I am replacing the briquettes in my outdoor propane grill. The old ones looked like they were volcanic rock.
We bought some replacement briquettes that don't look so good. They look like poured or molded concrete. They are not very uniform. The edges are crumbly and some of them are broken into pieces. They came 60 in a bag for $7.
What would some more expensive ones be like? Would they break easily and fall apart? Would they last longer or have other advantages over these cheap ones we bought? How much should I be paying for some good ones?
My last grill (the one someone stole) used metal grids. I liked them best. I don't grill for looks, but for taste, so who cares what they look like. As long as they do the job (provide a hot surface to burn the fat and create that barbecue flavor.)?
When designing my grill for my outdoor kitchen / BBQ area, I bought a bag of landscaping lava rocks... These are quite a bit cheaper than the small bags that are sold just for the grills... Some of them are smaller than the ones that are sold explicitly for grills, but I just adjusted the size of the support grid so that they wouldn't fall through... I have about a 3" layer of these rocks in my grill with about an inch or so between the burner holes and the bottom of the lava rock support gridwork... It takes a bit longer to heat up, but I'm using natural gas, so it's cheaper anyway... I can get the rocks cherry red and turn down or off the gas and still cook... For the grill surface, I use 1/2" square solid bar stock from a metal / welding supply shop like is used in the better quality metal fencing... Most of the metal fencing that you see these days is the square tube type, but the solid stuff is about the same price as the 16-gauge stuff when you're buying 20 ft sections of it... Because it's so thick, it lasts a *long* time even if it was just left outside in the rain...
Those look kind of wimpy... I don't think they would survive a tornado... I designed my grill area so that even if my house is no longer standing, my grill will still be there... Gotta have your priorities, ya' know...
True, but it is also Beef Brisket and it is not possible to get REAL BBQ outside of Texas...
Many of us just like the convenience of using gas to grill... Yeah, it's not anywhere close to grilling over mesquite, but it's quick... If I had to do REAL BBQ, I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't do it quite as often...
On the other hand, some people use propane / natural gas to fire the wood up initially... That's a perfectly acceptable use of gas within the definition of REAL BBQ...
Our home is in the desert. We cook outside virtually every evening. Why in the world would we want to use the stove or oven in the house, while cranking up the A/C to keep it cool inside? On rainy nights, I have a large Market Umbrella that I unfurl if needed, or use a golf umbrella if just checkin' the food. To me, the outdoor gas grill is a cooking appliance as useful as a range or oven. Ours cost about $1100 at Sam's Club, is all stainless with a double walled hood, drawers and a side burner. It's made in China, as are most of the similar grills at Sears and even the expensive BBQ stores. By any standards, it is very well built. The grates are SS bars for good seering.
Mine also has a separate burner beneath a shallow tray that can be filled with charcoal or wood chips to "smoke" what I'm cooking. Being a barbecue fanatic (barbecue is a noun where I come from), I know and understand how to cook butts over COALS for hours at a time, and have cranked out some pretty decent 'que on occasion. This isn't the same thing. We use ours to grill chicken, chops, steaks, salmon, shrimp, scallops and about any other kind of meat. We roast ears of corn on it, use the spit for rib roasts, pork or beef tenderloin. By grilling, you don't get all the fat and the mess is minimal.
I have a friend who has a gas grill that cost $4000 and is inset into a $3000 ceramic tile island. Mine just sits on casters and I recently wheeled it out to paint the patio beneath it. We have often compared grills when visiting and he agrees that his $4000 grill from a barbecue store offers less than my $1100 grill from Sam's Club.
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