The Complete Buying Guide to Weber Grills: Every Model Explained

Nothing beats the smoky barbecue flavour that can only be created on a charcoal barbecue. The Weber Traveler grill is for anyone who wants delicious grilled food away from home.

If you’re like me, you might also prefer a reverse sear, especially if you’re cooking thick cuts of steak, or pork chops. Instead of spreading out your lit coals, gather them to one side of the grill. Now place your steaks on the opposite side of the grill grate, where they’ll get seared with indirect heat. What’s more important to know is how hot things are at grill grate level. That’s why I suggest using a metal grill clip to mount your thermometer right on the grates.

With grilling, the ability to cook on direct heat means that your food will be ready quickly. However, unless you’re closely watching the grill at all times, portable bbq your food can easily burn or overcook. Consider how much space you want on the grill for cooking and how much distance you need to shop and run a restaurant.

weber charcoal grill

Barrel-style charcoal grills, while larger, can be more difficult to manage and harder to clean. There are cheaper versions of the kettle out there, but the Weber’s quality construction makes it a valuable purchase that should last you a long time. The only real learning curve to cooking on a charcoal grill is fire management, but the built-in thermometer makes that easier.

Another powerful draw of these grills is the intense smoky flavor they create in the food they cook. They’re versatile too since they can use either traditional charcoal briquettes or lump charcoal as fuel. Our last test is grilling barbecued ribs, specifically baby back pork ribs.

Built-in thermometers like those tend to be slow to respond and they’re often inaccurate, because they sit inside the grill lid and measure heat levels at the top of the grill cavity. We measured the temperature of the grill surface, as well as the internal temperature of the chicken, with an external thermometer to ensure that any built-in temperate gauges were accurate. For the most part, the built-in thermometers were accurate, with the exception of the Cuisinart gauge, which barely registered any temperature throughout our testing process.

Our customer service reps are real people offering great service, backed by 8 weeks of hands-on training with all of our products. Easy to Clean- With the patented One-Touch Cleaning weber q System in Weber Grills, charcoal ash can be removed quickly with one hand. The porcelain-enamel blast-fired coating allows for effortless removal of soot with just some soapy water.

Michael Sullivan has been a staff writer on the kitchen team at Wirecutter since 2016. Previously, he was an editor at the International Culinary Center in New York. He has worked in various facets of the food and restaurant industry for over a decade. Add the extra money you pay for the Napoleon grill over the Weber kettle that it emulates, and the Weber model’s superiority is even starker.

This means that you might have to compromise on searing or high temperature grilling in bulk, but does make it great for BBQ smoking. This means that rather than offer just one main grill area, it has two smaller ones that sit on top of one another. Travel with taste, or grill up a quick meal on your patio with the Jumbo Joe portable charcoal… If your grilling customs are more clear-cut and you are not juggling numerous meals at precisely the exact same period, the Kamado Joe Classic III may just be a lot of barbecue for you. If the flexibility to BBQ smoke is important to you then this smoker combo is definitely worth considering. However, if you’re only interested in a grill at this stage then there’s a lot here that is probably unnecessary for you.