Though a bit of an investment, the gas grill pays off with its convenience. It’s easy to start, easy to use, and heats up quickly and powerfully, delivering 12,000 BTUs of heat per hour. The 280-square-inch cooking area consists of porcelain-enameled cast-iron cooking grates, which should be enough to serve weber charcoal grill three to four people (pretty good for a portable model). Both times we tested it, we found the grill was really easy to use, as it’s easy to light, has immaculate temperature regulation, and practically operates itself. It was the fastest pellet grill to reach 500 degrees, achieving it in under 10 minutes.
Visions of tasty backyard cookouts never cease no matter what season it is. It’s always a great time to up your outdoor cooking game by using the best charcoal grill you can find. A charcoal grill might sound less luxurious than a gas grill, but when it comes to flavor, the best charcoal grills absolutely compete. Its construction is simple weber q and solid, and the materials—rust-proof aluminum legs, porcelain-coated steel for the body, and a nickel-plated steel grill—are designed to last. And while the basic design has barely changed since 1952, Weber has added helpful new details over the years—this latest iteration has convenient tool hooks on the side handles, for example.
The Weber kettle grill has been around since the early 1950s, so chances are good you’ve eaten a burger, a hotdog, or a steak cooked on one. As a kid, our family had a gas grill, while the neighbors had a Weber. Their food was always a little bit tastier, so I made the Weber Original my first grill when I got a home of my own.
For example, a kettle-style charcoal grill left in the July sun all day will run a lot hotter than it will in the cooler spring months. In cooking performance, the Weber was the best and most hassle-free grill in our tests. That’s a reflection of the Weber’s excellent ability to control how much heat your charcoal briquets are putting out, which you manage by adjusting the vents underneath the grill and on top of the lid. A gas grill uses propane or natural gas to cook, while a charcoal grill is a basin (usually stainless steel, porcelain-coated stainless steel, or ceramic) meant to contain charcoal fires.
Meat from the Nexgrill was delicious, with just a bit more flavor than the Weber. Between them, I’d say it largely depends on your budget and what style of grill you prefer for other meats like burgers or steak. None of the hood thermometers built into these grills mirrored the temperatures recorded by our own thermocouples and data software.
The fact that the kettle shape dominates the charcoal-grilling field doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the ideal. Before lighting a single briquet, we spoke with more than a dozen experts, including Joe Salvaggio of Big Apple BBQ. Joe and his brother Tony have run Big Apple BBQ, one of the New York region’s leading grill shops, for over 30 years. Salvaggio spent an hour explaining the fundamentals of charcoal-grill design, function, materials, and maintenance to us.