pinniped

I believe my Weber Genesis grill (about $450, incl. cover and a 2nd tank) stacks up very well against most of the $800-1000 grills on the market. I have a few friends who have these monster grills with lots of bells and whistles and pretty much grill steaks and burgers for 4-6 people at a time. You can do all of that and more with a simple Weber gas grill. Spend the extra $500 on meat.

I also have a small electric Brinkman smoker. A pretty low-end model. I grill several times a week but only smoke 4-5 times a year. One of these years, I'll upgrade, but for now, the little guy does a small brisket or a couple slabs of ribs just fine.

My tips, which some of you have already covered:

- If your wife insists on 95% lean ground beef, you'll need to dope the meat with bread crumbs at a bare minimum. Although I tend to go light on sauces and marinades with beef, super-lean hamburger really needs some help! So we mix in bread crumbs, garlic, rosemary, and perhaps a little sauce.

- Handle the meat on the grill as little as possible. It might take a while to get to know your grill, but once you figure out where to place and how long it will take to properly grill big, thick burgers, you should only have to flip them 1 time. Same holds true for any meat - the less you need to jack with it, the better off you'll be.

- Toss hamburger or hotdog buns onto a cooler section of the grill to toast them. Very easy to do and it adds to the overall presentation. If you wish you may butter or oil them lightly before putting them on the grill.

- All sorts of fruits & veggies work well on the grill. Last night, we did sliced squash, direct-grilled, and then tossed in olive oil with garlic. Also did corn - lots of ways to do corn both in & out of the husk. Last week, we did bananas and pineapple on the grill. A light lime sauce to finish the bananas and a coconut milk, cinnamon, and sugar sauce for the pineapple.

- Grilled portabella mushrooms rule. Go with either an olive oil / garlic / rosemary marinade or with some Asian flavors. A big mushroom and some grilled slices of good bread and you are well on your way to a filling and flavorful vegetarian sandwich.

- Try a smoker pouch (soaked wood chunks wrapped in foil with a few holes poked in it) with anything you plan to slow-cook on the grill. On my Weber, I drop it below the grate on the Flavorizer bars. On a charcoal grill, the pouch can rest in the coals. On other gas grills, check the user manual: it probably tells you where to put the pouch. (Generally, below the food but above and not resting on the gas tubes themselves.) Some high-end grills have a built-in metal box for wood chips.

- Milder fruit woods work well with chicken and fish. Stronger stuff like hickory or mesquite rocks with beef. You don't have to be on a mission to spend the day smoking meat to slip a little smoker pouch onto the grill. Unless you are using a smoking recipe that specifically asks for something different, just use 1 pouch. Late in the cooking process the meat isn't taking more smoke flavor in anyway.

- If you are using propane, the 2nd tank is a huge convenience. Well worth it if you grill often. Find a place that refills your tanks directly - not a place that requires you to swap for their tanks. Look for equipment rental places or ask at your local hardware store. If the hardware store doesn't do it, they will know who does.

- If you are rigging a seriously high-end or permanent-fixture unit, look into running a natural gas line from your house. Most grills can handle this with the addition of a simple adapter to account for the different orifice size.

jfe

It's pretty heavy, not sure what it's made of

All it says on the website is

CrazyOne

Cast iron box with wood chips. I just moved some of the bricks out of the way on one side. It wasn't a really grand attempt. It was on the cheap, like the rest of that grill. I think it was more a lesson in the fact that you can't do much more than straight grilling on the cheap.

BTW, when I mean on the cheap I mean CHEAP. This grill cost well under $100 on closeout one year at Wal-Mart as I recall. My dad found it, bought one for himself and one for me. It was mostly gone anyway. Everything but the tank went out with the trash late last year.

annerj

And maybe different burners as the LP/NG burn a bit differently.

IAH_FLYER

Great post, pinniped. I have a Weber Genesis as well, hooked to my NG line. Buying good meat makes all the difference. I also require that it be fresh - I can't stand the taste of a steak that has been frozen so I don't buy it in bulk at Costco or anything.

jfe

Of course they do, LP burns a whole lot hotter, since it's a refined product C3H8 (yes, I watch Good Eats ) and that is the reason why Natural Gas burners are bigger, they need more gas to produce the same amount of heat

I have a permanent (OK almost permanent) built in for my grill, and I run LP. Running a natural gas line would have been a nightmare, and I have two tanks, it has enough space to handle two in its doors

kipper

Hmm, I'm thinking once we buy a house, it might be a nice housewarming present for DH...

cblaisd

LOX would be hotter still
http://www.doeblitz.net/ghg/

jfe

I am sure Napalm does a great job in heating, although I wouldn't want to eat anything cooked in it

annerj

^ I said it up thread but there is no way around this fact!

Good meat = better eats.

Sweet Willie

but those are flavor bits !!!

I would suggest if using a gas grill to use wood chips.

Soak them and place in a container (they make them specifically for wood chips) or place in heavy foil poked with some holes.

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the_traveler

I agree! I always keep a spare 2nd tank ready to go.

There's nothing like cooking dinner at 7, 8, or 9 PM on Friday or Saturday, and find out half way through cooking that you're out of propane! (It has happened to me a few times. ) When that happens, you can just take off the empty tank, put on the full 2nd tank, and finish cooking. Then you can wait until Monday (or the next day) to fill the empty!

Spending $20 for a 2nd tank is worth it! ^

Gabatta

Spark it up at 4:20

pinniped

In that case, I'd go against previous advice and make the burgers thin. Your crowd is gonna get hungry - fast - and they won't mind White Castles. Maximize throughput with skinny burgers!

bdjohns1

I've got a Weber chimney, and the handle's long enough and it's got enough of a heat shield between the handle and the body that I can pour carefully w/o mitts.

As far as oiling the grate, I throw it on, let it heat up good, then do the paper towel with tongs (I have long tongs that grip pretty tight at the end) - works great. Some grillers will actually use a piece of bacon fat, but I've never kept bacon fat around to try it with.

I actually have a bunch of cedar planks, somewhat unintentionally. We just put up a cedar fence at our house, and the pickets come 6' tall. Unfortunately, village ordinance keeps you from building a fence taller than 5', so I had about 350 pieces of 5.5"x0.5" cedar planks that were all between 12-18 inches long. We saved about 100, plus some scraps of 2x4 and 4x4 that I'll chop up tiny for the smoker box. I'll be doing a lot of cooking with cedar.