Grills

Thread Hijack: If I have a Gas/Propane grill that no longer works (The burners have broken off), can I just put coal in the grill and use it as a charcoal grill?

 

I've had gas and I've had off set stick smokers. 2 years ago when I got my large big green egg I got rid of all the others. I love the BGE. I cook every thing from brisket, to bread, to pizza's on it. I doubt I'll ever buy anything else again.

 

I've done this before and it worked fine but it would depend largely on what the grill is composed of.

 

I did it once and it burned through after a few attempts. Depends on how weakened your grill is already.

 

Anybody have a Green Egg? I know a couple of people that have one and they swear they are the greatest grilling/smoking product around.

 

About a year ago I was in the market for a wood pellet grill (partly from the nonstop Traeger advertising that Lance Zierline would do)...so I started doing some serious research into those types of grills. I thought that I would just buy the most popular out there (Traeger), but after reading quite a few reviews, they were receiving mixed reviews. I considered Green Mountain, but was eventually won over by glowing reviews for MAK.

http://www.makgrills.com/

I ended up getting the One Star General and it has been a great buy. I'm not a great cook...as a matter of fact I'm pretty much a disaster when it comes to making anything in the kitchen/grill. But my MAK has been really forgiving on the things that I"ve tried to cook (pizza, Thanksgiving turkey, beer can chicken, etc...). Most everything comes out tasting fantastic.

The grill is really a solid piece of equipment...something that I think will last decades...and MAK offers some pretty neat add-ons to help with cooking (remote control temperature monitoring, internet accessibility to control the grill). They are quite a bit more than the average grill...but I think the quality justifies the price difference. Plus, they've been very approachable (located in Dallas, Oregon) about questions cooking on the grill and provide a fair amount of information on how to properly use it.

 

See post 3 in this thread.

 

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/8fijggq5R6w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> ?

 

A proper thread hijack would have been to yell TV JOHNNY.

 

It will work but eventually will eat through the bottom of your grill. Get something to rest the coals on, above the bottom of the grill, and it will slow this process. Also, remove all the ash when you are done.

 

With all pellet cookers, my personal opinion is that you can not get the same bark on BBQ a a smoker. This is trivial since I assume it is for personal use and not a competition.

If you are going to do more grilling than smoking I just suggest a regular weber kettle, perfect grill and you can smoke on them also.

 

Question:

My company is relocating me so I'm going to move into an apartment. What would be a good portable/ porch grill? I will more than likely yet a little charcoal grill but I've never really looked at them.

 

I agree with this.

The only disadvantages I've found are the volume of cooking space is not enough for a large party (it's a tight squeeze for just a brisket alone), and these aren't really the best product for grilling quality steaks like gas grills are.

basso,

Those greenmountains look well made. Same as Traegers. One of my best buds has a Traeger, and he loves it but does say that pellets are difficult to clean vs regular smokers.

I agree with this. But like chrisbrown says, the pellet's are not my favorite for brisket, but seems perfect equal to regular smokers for ribs, chicken, pork etc. Also decide how much grilling you want to do vs smoking -- ie steaks.

 

This review is a bit different than when I saw it last. They were broken down by brand as opposed to the features that are listed now....but is still a pretty good guide.

As far as differences...not sure...other than I think MAK is definitely on the higher end of the pricing scale. After looking over the GMG Daniel Boone model, it appears it has very similar traits to the MAK One Star General that I ended up getting.

One of the things that drove me away from Traeger was that they were made in China and apparently Traeger had very little control over the manufacturing quality (not my words...found that in several different bbq forums). Unfortunately, it appears that GMG is also manufactured in China...so I would be a bit wary of the quality. An additional thing that sold me on MAK was the story behind how the company came to be. Apparently MAK is a metal crafting shop and the guys that worked there really enjoy bbq'ing...but were not happy with the pellet grills on the market...so they took all of the features that they would want in a grill and created their own.

 

You might want to get moved in before you purchase. Some places have rules against charcoal grills.

 

I have a BGE. I like it a lot. Great as a "do everything" grill. I have seared, baked, and smoked in mine. If you were to go this route, definitely get at least the large size. The medium IMHO is just too small if you want to smoke something like a brisket or a good amount of ribs.

I've had a Weber kettle for a long time and it's pretty much ole' reliable.

 

Weber spirit is a great long lasting gas grill