Home Outdoor Grill Basics

With so many grilling options (you`ll find dozens of charcoal, wood, gas and pellet grills available), we decided to go head-to-head to make your decision a little easier. We cooked a whole range of dishes over charcoal, pellets and gas and figured out the advantages and disadvantages of each approach to help you understand the differences and choose the best one for your lifestyle and your budget.

According to archeological evidence, humans have been grilling - quickly cooking food over a direct flame or radiant heat - for at least 2 million years, and it remains one of the most popular methods of cooking.
Grilling is special because it jump-starts the complex chemistry that gives meats a delicious crust, flavor and texture profile. The intense heat of the grill triggers the Maillard reaction (in which the compounds in food - the proteins, amino acids and sugars in meat, for example - react to create darker colors and more intense aromas and flavors) along with caramelization (where at even higher temperatures the sugars in the meat and rub or marinade brown) and char (in which the burning fuel and the vaporized drippings from whatever you`re cooking impart even more flavor to the meat).
While many people refer to all grills as barbecues, grilling and barbecuing are not the same. Barbecue is a specific style of cooking meat at low heat (under 225 degrees Fahrenheit) over long periods (usually measured in hours), and generally uses wood fuel (typically hardwoods and fruitwoods) to provide indirect heat and the smoke that gives barbecued food its characteristic flavor.
When shopping for a grill, your first decision is the fuel type. Gas, charcoal, pellet and wood grills not only perform differently and let you use different cooking techniques to achieve different flavors, but they vary in start-up time, convenience and ease of cleanup. To add functionality and to make it easier to take care of your grill, you`ll also want to invest in a few grilling accessories. Adding tools like a dependable meat thermometer and a durable grill brush to your arsenal will make the job a lot easier.
While certain types of outdoor grills (such as kamado-style, kettle-style or pellet-fed) may also be used to smoke meats at lower temperatures with longer cooking times, dedicated barbecue smokers like an offset smoker, a [bullet" or vertical smoker or an electric smoker that burns wood chips or pellets are generally designed spec

The latest refinement of a 70-year-old design, the Weber Original Premium Kettle Grill represents the type of charcoal grill most people are familiar with. A kettle grill is simple to use, effective and affordable. But most importantly, the results are fantastic. With a little effort and experience, a simple kettle can turn out fantastic grilled meats and vegetables, letting you take full advantage of the high heat of charcoal grilling in a very accessible format.
The design - a roughly bowl-shaped basin on tripod legs covered by a lid - is space and fuel efficient, and temperature management is straightforward using vents at top and bottom along with judicious opening and closing of the lid.
Kettles like the Weber can grill at high temperatures (over 700 degrees Fahrenheit), and with some skill can be used for low-temperature tasks, including barbecue or smoking, which makes them incredibly versatile. Maintenance is simple too, with most offering a removable ash hopper at the bottom of the bowl.

To assess the relative strengths and weaknesses of each cooking method, we tested six grills-Weber Kettle Charcoal Grill, Big Green Egg Grill, Nuke Delta Argentinian Grill-with an entire patio in our home over an eight-week period , Yak hibachi/shichirin grill, Weber Genesis gas grill and Traeger Ironwood 885 pellet grill.

Various flavors of Traeger brand pellets are used to fuel Ironwood 885. Propane was purchased for Weber Genesis. For the Weber jug we use Kingsford Original briquettes as fuel. For other charcoal grills, we used a Brazilian eucalyptus mix and Argentine quebracho lump charcoal purchased from a local supermarket in South Florida.

A variety of proteins are cooked on each grill, including handcrafted burgers (usually 80% lean beef), New York steak, Brazilian tri-tip steak, filet mignon, chicken thighs, pork sausage, hot dogs, bacon and shrimp. A variety of vegetables were also cooked, including onions, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes and corn. Protein is flavored with a variety of abrasives from different manufacturers, including Traeger and Weber. BBQ sauces from these companies are used as a glaze during the last few minutes of high heat cooking.

Each grill was fired according to the manufacturer's instructions and cooked after the recommended preheat period. The charcoal lighting on the kettle was done using Kingsford and Weber chimney starters and crumpled newspapers as kindling, while the Looft Lighter Classic was used for the block charcoal grill.

For instant temperature readings while the grill is heating up, we used an infrared thermometer, and we used a thermometer to determine the doneness of the meat.