Going back to a charcoal grill

[Beau Vine]

Leaning towards a
Weber Performer.

Anybody want to talk me into a Big Green Egg or anything else?

(I already have a smoker that I'm really happy with.)

 

[NCAAFBALLROX]

I basically have the same thing, minus the propane kicker (got mine free off of FreeCycle; one leg is completely loose @ the top where it meets the frame & there's a chunk of red paint missing where it appears somebody dropped a brick or some such).

I love it.

BGE - thick ceramic walls; keeps the heat in. Me cook you long time, you no need lot wood.

BGE's are pricey, too.

I say if you've got the available disposable income, go for the Egg (but don't ever forsake an offset smoker).

 

[Horn9497]

I've had a BGE for 5 or so years and love it. It has the benefits the poster above mentioned but also does a great job of keeping things moist (thick ceramic walls help with that, also). It also does nicely with pizza. The temp gets higher for steaks. It is just a lot of fun to mess with.

 

[DRAG69]

Gas grills suck
Might as well cook it inside.

Good for you for going back to charcoal. I have always used a charcoal grill at home. I mix in some wood chips or wood chunks to get extra smoke. I also buy the charcoal that has the mesquite in it but my favorite wood to add is Hickory.

My dad had a gas grill and I used it over at his house a few times and I hated it. It is flavorless as far as adding any taste to what you are cooking.

I guess gas is good for people that can't start a fire properly but other than that I see no reason for them.

Oh and that ash catcher on the bottom is great. I have one on my grill it is sure makes everything a lot easier.

 

[TheFied]

If you can't start the fire properly, get a chimney starter.

 

[THEU]

ok here is my big peeve with Weber, and it has nothing to do with their products. It has to do with the fact that they are from the midwest (at least I am going to blame it on that) and that if you cook a hamburger or a hotdog on one of their grills they refer to that as 'barbequing.' I know we have had the 'difference between grilling and bbq' debates on here, which there isn't really a debate. I just can NOT buy a product from a company that calls grilling bbqing.... maybe I'm petty, but it does piss me off.

 

[Steel Shank]

I think we should picket their corporate office.

 

[Summerof79]

Why not just a smoker and toss the coals in the "shallow end" for grilling? That's what I do. Then I let the drippings from by smoking brisket or checken get absorbed by the spend charcoal ashes. Plus I am lazy, about 3 or 4 grillings per cleaning. PLUS this way you can grill/sear on one end and move the food to indirect heat to hold it for serving larger groups.

$249 from academy or the one below

Or for $350 or about $50 more than you are budgeting

 

[gsoda3]

i would suggest you don't need the gas ignition. chimney starter + newspaper sprayed a couple times with oil + match + charcoal = charcoal success.

 

[BigWill]

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[midtown]

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[cbs]

Here's another vote for the Big Green Egg. You can obviously do the typical smoking and grilling fare, but you can also do almost everything else in it that you do in an oven. Because the thick ceramic retains heat so well, it actually cooks from all over and not just the bottom (as in most grills). But our favorite is pizza. We do pizza at least once a month. And the ability to crank out more pizzas was one of the big factors in us getting two eggs (one large one medium) instead of just one.

 

[hullabelew]

I'm looking at a Primo grill. Like a BGE but it is oval, giving more grill surface. This is the smaller version. They have a much larger one.