Which barbeque/grill?

July 28, 2005 5:51 PM

What kind of barbeque/grill should I get?

I want to be able to grill, both for my own personal cooking and for parties and such, and so I need a grill. I have seen a myriad many different grills, but I honestly can't tell what would be best for me. I liked my friend's Big Green Egg, but I'm concerned that it might take so long to get going that I wouldn't use it very often.

I have a big deck, so size isn't a huge issue. Price isn't an issue per se, but I don't really want to spend more than I have to, either. I'd love to just know more about what people think. Propane vs charcoal? Big vs Small? Any brands? Any other grill tips?

posted by thethirdman to food & drink (23 comments total)

I use a Weber charcoal grill. Charcoal for flavor, Weber for durability. Everything from a turkey to ribs to grilled asparagus.

People seem to think charcoal takes longer to start, but if you use a chimney starter, it doesn't take much longer than it takes a gas grill to heat up (10 mins.)
posted by sacre_bleu at 5:59 PM on July 28, 2005

I'm a charcoal man. I use a Weber Smokey Joe: $30 not including coal, chimney starter, and steel brush. The grill lasts about two years.
posted by cribcage at 6:00 PM on July 28, 2005

We have a charcoal grill, some biggish Weber variety, and a chimney charcoal starter which we debated for some stupid reason and have been totally happy with. Other useful gear for grilling is a brush to clean the thing with, some of those long handled grill tools [the forkish thing, the tongs, a long spatula] and a big garbage can that you can just fill with charcoal so that it doesn't get dust all over everything, and so you can store more than just one bag at a time. You might want to invest in some metal skewers, if you really like shishkabob. If you take it someplace covered during rainstorms and don't leave it outside during the winter, it should last you quite a while.

I also have a propane grill at my summer place and I like it pretty well too except that replacement parts are somewhat expensive if any of the heating element parts go bad, and sometimes spiders take up in the gas lines. My favorite part of it was the dual-level aspect so you could cook veggies at a lower temp and really roast meat on the lower levels. The Smokey Joe type thing we have at home can't handle the same sort of volume. However, I will never miss running out of propane on a 4th of July weekend.
posted by jessamyn at 6:17 PM on July 28, 2005

Get a Weber charcoal grill. Simple, well made, inexpensive.
posted by Nelson at 6:25 PM on July 28, 2005

I just went through this. My wife got me a grill for fathers' day and let me choose the exact model I wanted. After reading comments from charcoal purists in several online forums, I settled on the Weber One-Touch Gold and a chimney starter.

I've used the grill seven or eight times in the past few weeks, and I have mixed feelings about choosing charcoal over gas. Even with the chimney starter, it takes about 20-25 minutes for the charcoal to get ready. And while the grill stays hot for a long time, it loses its ability to sear meat after just a few minutes.

Is the flavor better than the gas grill I grew up with? Absolutely. But I'm not sure that benefit outweighs the downsides (longer startup time, more cleaning, etc.). Perhaps I'm just not enough of a foodie to appreciate charcoal, but If I could go back in time, I'd probably buy a gas grill.
posted by lewistate at 6:29 PM on July 28, 2005

I'm gonna go out on a limb and recommend a charcoal-heated Weber kettle grill. Because I am a REBEL.

Chimney starters really make all the difference. They're also hella fun -- when they're going it's like looking at Dante's inferno in there, and when you pick it up to dump the coals sparks fall out and burn your feet.

[apone] Badass. Absolutely badass [/apone]

My attitude is this: cooking out is not, usually, (just) about the food, it's about the whole experience, the ritual of the food being prepared, the whole schmeer. And charcoal provides better ritual than gas does.

Charcoal is not really suited to dining for one, but then neither is grilling at all. If you're grilling for yourself, use a grill-pan over a stove burner.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:39 PM on July 28, 2005

I prefer charcoal, real wood lump charcoal, not that pelletized crap with added filler chemicals. Try both and see how much "ash" is left behind with the pelletized stuff (i.e. Kingsford - which is pretty good for the pelletized stuff). See here for good charcoal reviews. When you light the charcoal, especially with the chimney device, hold a bit back and add it after you spread out the charcoal. This extra charcoal will keep the fire hot for a longer time. Of course for a real hours long extended bbq you will be adding charcoal every half hour or so.

If you must go gas, I recommend natural gas, if you have service, over propane. Natural gas has much, much less of the smelly chemical used to spot leaks. I think that stuff ruins the flavor. At the very least I can often smell it on the food after it is cooked over propane, but not with natural gas.
posted by caddis at 7:16 PM on July 28, 2005

To my shame, I have three grills. It just sorta happened...

I live alone, and sometimes have a few friends over, so I never needed a monster, and was making due with the little propane tabletop jobs. But they never got really hot, and needed to be replaced every couple of years.

Then I went to a "going out of business" auction at a grill place.

There it was: a big, stainless Holland grill, propane, side burner. I may have started drooling...

Retail, $799, got it for $150. It was a floor model, but came with a warranty. I thought I got real deal.

Picked up some steaks, read the directions... and almost cried.

You see, the Holland grill isn't really a grill. It's a oven, fixed at about 400 degrees. You can bake in it, steam in it, add wood chips and kinda smoke in it. But grilling is right out.
I saved dinner by searing the steaks in a cast iron pan on the side burner, and finishing them in the "grill". I used it for a bunch of stuff since I got it, beer can chicken comes out great and it makes a mean pizza, but it won't make burgers or steak, so what's the point?

On day at a garage sale I saw a mid-sized Weber kettle for $10, no grates, but solid and clean. I offered the lady $5, and loaded it into my car. As I was loading, the husband ran out, saying "You'll need these" with the grates in his hand.

Now, this bad boy makes the burgers! The only thing I don't like is after going to the trouble of lighting a fire, I only need it for about 5 minutes, so I tend to cook a bunch of chicken breasts for later in the week.

I also use this as a smoker, ala Alton Brown, by putting a hot plate in the bottom and a pie plate with apple wood on top. Cooked a 3 pound Boston Butt in 11 hours.

Sadly, firing this up just to make one hamburger is a little overkill, and I wanted something portable, so I got a Lodge Cast Iron Sportsman grill. It's a very heavy duty version of a hibachi. It works great for small meals, but buyer beware: it weighs about 45 pounds, I wouldn't call it portable.
posted by Marky at 7:26 PM on July 28, 2005

Gas burner here, checking in. Gas is a little more industial. It has adjustable flame, side burner for rice and stuff. Multi-tiered grill with varying heat so you can do veggies and burgers at the same time, without burning either.

My favorite though, is slow cooking carnitas (pork shoulder) in a dutch oven, slowly, like all day long.

I have nothing against charcoal at all. But during summer, I grill every day, for the kids, neighbors and what not, and charcoal just wouldn't be efficient for me.
posted by snsranch at 7:40 PM on July 28, 2005

Grilling & barbecuing -- not the same. Grilling is direct heat, cooked quickly; barbecue is indirect heat (i.e., smoke), cooked for hours. The Green Egg thing -- that's supposed to do barbecue. It don't grill. (In the BBQ Belt, you'd get arguments over whether it could even barbecue. But, no, it'll never grill.)

For your situation, I'd suggest two different grills: a small one, when you're cooking for two (maybe four); for larger groups, any of the kettle-style, stand-alone units.

Chimney starters are the cat's ass, the dog's bollocks, the (general mammalian) shit. They're cheap as hell but if you're even cheaper, you can make your own out of a 5-lb coffee can, a can opener, and kitchen tongs.

It's worth spending the time and money to get actual wood charcoal. Briquets are formed out of lumber-processing leavings held together by various substances that you may or may not want fumed over what you eat.

If time/money don't permit, it's not like you'll drop dead if you go for the Acme Briquets. But please, please, do not get the self-lighting crap. That's why you have your badass chimney. And wood charcoal is always preferable.

The last ten minutes or so, throw the woody stems of late-season basil, or the tough trimmings from rosemary, on the fire. It'll help flavor whatever's grilling. Or not. Regardless, it smells fantastic, which is way impressive.

On preview: Gas? Gas? Dios mia!
posted by vetiver at 7:47 PM on July 28, 2005

I too am a multiple grill owner. Sometimes it just happens, what can I say? But I will add to the chorus recommending a Weber kettle and a chimney starter. These are awesome things that everyone should have. I highly recommend the One Touch Platinum. It is the same as the Gold mentioned above, but has a built in cart with hooks, table, shelf, and all that. Immensly handy, and doesn't really add a whole lot to the price.
posted by spilon at 8:03 PM on July 28, 2005

Charcoal is not really suited to dining for one, but then neither is grilling at all. If you're grilling for yourself, use a grill-pan over a stove burner.


Blasphemy! I grill for myself at least three times a week, more like every night in summer. Gas grills make this incredibly easy -- they may not be faster than charcoal, and they don't impart the same flavor, but they do give you nice char and the same caramelized-on-the-outside, moist-on-the-inside effect that charcoal would. The other advantage to gas is less mess. There is no black dust, no ash to dump, there are no flying cinders, and there is no need to remember to buy bags of charcoal. I have a charcoal grill too, but it only gets trotted out for parties.

A grill pan on a stove does not give the same result as a grill -- because the heat from grilling is convection and radiation, while the heat from pan-grilling is conduction. Different heat = different food reaction. Pan-grilling causes food to soften rather than crisp in the heat.

I use the grill to cook a wide variety of entrees and sides. This summer I've mastered the grilled pizza, which is unbelievably good. Corn on the cob, red and green peppers, red and yellow onions, sausages, chicken to top a salad with, shrimp, salmon, scallops, zucchini and summer squash, grape tomatoes, and on and on. You can grill an entire meal -- or grill parts of it and throw it on lettuce for salad -- without getting your kitchen all heated up. Basically, if you want grilled food often, go with gas. When you crave the taste of chocolate, you can bring out the Hibachi or Weber, or just go to the state park with a cooler and use the grills there.
posted by Miko at 8:30 PM on July 28, 2005

chocolate?!

charcoal, that is. I must be ready for dessert.
posted by Miko at 8:32 PM on July 28, 2005

With a chimney starter, charcoal shouldn't take long to heat up. Obviously the time can vary depending on the type and size of charcoal. If you're impatient, you can speed up the process with a bellows or a hair dryer. More oxygen = faster, hotter burn. (You could also just blow on the coals, but shield your eyes from flying sparks.)
posted by cribcage at 9:02 PM on July 28, 2005

If price really isn't an obstacle, this Bar-B-Chef grill is the be-all-end-all of charcoal grills. Adjustable firebox, thick cooking grill, temperature monitor, huge, etc, etc. Saw it on Alton Brown's Good Eats show and have lusted after it ever since.
posted by ontic at 9:18 PM on July 28, 2005

I use charcoal lighter in the chimney starter. Just a little bit on the bottom layer of charcoal before you finish adding it all will do it. The newspaper adds a bad smell. The charcoal lighter fluid also makes the chimney really fast.
posted by caddis at 9:24 PM on July 28, 2005

To each his own. I don't understand fancy charcoal grills. Gadgets and doodads are for gas grills (i.e. yuppies). For my money, the ultimate is old school. That's the one I want when civilization collapses.

In the meantime, $30 is fine for up to four people with anything short of a whole bird.
posted by cribcage at 9:26 PM on July 28, 2005

this is the best grill and bbq or whatever you want to call it, that i've seen. I just bought a house (with my first outdoor space ever) and I'm about to buy this here thing.
posted by alkupe at 10:03 PM on July 28, 2005

also, if anyone's still interested, this little strand on modifications you can make to the grill i just posted, and these accompanying pics, are the reason the internet is cool.
posted by alkupe at 10:17 PM on July 28, 2005

Gotta second alkupe: the Smokin Pro 830 rules...smoke a turkey in that black box, you'll understand.
posted by Mack Twain at 11:14 PM on July 28, 2005

After middling results with the cardboard box smoker, I bought a Brinkmann smoker. So. Freakin. Cool. There's 7 pounds of cow and pig flesh waiting in the fridge right now for tomorrow's Rite To The Applewood Gods.

I have a small tabletop gas grill for direct heat needs, but R7 (yes, that's a Star Wars name for my smoker) is for full on flavor.

So consider the smoker! The Brinkmanns (Brinkmenn?) are not too expensive.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:09 AM on July 29, 2005

I have this charcoal grill with a built in chimney. It's pretty awesome.
posted by carmen at 7:45 AM on July 29, 2005

As much as I like charcoal, I still do propane more often, for convenience's sake.

It's not so much the getting it started (I agree that a charcoal chimney is a must-have) as it is that I feel obliged to pay fairly careful attention after I'm done with a grill until it's cold.

I live in Texas so grilling season is mostly year round, but we do have months where it's dry and fires are easy to start; add the ocasional high wind and odd critter nosing around grilling areas (we get raccoons occasionally), and I don't like leaving a pile of hot coals to cool off, even with all the vents shut.

With a gas grill, I shut off the burners, shut off the gas, and I feel relatively confident -- which is particularly useful when I'm in a hurry and and just putting the char on something for myself.

That being said, I'll echo the Weber recommendation, even for gas -- I've got a Weber Genesis grill, and I love it to death. It's built like a tank, has lasted longer than all other grills I've ever bought combined, is easy to maintain and (when properly maintained and operated) heats more evenly with less flareups than any other gas grill I've owned.
posted by nonliteral at 1:50 PM on July 29, 2005