Finally bought a new BBQ!!!

[Jenise]

Went with the Weber, though we expect it will disintegrate like all the others. Got the baby in the Genesis line, a two-burner. Portable but substantial. I realize we should have saved money and bought the cheap little Charboil, but oh well. The real decider was that this one comes with hurky wheels on one side and hurky casters on the other--it's truly made for people like us who will move it almost every time we use it.

I am puzzled why you expect it to disintegrate, but perhaps it is the sea air in your 'hood.
We have had a Weber kettle BBQ for 30 years sitting outside, uncovered and it is fine although we have replaced the wooden handles.

[Jenise]

Yes, it's the salty sea air. I live on south-facing waterfront, and all the storms come from the south. Everything dissolves, there's no help for it. Someone even two blocks off the water has just half the trouble we do.

Hey, even if it's not going to last all that long, you gotta have a barbecue.

Had you considered a Big Green Egg (or any of the less expensive kamado alternatives)? I understand the ceramic construction of the better ones are pretty much impervious to weather. Either way, enjoy your 'Q!

Jenise, are you going to do real 'cue -- smoky, long, low, and slow -- or is this really for grilling?

[Jenise]

No re the BGE. I love propane--I want to be able to cook NOW. Plus, I perceive those to be pretty heavy. We need to roll our Q from front courtyard to back yard to front again, depending on the weather (not just rain, windy days too). It needs to steer like a cart.

So far not impressed with the Weber. I want high heat. I want SEAR. I want CRUST. On this one we see flames but they're pretty far down and don't get to the meat. I don't need "flavor shields" (that name drives me nuts)--I don't want to be protected from burning my meat. The burgers we cooked on Monday just barely got some stripes from the grill surface, meanwhile the meat surface between the grates just kind of steamed.

[Jenise]

Jenise, are you going to do real 'cue -- smoky, long, low, and slow -- or is this really for grilling?

No, just for grilling.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/dini ... ottom-well

The 2 burner Genesis is 26Kbtu/hr, you're going to struggle to get a sear with that . But I don't know any gas grill where flame touch meat, what you want is a lot of heat and really hot grates. I have the 3 burner model (37K) and I can get a decent sear with preheat, though not what you'd get with a top charcoal (or wood.) As noted in article maybe a plancha or something would help.

[Jenise]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/dining/grill-charcoal-or-gas.html?hpw&rref=food&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well

The 2 burner Genesis is 26Kbtu/hr, you're going to struggle to get a sear with that . But I don't know any gas grill where flame touch meat, what you want is a lot of heat and really hot grates. I have the 3 burner model (37K) and I can get a decent sear with preheat, though not what you'd get with a top charcoal (or wood.) As noted in article maybe a plancha or something would help.

Plancha's are great, but now you're just using your barbecue like a frying pan, right? The whole char-broil-flame thing that we so desire isn't going to happen. The BBQ we just threw away had a searing station on it which we loved--we often completed the entire cook on it and never used the main burners. But re the Weber, I realize this had less BTU's but it also has less surface area--per Weber, I shouldn't experience less heat or power than you do on a per-square-inch basis.

I was really really ready to just buy a Charbroil. Half the price of the Weber, and they have a new model that's a 'hybrid' made for both gas and charcoal--I thought it was really innovative. But Bob is more a name-brand kind of guy, and he loved the bottom of the line Weber at our Hawaii condo last fall. Got really hot--we had great crusty steaks and perfect fish.

We did chicken on this one last night. Lots of color, but they were steeped in a lemon juice marinade and cooked for 25 minutes. A steak won't get that kind of time--anyway, we're going to try it out again tonight. Steaks. We'll see!

Jenise, if you haven't tried this yet, I recommend it. Chicken Marinade.

Theoretically a 2 burner should be as hot as a 3 burner with 1.5X area. But my experience is that while that might be true of the direct heat, if you do a good preheat my 3 burner gets hotter overall than a 2 burner (and my neighbor's big 4 burner does better than mine). While direct surface might be proportional, when closed the more burners the hotter. But this is anecdotal, not measured.
I agree re la plancha or pan, but like the idea with a top steak of doing on a heated surface for initial blast, then transferring to grates

[Jenise]

Dale, do you grill top open or closed?

We tested steaks last night. 1" thick, which for us in 30 years of grilling steaks means 5-6 min per side for rare. We preheated the grill to 600 degrees, and got good sear marks on side A before turning to side B, where we only got grill marks about half as good. A check of internal doneness was about 100, so we closed the lid. At 14.5 minutes we had 125, and during the lid-down part the steaks acquired a burnished all-over brown color, like we'd painted them with tea.

I've never had to cook a steak for 15 minutes to get rare.

Too, while working with them, I noticed that though we only have two burners, the flames from the burners only came out on one side, in each case the outer side. There were no flames on the other side of the burner--so the entire middle area is essentially indirect heat. The only place we'll get color is on the far right and left sides of the grill. That's not right.

Too, while working with them, I noticed that though we only have two burners, the flames from the burners only came out on one side, in each case the outer side. There were no flames on the other side of the burner--so the entire middle area is essentially indirect heat. The only place we'll get color is on the far right and left sides of the grill. That's not right.

That sounds broken.

[Jenise]

It actually appears to be the design (or possibly it was built wrong). We went next door today and observed that their larger Genesis works quite differently.

It's going back.

I detest our so called BBQ. The only thing that it is acceptable for is roasting peppers. Otherwise it's a steam bather. I've given up on gas BBQ

It is interesting to me to read about the woes of gas grills. I have a very primitive charcoal grill and it has its own frustrations which make me think kind thoughts about having some control over the heat and not having a pile of ash to move the next morning. (I'm not going to grouse about the flavor, however!)

[Jenise]

I detest our so called BBQ. The only thing that it is acceptable for is roasting peppers. Otherwise it's a steam bather. I've given up on gas BBQ

Bob found a Weber video on YouTube that says you're supposed to cook lid down. Well, excuse me, I'm a lid-up, open flame kind of girl. I can understand that for some kinds of long roasting, lowering the lid would be circumstantially beneficial, but to require it of me because the unit itself is underdesigned? No no no.

In 30 years of marriage, this (or whatever replaces it) will be our fourth or fifth barbecue. And of all of them? The one I liked best? Our first--a cheap little Lady Kenmore or whatever Sears called their brand back then. None have ever seared as good as that one.

Yes, I sear with top down. Seemed counter intuitive when I first started (with charcoal top on reduces air, and lowers heat) but way to get best sear with gas.
I like charcoal, but the convenience of gas (especially not dealing with old ash) wins for me, as we grill several times a week in warmer months ( and usually weekly in winter, unless the snow is too deep to take trouble to shovel a path)/. I am especially grateful when we have events like yesterday where I was grilling on and off for over 5 hours (it would have been 7+ but with rain Betsy chose to do the rib braise in oven, and I just did the final crisping on grill)

[Jenise]

It does seem counter intuitive to me--lid down is roasting, not grilling. The steaks we cooked the other night had a very different/unusual flavor as a result that was not there on the steaks and fish we cooked on the Weber at our Maui condo. Btw, I noticed, when looking at other BBQ's this weekend, that Weber actually says something like "Weber barbecues are designed to cook like a convection oven." It actually says that.