What is the purpose of those "Grill Grates"? As in, what's the difference between those and the grills that come with the Q?
Looks like harder to clean.
Not wanting to "rewrite" all the information and particulars about them is the reason why I included a convenient link to their website. It has all the information about them, and a lot more of it, than I would care to spend half a day typing.
Sorry Glenn, but I meant no offense. They may not be what everyone wants, I merely offered it up as informational to those who may want to consider them as an option. Obviously, they may not be everybody's cup of tea. I had no intention of offending you or anyone else. Just thought there may be some interest to other members. No harm-No foul.
I just wanted to know the advantage over the grills that came with the Q.
Of course, the web site is going to say it's the greatest, or gratest, but I was interested in why you felt they are worthwhile.
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What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?
- Bertolt Brecht
Sweet setup Bill. Frankly, I just don't know how anyone would ever achieve an indirect heat zone on a cooker that is only a foot in diameter (Cobb comes to mind here?) to be able to do true barbecue. I do like your "toys" though.
My stuff:
Weber Genesis stainless steel 4 burner grill (with Grill Grates on half and a cast iron flat-top, aka "plancha,") on the other half.
PK Grill Aluminum Charcoal Grill, (also with with Grill Grates.)
2 Weber "Go Anywhere" grills - one propane and one charcoal, (also with a shared set of Grill Grates.)
3 different Camp Chef stoves, (1 burner, 2 burner, and a 3 burner models.) with single and double flat tops and covered grill attachment (also with Grill Grates.)
Bubba's stainless steel indirect heat, (a real BBQ,) grill.
And several other various grilling and barbecuing appliances and all the stuff that goes with it all.
Eat your heart out Bobby Flay!
(And no, I have no affiliation with the Grill Grates manufacturer, other than I really love cooking on them.)
Mine is Weber Summit Gold with four burners, a smoker burner and a side burner that's rarely used.
I keep all my receipts and the manual and discovered that the 10 year warranty on the burners was about to lapse. Sent photos of the burners to Weber and they replaced the entire set.
I'm good for another ten years except that the body has a few holes in it. I used duct tape ( aluminum duct - not duck ) to patch it up.
The Q has lived outdoors it's entire life.
I love being able to control the heat for indirect cooking. For ribs, I use only the smoker burner. For chicken I'll use the smoker burner and one or two burners as needed.
I'm not sure my neighbour understands the need to BBQ.
Gave my Weber Baby Q and my Dickinson Spitfire to son-in-law and replaced them with a two-burner Napoleon for camping.
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What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?
- Bertolt Brecht
I agree, and Weber's have always been great grills. I have more than a few myself. If you can't create at least a minimum of a two area indirect heat in your cooking appliance, then it's awfully hard to create a good atmosphere for creating good barbecue, and it can't be achieved over a "direct heat" source without it making the meat come out like chewing on a Nike sneaker.
I also had a Weber Baby Q for a while, but I refurbished it and gave it to one of the boys. Napoleons are really nice grills too. Not cheap either, but you get what you pay for.
Greg ..what are these Girl grates of which you speak?
Greg,
Are we talking about BBQ or grilling. You know there are two styles of BBQ.
You can either do it dry or if you do it right and take your time it can be very wet
My assumption is these Girl grates are not for BBQ...but more for the succulent caramelization known as a sear on your big piece of meat.
Now.... I am most certain.... that you take a long time to rubbing and patting your meat in anticipation for the big event. I hear they use that technique a lot ...out around your neck of the woods.
I am not certain how they do it up north but around these parts real men don't need to use Girl grates to achieve such perfection....we are a tougher bunch in the mid-west...we prefer a sear using the caveman technique. (see first pic)
As far as indirect...even on the Mini Big Green Egg we use a "plate setter" (2nd pic)and cook in the dome. We can separate the fuel into two zones (3rd pic). I have had many Weber grills in my 57 years..(great products) I could never "grill" in February when it is down to zero degrees....where the Green Eg retain so much heat...I gril or BBQ all year long.
Your friend always
Bill
(p.s. my favorite campground is laying off 1,500 bookkeeping and accounting positions)
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A three egg family..
(2) Big Green Eggs for cooking..(1) Egg for camping
Greg,
Are we talking about BBQ or grilling. You know there are two styles of BBQ.
My assumption is these Girl grates are not for BBQ...but more for the succulent caramelization known as a sear on your big piece of meat.
Bill
Your assumption is correct Bill, they are primarily designed for grilling, hence the name Grill Grates. They aren't designed, per se, to be BBQ grates, but are used for getting that "Maillard effect" on your food, like the umami flavor you get from char broiled stuff. That's why I also have the regular wire grills as well for other types and methods of cooking, but they can't be beat for getting great sear marks. You can even turn them over and use them upside down as a good hot flat top as well.
BBQ, as you already also know, is "low and slow," whereas the Grill Grates are for faster high heat cooking. If I'm doing a brisket or ribs or tri-tips for example, I would not use the Grill Grates for those applications. But if you want good carmelization, they're the ticket.
Greg
I enjoy BBQing. I own several small grills for camping including the Weber BabyQ, Cobb and others. My favorite is the Weber Go-Anywhere Charcoal Grill. I can grill, bake, and BBQ with it. My favorite is BBQing, just set it and forget it. In my opinion, the taste is also better. BBQing with the Go-Anywhere allows me to have juicy, flavorful, and tender meats. You can see the juicy cut and the deep red outer smoke ring in the pictures. I've made Cornish Hens, chicken, pork shoulders, brisket, fish, baby back ribs, turkey breasts, and cakes. I just put a small amount of charcoal with a small piece of smoking wood on one side, and the meat on the other. The Cobb is also great for BBQ.
Marky
Hmmmm
Lots of ways to cook food, portable and not so portable. Between cooker types and cooking utensils I'd hate to add up my investment. We start as simple as a wiener on a stick, one of those four sided wire toasters, and a pie iron and go nuts from there. Who has a Raemco 7 in 1 stove that can not only cook food but will heat your tent or tiny trapping cabin? With coal. What is coal anyway?
And then there's that World War 1 trench mess kit that could keep you going for a long time with a few sticks, tinder box and flint and steel. YMMV.
Iowa Dave
Interesting grill. Although I do speak a little Spanish, admittedly, my French is dismally poor. But the video is visual enough to make up for my lingual shortcomings. It seems to really crank out a lot of heat, which is really good for steaks and thinner cuts, but I'm not sure how good it would work for a low-heat application like slow cooking or true BBQ'ing, (where you would want the application of low heat over a long time.) The "chimney" section kind of looks to me to be constructed almost like a section of double-walled wood stove chimney stack. When it got up to a ripping high flame, it looks like I could melt lead for fishing weights on it.
Looks like you can make some good steaks on it though.
And that's some good lookin' BBQ there Marky, but then I would expect no less from a true Texan! I also "collect" too many outdoor cooking appliances, (according to my wife,) but for "camping" I also own two of those Weber Go-Anywhere grilles, one that uses propane and one that uses charcoal. Other than that, they are twins. They're really great little heat sources for cooking and each has it's strong points, depending on what you are making. So, what time is dinner?