grew up on Weber gas grilled food and to me, there is no comparison between gas grilled food and food grilled over a high quality lump charcoal.

 

[PUalum04]

I just wish I could grill, I can't get it right. Using a Weber 300 Spirit Edition.

Get yourself a high quality digital thermometer. I have a Thermapen and it is awesome. They're not cheap but they are quality, near instant read and come with a handy meat temperature guide. Learn it, use it and you won't under or over cook food again.

 

[CountryBoy19]

Get yourself a high quality digital thermometer. I have a Thermapen and it is awesome. They're not cheap but they are quality, near instant read and come with a handy meat temperature guide. Learn it, use it and you won't under or over cook food again.

If the thermapen is out of your budget amazon has a comparable unit. The probe doesn't fold away, but it reads nearly as fast as the thermapen (within 10% IIRC) and was accurate for all the checks I put it through.

 

[Tactically Fat]

I'll just stay over here and not mention my George Foreman grill.