Weber Performer Deluxe Black Charcoal Outdoor Grill + Reviews

The gas ignition makes lighting coal as easy as pushing a button. With a push of a button, the coals are lit, and the essence of BBQ fills the air. The Performer® Deluxe charcoal grill performs from beginning to end. Light coals with the Touch-N-Go gas ignition, prep food on the large work table, and know that cleanup will be easy with the One-Touch™ cleaning system.

With new features such as a convenient hinged lid and charcoal ring for efficient fuel consumption, the Master-Touch Premium is your answer to grilling. Stay true to the modern version of the kettle that started it all—the Original Kettle®, invented by Weber’s founder, and loved around the world. Its ultra-durable, porcelain-enameled lid and bowl retain heat, while the dampers easily adjust weber charcoal grill for precise temperature control. Clean the cooking grate as you would any other grate — use a good grill cleaning tool to remove food debris (when it’s still warm), but don’t use anything metal. You may want to occasionally wash it with warm water and perhaps a mild soap. Similarly, you’ll probably have to scrape stuff off the lower charcoal grate, though possibly not after each use.

The classic kettle-style charcoal grill is the granddaddy of backyard barbecues. In fact, you might be tempted to break out a nice pair of loafers and light up a pipe standing in front of one. Once the grills were sufficiently hot, we tested the high heat grilling capabilities by cooking lamb chops and marinated boneless, skinless chicken breasts. To test the indirect heat, we cooked raw beer brats and bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. Cooking a variety of meats allowed us to observe grill marks, crispiness, and doneness. After the grills had fully cooled, we cleaned each, following the manufacturer’s instructions as closely as we could.

Due to their comparably simple construction, they tend to cost less than a similarly sized gas or pellet grill. Another powerful draw of these grills is the intense smoky flavor they create in the food they cook. weber gas grill They’re versatile too since they can use either traditional charcoal briquettes or lump charcoal as fuel. The ritual of charcoal grilling meets the convenient features and the wow factor of the Master-Touch®.

The trick here is to keep the grills at a hot enough temperature to cook a chicken for upwards of two hours. We measured charcoal in a chimney by grams, and in a ratio for that grill’s specific surface area. We lit the charcoal inside the chimney, letting it burn until the smoke dissipated and the coals began to turn grayish-white, then put the charcoal into the grill. After the grill was heated up for 10 minutes, the steaks were ready to hit the grill grate. The Weber Original Kettle Premium Charcoal Grill’s design makes controlling the heat simple. You open and close the lower vents with a long handle mounted above the ash box.

When he’s firing up his charcoal, Karl likes to shove all of it to one side of the kettle. You can spread the briquettes out across the bottom once they’ve transformed into hot coals. The other day as I was cooking burgers in a far more antiseptic fashion on my gas grill, I started waxing nostalgic about these Weber Grill-related memories of mine. I decided I wanted to try cooking on one myself, to see if it was as good as I recalled. Creating a three-zone fire on my gas grill is incredibly easy. A few twists of the knobs, and I can have a high-heat zone, medium-heat zone, and low-heat zone at the ready.

weber charcoal grill

To get reacquainted with the Weber Kettle Grill as a grown man, I first went down to my local Home Depot and bought the classic model for myself. But, that’s the beauty of charcoal; you can get a lot for a little because they’re so simple. Additionally, I can cook just about anything I like thanks to the ample diameter (22 inches, obviously) and the bulbous dome. Cooking with charcoal is a pleasure, and this is one of the purest expressions of the craft. Other than a couple of convenience features, this is just straight-up grilling. There’s a hook inside the lid for hanging on the bowl which helps prevent damage to it, and a special handle just for rolling the grill around.

The Weber kettle grill gave us tasty chicken too, with crispy chicken skin. The Weber can also smoke low and slow at a rock-steady cooking temperature. Grilling purists will tell you that charcoal cooking is the only way to go, and seasoned grillers I’ve spoken to maintain that a Weber kettle is the best charcoal grill you can buy.

The fuel door is removable so that adding charcoal and wood is easy, and the dampers allow you to be in control of the heat for tender, fall-off-the-bone meat. The authenticity of charcoal grilling started with the Original Kettle® Series grills, invented by Weber? His idea was that the rounded cooking bowl with a lid was the key to success. The ultra-durable, porcelain-enameled lid and bowl are uniquely designed to retain the charcoal’s heat, while dampers are easily adjusted for precise temperature control.

Brand-new grillers may struggle with maintaining an ideal temperature, but the efficiency and quality of the design will please experts and those looking to make the switch from gas grilling. It’s also ideal for large families or anyone who regularly cooks for a crowd. The only real learning curve to cooking on a charcoal grill is fire management, but the built-in thermometer makes that easier. Maintaining a consistent temperature is crucial, and the Weber does this better than any other in its price range. You can thank the porcelain-enameled bowl and lid, which are heat retention pros, for that.