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We bought a $99 grill fifteen years ago and it's still going strong. The entire cooking chamber, top and bottom, is cast aluminum, so rust isn't an issue. The only parts I've had to replace are the burners - it's a ten minute process to change them out every four years.
As I said before, I'm not very adept at grilling, I'm a BBQer - my wife does the grilling.
Home Depot and Lowes sell assembled grills, or the Craigslist route. While your car is an issue, hit up Lowes or Home Depot and rent one of their trucks for an hour (assuming you are close to one). Problem solved.
Chose your grates wisely, cover your grill, clean your grill, you will get more use out of a larger grill than a portable, size alone you can fit burgers, steaks, chicken, veggies all on the same grill at the same time. Side burner? They are cool to fire up a side, but my new grill does not have and I don't miss it. Get an extra propane tank if going propane, handy to have when your food is halfway through cooking and your run out of propane.
It's a Char-Broil "Tru-Infra Bistro" it seems to have similar specifications to the one I had before, it sells for $180, someone has it for only $50. I sure hope I can grab it before someone else does, besides it being a good deal & looking like it might be a good one, it also would be already assembled, yet I think I can cram it into our car.
Follow-up--I got that Char-Broil Infrared Patio Bistro in gas, and it looks pretty darn impressive. For only $50, with the owner's manual and it already put together and in good shape, it's just what I was looking for--larger than a table-top, but without the burdens of a full-sized one (getting it home assembled with only a car for transport or having to take it home as a "bag of parts" and then spend hours putting it together while cussing). It's not portable as my Sportable 28159k was, but I hardly used that aspect anyway. Its cooking area and overall "scale" of things (in terms of its ambitions) seem about the same as the Sportable I had. Unlike the Sportable it has a built-in temperature gauge and a "keep warm" shelf up higher, and it uses the 20 lb tanks. It has fewer BTUs, like 12,500 vs 15,000, but that's still more than the 10,000 of my table-top.
I am a bit concerned about how it has no "flare-up" due to its infrared design, which is supposed to be a good thing (and it should also cause it to cook more evenly, they say), but how does it get that "grilled" flavor if there is no flaring up from meat and fat drippings?
Also, as I am on something of a "grilling kick" as of late, what's a good site for people who do a lot of "grill talk" and such?
Follow-up--I got that Char-Broil Infrared Patio Bistro in gas, and it looks pretty darn impressive. For only $50, with the owner's manual and it already put together and in good shape, it's just what I was looking for--larger than a table-top, but without the burdens of a full-sized one (getting it home assembled with only a car for transport or having to take it home as a "bag of parts" and then spend hours putting it together while cussing). It's not portable as my Sportable 28159k was, but I hardly used that aspect anyway. Its cooking area and overall "scale" of things (in terms of its ambitions) seem about the same as the Sportable I had. Unlike the Sportable it has a built-in temperature gauge and a "keep warm" shelf up higher, and it uses the 20 lb tanks. It has fewer BTUs, like 12,500 vs 15,000, but that's still more than the 10,000 of my table-top.
I am a bit concerned about how it has no "flare-up" due to its infrared design, which is supposed to be a good thing (and it should also cause it to cook more evenly, they say), but how does it get that "grilled" flavor if there is no flaring up from meat and fat drippings?
Also, as I am on something of a "grilling kick" as of late, what's a good site for people who do a lot of "grill talk" and such?
Also, what I was asking was what was a good site, with forums for posting and the like, that dealt mostly with grilling? I ask because I had a host of questions that may not get answered here, since there are so many, I felt like I needed a "grillingfordummies.com" sort of site.
Questions such as:
(a) Since this grill is said to be an infrared, with no "flare-ups" or the like, what will I notice?
(b) I always heard that the grilling favor CAME from flare-ups, or open-flame cooking, where the meat drippings hit hot lava rocks and then smoke results. Wouldn't an infrared be the antithesis to that? (What little I've read suggests the food will still taste like food from a gas grill, the main thing is that it will heat quicker and cook more evenly.) For that matter, I know a lot of people like grilling with aluminum foil, but wouldn't that also sort of defeat the purpose of "open flame grilling?"
(c) "Logistics" when you're cooking on the grill but also preparing side dishes. I tend to prepare the side dishes inside while running back & forth to the grill, sort of "filling up" the time you'd otherwise be waiting for the food to cook on the grill. In my observations, though, that tends to lead to a lot of craziness from running around in a state of panic ("oh no! the food's burning!") and whenever I see others grilling I always observe that the guys are just outside grilling the whole time, apparently with the other food already done. Is that more commonly how it's done, and if so, how do you keep things like baked potatoes and rice from going cold? Or do guys typically have someone else handle the sides concurrently as they're grilling? (With baked beans, I have that solved, I prepare them in a small slow cooker and they'll be on "keep warm" during this time, ready & waiting.)
(d) Am I the only one around here, not being ugly to others mind you, that likes vinegar and ketchup-based sauce for barbecued chicken? Back in eastern NC from I originate from, that was what we used, the recipe I found 2 months ago calls for 1 cup of apple-cider vinegar, ½ cup of catsup, 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar, 2 teaspoons of salt, and ½ tbsp of Tabasco and red pepper flakes, and (optionally) 1 tbsp of margarine. You glaze that on your chicken with a "basting brush" as it cooks, and put some in a condiment cup for dipping on the side as well, and oh man it's just outstanding.
I guess that conjures up the "barbecue wars" as it were, but no one around here (eastern TX) has ever heard of such a type of barbecue sauce for chicken. Frankly, it's a wonder I can even purchase vinegar around here, no one seems to use vinegar for anything. I do also like tomato/molasses-based BBQ sauce like Cattleman's or Bull's Eye (my current choice for pork chops especially), but for chicken, that aforementioned vinegar/ketchup sauce is just IT.
Like I said, it's a lot of questions, the sort of thing that I figure you guys will tire of reading and replying to, which is why I was wondering if there is a site any of you know of & have experience with that's good for "grill talk" as it were.
Also, what I was asking was what was a good site, with forums for posting and the like, that dealt mostly with grilling? I ask because I had a host of questions that may not get answered here, since there are so many, I felt like I needed a "grillingfordummies.com" sort of site.
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I'd recommend a few but we arent allowed to give out links to other forums so Google "Outdoor grilling forum" and a bunch of them will pop up..
I'd recommend a few but we arent allowed to give out links to other forums so Google "Outdoor grilling forum" and a bunch of them will pop up..
PM works. I will Yahoo! search as well.
Last edited by shyguylh; 07-17-2014 at 09:40 PM..
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