Looking to buy a grill (charcoal); need some guidance

[stilez]

Liz and I move into our new place in about a week and my parents want to get us a house-warming gift. More specifically, a grill.



Liz and I have enjoyed her father`s 30-year old charcoal heated Weber for it`s fun, taste, and overall dedication to grilling. We have both been getting better with learning how to grill by reading, Trial & Error, lessons (from our parents) and any other means possible.



So, on our hunt for a new grill, we are set on charcoal as the heating source. Not sure where to go or start, I figured Autopia could provide some guidance. Liz now makes fun of me for having to research everything before we buy it...down to the exterior thermometer :D.



Anyways, here is one we found, but are still searching:



http://ww5.williams-sonoma.com/cat/pip.cfm?gids=c193&pkey=coutgrli&bnrid=3100117&cm_ven=WS&cm_cat=General&cm_pla=SiteMap&cm_ite=Products&CM_REF=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fsearch%3Fhl%3 Den%26lr%3D%26safe%3Doff%26c2coff%3D1%26q%3Dwillia ms-sonoma%2Bsierra%2Bgrill%26btnG%3DSearch



http://a1412.g.akamai.net/7/1412/243/0080/image1.styleinamerica.com/wsecimgs/images/products/200625/0004/img3l.jpg





Any and all help is greatly appreciated!





-Sean + Liz

[BigChevMan]

Sams club had a pretty nice one early in the season. I couldn`t find it on their web page, but you could check in the stores if they have them by you.



Look for one that smokes as well. Once you start smoking stuff you`ll never go back to grilling.

[stilez]

A smoker?



Interesting...How exactly do they work?

[imported_truzoom]

IIRC, Smokers cook meat in a long, slow process using certain types of wood. The heat from the smoke cooks the meat and the flavor from the wood chips gives the meat a distinct taste.

I`ve got a friend that buys massive amounts of meat and sticks them in his smoker for around 6-9 hours-- time well spent because the meat is absolutely delicious.



They probably aren`t a good choice if you just want to have some steaks ready in an hour...



As far as grills go, I don`t really think you can go wrong as long as you get a good charcoal chimney. I think the grill choice would matter significantly more when you use propane.

[gmblack3]

If I was going to do charcoal, I would do the green egg. Do a google search.

[kompressornsc]

I started out with a Weber close to 20 years ago. I`ve had probably 5 or 6 other charcoal grills. Always go back to a Weber. Easy to use. Well designed, and last forever. The one I am using now is a Performer Series that is probably 15 years old. It`s so old I can`t even use the little starter propane tank that goes with it because nobody can fill it (old style valve).

If I was going to buy another one, I`d again go with the Performer series with the gas ignition. The worst part about charcoal is waiting on it to get going and get a good even fire. The gas ignition takes it from 30-45 minutes to 10-15.

[Autoeng]

A green egg. A grill and smoker. Cook steaks in 4 minutes! I would love to have one of these... Couldn`t (didn`t want to spend the time) to find their website but here is one...



http://www.paradisepools.tv/big-green-egg.html

[wash-girl]

Smoking food is truly an art, and an addiction. "Low and slow," means meat is cooked for hours (and by hours I mean 6-12) at temps never really exceeding 250* The coals are in a separate compartment, and only the smoke is used to cook the meat. Prep time for meats often involves overnight marinading, so a good smoking is often a "weekend project" requiring some commitment. But as stated above, the results are usually well worth it. I just got into it last summer, and achieved some awesome results with beef brisket, beef ribs, and pork ribs.



The good thing is, if you buy a "barrel style" offset smoker, you can use the main part as a straight charcoal grille, when you want direct, high heat cooking, but you always have the option of using it as a smoker. I have a Brinkman Smoke-N-Pit Pro (http://www.shop.com/op/~Brinkman_Grills_Smoke_N_Pit_Professional_Charcoal _Smokers_BBQ-prod-12662795) that has served me well. It has a reputation somewhat like a good OTC detailing product here. Eventually, I`ll probably spend some bigger money and get really serious.



Some great info on both smokers and charcoal grills can be found at the following links:



BBQ-4-U Forums (http://www.myfreebulletinboard.com/f2/index.php?mforum=bbq4u)



BarbecueBible Forums (http://www.barbecuebible.com/board/)



Weber Smoky Mountain Bullet Site (http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/tour.html)



RandyQ`s BBQ Ramblings (http://www.randyq.addr.com/)

[Asonyexec]

That william sonoma grill is nice but i bet a tad on the overpriced side. I do 90% of my cooking on the grill which is why I have opted to go with propane / stainless steel 4 burner grill. When it comes to a charcoal grill you really just want to something that holds your charcoal and has a nice size cooking surface area. If you want something that looks nice then you can knock yourself out and go for the Wm Sonoma one but you would save yourself some $$$$ if you go with a decent weber grill after all they are just holding hot charcoal - not much to them.



Even the Webber BBQ restaurant uses plain ole webber grills to make it`s food



A big factor would be how many will you be cooking for? Is this for parties or just a family of 3-4? If you`re looking for something big I think the best deals out there are the BBQ that look like 55 gal drums cut in half. I have been to 2 parties where they used these types of grills and they were pretty good, lots of cooking surface, lots of space under the hood for bigger things.











http://images.grillsdirect.com/mgen/master:CG012.jpg?is=400,400,0xffffff&cvt=jpg

[stilez]

Great info!



Thank you very much.





I have a lot of reading to do :).







And yes, it will typically be for 2-6 people, mostly around 2.

[TigerMike]

After my family used Weber`s for years, I am a Weber fan as well. My dad has just about every size Weber there is, and I started out with the Smoky Joe for a small grill. Now we use that one for small meals, but I also got a smoker as a wedding gift. Smokers are really great too, and I love the smoky taste! Gas-cooked food never appealed to me...so tasteless.

[GearHead_1]

Gas-cooked food never appealed to me...so tasteless.



I know that this isn`t what you were asking but I would try to talk you into a gas grill. If you`re looking to add charcoal flavor you can always put a can of damp wood chips in the grill or cook on wood planks. The chips and planks can be either cedar or hickory. I bought the one that Sam`s has. I looked at every store and every brand/model in the area before I laid the money down. It is pretty nice. Jenn Air`s product may be a little better but the one I got is a heck of a lot of grill for the money. It actually has 7 burners including the back rotisserie burner and the side plate. It`s around 880 sq. in. It comes with a nice cover (much nicer than I expected) and rotisserie also. These were add on extras with many of the brands I looked at. It ran $599. It is available in both natural gas and propane.



http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=328026

[Asonyexec]

If you`re going to be doing a lot of BBQing then GEAR is correct, gas is the way to go. You can be spending lots of cash on charcoal but again it depends on the frequency of use. Like i said earlier, 90% of my cooking is done on my grill and for me it`s the most economical way to go.



The way I found to get that "grilled" taste to your food is to find some type of grill that will fit between the cooking surface and the burners. on top of that grill you lay down some of those lava rocks or the specialty stones used in BBQs (available at home depot, very common). This accomplishes 2 things, first it keeps your burners clean by keeping grease dripping off of the burners. secondly it catch all those dripping and saves them for later.....yummy. after a few uses those grease coated stones add flavor to your food every time you heat up the grill. Oh another thing the rocks eliminate is your food coming in direct contact with the flame, lessens the chance of burning your food.



I remember many moons ago you can only get gas grills with the lava rocks and somewhere along the line they eliminated those rocks and found a way to cover the burners with more metal

[Super]

I make my own BBQ grill out of cinderblocks and firebricks, works great!



Or buy this one great for partys

http://www.sparkler.com/PA240042.JPG

[Autoeng]

Smoking food is truly an art, and an addiction. "Low and slow," means meat is cooked for hours (and by hours I mean 6-12) at temps never really exceeding 250* The coals are in a separate compartment, and only the smoke is used to cook the meat. Prep time for meats often involves overnight marinading, so a good smoking is often a "weekend project" requiring some commitment. But as stated above, the results are usually well worth it. I just got into it last summer, and achieved some awesome results with beef brisket, beef ribs, and pork ribs.



I used to believe the same thing but have gradually adjusted my views of smoking. In example, I used to marinate / season my pork ribs overnight and cook them for 6 hours in my smoker (a Brinkmann electric). I never got the results I wanted and yes I removed the membrane. They were always too touch. This year my supermarket changed vendors of their pork products. The new vendor removes the membrane before packaging. I season the ribs just prior to putting them on the smoker and cook for 4½-5 hours and they are fall off the bone delicious. I have come to the conclusion that the success of good smoked meats comes from the quality of the meat , not the time in the smoker.



JMHO