With its rectangular shape and easy-carry handle, the Cuisinart Venture looks a bit like an insulated cooler, but it does the exact opposite. Its base conceals storage for a propane tank, the wooden top becomes a cutting board/serving tray, and the middle section is the grill itself, with a 9,000-BTU burner and a 154-square-inch nonstick grate. It’s a small grill and doesn’t have a heck of a lot of power, weber gas grill but it’s also extremely compact and easy to carry down to the beach or toss into your backpack. The Big Green Egg is a Kamado-style cooker (Kamado is a Japanese word that roughly means “stove”), which makes it much more than a grill. The ceramic construction retains heat and turns it into a portable oven as well. The MiniMax Big Green Egg is identical to its larger cousin in nearly every way, but smaller.
Simply place the water over the grill’s burner and turn it on high—if you’re able to shut the grill’s lid over it, you’ll be able to speed up the process. If you can’t shut the lid, it will take significantly longer, but the water will eventually reach its boiling point. She’s an expert on all things home, including kitchen appliances, grills, and other cooking gadgets. If you can’t face the prospect of going without your Big Green Egg for a weekend, the MiniMax Big Green Egg is much smaller, but it still isn’t terribly portable.
Conversely, don’t plan on cooking slow and low with this; it’s a “sear things and be done” sort of grill. Finding a grill that fits your cooking style is essential, as is something that fits your available outdoor cooking space. A large grill in a small area presents dangers from heat contact and potential fire hazards and will ultimately become irritating for the user due to space occupied and working around the bulk of a larger grill. For a portable grill, consider weight, too, as transporting and carrying it can be an issue. The enamel-coated cast-iron grates add significantly to the grill’s overall weight, but they also contribute to minimal sticking throughout testing. There were a few flare-ups during the tests, mostly when first introducing oil or fat, but they extinguished quickly without adverse effects on the food.
Inside, the 1560-watt heating element is design to cover the entire cooking space, so you’ll experience even heat, and its temperature is adjusted via the infinite heat control settings. There’s so much to love about this lightweight, versatile portable gas grill. The compact design is easy to bring to a sporting event or out camping, yet the porcelain-enameled cooking grate can still fit up to eight burgers at a time. This Cuisinart grill features a 5,500-BTU burner, a twist-start electric ignition, and a temperature gauge. The grate gives you 145 square inches of cooking space, accommodating four to six people at once. Despite its portability, the Traveler has plenty of cooking space, with 320 square inches (enough for about 15 burgers at a time), plus a small prep table attached to the side.
There was one person who asked if he could hook the propane version to his large propane tank for his house. I personally see no problem because the grill comes with its own regulator, but I advise you to call Weber or a local installer to make sure this is possible. Cast aluminum is also better at retaining heat than pressed aluminum because weber bbq it is thicker. This lid is not welded but made out of one piece of aluminum.The light on the grill handle was mentioned as very handy. As I mentioned I am not a big fan of a battery-operated ignition, but the one on this Q3200 seems to work pretty well. 1 or 2 of the almost 150 reviews I read mention the grill not getting hot enough.
The ubiquitous disposable, green propane bottle is convenient, but it’s a huge source of pollution. It’s illegal in many jurisdictions to throw them in the trash, though that doesn’t stop many people, it seems, given how many of these end up in landfills every year. This brings me to, what I think, is an advantage of the propane version. The option to move it around your yard, patio, or deck and not be stuck to one spot because of the natural gas lines. The side tables are made more study and in combination with the ergonomic new handles, this is a nice improvement.
It’s not as sophisticated as the SmartFire, but it’s more portable, and two probes is generally all I need on small grills. It’s big enough for a family of four and strikes the best balance between ease of use and cooking performance. It has a thermometer and some side tables to hold your plates and tongs. It’s also a champ at keeping a constant, even heat in pretty much any weather conditions. A storm blew in one afternoon, but it just kept on cooking despite the high wind and rain. For overall performance, even considering it’s a portable model, the Weber Q 1200 Gas Grill delivers great value for the dollars spent.
The enamel-coated grates helped eliminate any sticking worth speaking of, and there was very little flare-up outside of first wiping the grill with oil. When upright, it stands about waist-high on an average-height person and is sturdy, with minimal rocking or grate movement. Overall this Weber Q3200 gas grill deserves an average of 4.7 stars and in our opinion, we can recommend it as a good buy and enough bang for your buck. It was even mentioned as one of the best high-end gas grills on a page I found. Both versions, propane, and natural gas, come with their own hose and connections.
If you like cooking with charcoal, the Masterbuilt Portable Charcoal Grill and Smoker with Cart has everything you need and is easy to move. I haven’t used the fancier models, but this basic four-serving one served me well for years. You can pull the grills out for easy cleaning, there’s a drip pan to catch all the grease, and if you’re not in the grilling mood, weber bbq it doubles as a Panini press. If flavor is your only criterion, I would argue that charcoal is superior to propane gas. Often, we grill after hours on a Friday while we’re also trying to set up a tent, inflate a mattress, and wrangle hungry children. Our tests demonstrate that you can be cooking on the X-Cursion 10 minutes after taking it out of the box.
My next experiment involved smoking a salmon fillet so I followed the instructions and replaced the left-hand grill top with the smoking tray and filled it with wood chips. Why Weber suggest the left side and not the right I don’t know – I mean it’s not as if the left side of the heating element is a different temperature to the right. But anyway, Weber recommend starting on full heat for about 5 minutes to get the chips smoking and then reducing the temperature by turning the dial to the smoke icon.