If time allows we continue cooking until the ribs are completely done and make note of the total cook time. Lesley Stockton is a senior staff writer reporting on all things cooking and entertaining for Wirecutter. Her expertise builds on a lifelong career in the culinary world—from a restaurant cook and caterer to a food editor at Martha Stewart. She is perfectly happy to leave all that behind to be a full-time kitchen-gear nerd.
To help you keep the good vibes (and good food) going, we cooked burgers, barbecue, and chicken on seven top-rated grills—and researched dozens more—to find the best. No grill matches its combination weber portable grill of exceptional performance, durability, and value. If you want to use a wood pellet grill, you’ll definitely get great-tasting food, though you’ll have to plan in advance to have pellets on hand.
More than a steakhouse and BBQ, Weber chefs are the grilling experts for seafood and vegetable specials as well. The Hess Collection Shirtail Ranches wines are carefully crafted for restaurants. A collaboration between Winemaker and Chef,these wines were crafted with food pairing in mind. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the perfect pairing of Hess wines and Weber grilled cuisine.
And one of this guide’s writers, Lesley Stockton, owned the Spirit II E-210 for years; in her experience, it held a consistent temperature across the cooking grate, and flare-ups were never an issue. We had no issues with the meat sticking to the flat, porcelain-coated iron grates or problems with flare-ups, grease fires that produce charring and acrid smoke. We looked for flare-ups, excessive charring, or patties that were still unacceptably raw. A firebox—the lower half of the grill body, where the burners and grates are mounted—made from cast aluminum is rustproof and highly durable, likely to offer a decade or more of service. The Weber Genesis E-325s is a whole foot longer than the company’s Spirit II E-310, with 20% more cooking area.
Present him with a new Weber gas grill to help him step up his barbecue game. The grill has 529 square inches of cooking space across its enameled cast-iron cooking grates, providing plenty of room for all your burgers, steaks, and veggies—we found it ample enough for a family of five. We experienced even heating and few flare-ups during our testing, with our home tester claiming that it’s “worth the splurge.” With porcelain-enameled cast-iron grates, you’ll get excellent heat retention and easy cleanup, as we’ve seen during tests. The Weber Q 1400 is a great choice if you live in a condo or other small space where the use of gas and charcoal grills may be restricted or if you want an easy-to-use unit that only needs to be plugged in.
At $550, you’ll get a liquid propane and natural gas grill that can handle most cooking challenges with ease. USA-made Weber grills cost more than many of their competitors (although they’re by no means the priciest girls on the market). This is in part due to the relatively high labor costs for onshore manufacturing. They’re also made from premium materials, guaranteed to last a long time.
This three-burner grill offers an unrivaled combination of performance, durability, and value. Weber grills are made by grillers for grillers, and made to last and last. Whether gas, charcoal, pellets or smoking is your choice, Weber makes the grills you want. Our R&D department develops high-quality, fairly priced grilling equipment. Since the first Weber grill was released in 1952, they have been the biggest name in BBQ. From the Weber Original Kettle Grill to the latest Weber GENESIS Gas Grills and the SmokeFire Wood Pellet Grills, everyone immediately knows a Weber BBQ when they see one.
An average 15- or 20-degree difference across the quickest and slowest patties in a batch was the norm in our testing. Red flags are raised when we begin to see differences in the 30- to 40-degree range. We measure out 5.3 ounces of 80/20 ground beef and press them into uniform patties. Those weber gas grill patties go into a grill basket and we insert a temperature probe into the center of each patty at a 45-degree angle. Weber’s feels like a cash grab at $90, but I own one, and it has suffered several years of the crazy heat and sun of my porch in the summer and Seattle’s wet winters.