Nicholas McClelland is an expert on all the topics that will help you have a great summer, from grills to whiskey to golf. He graduated from The Missouri School of Journalism and has been testing products and writing for The Spruce Eats since April 2019. In the 1950s, George Stephen, Sr. worked in sales at Weber Brothers Metal Works, which his father ran at the time. He often worked on fabricating and selling innovative products, including mailboxes and fireplace equipment.
With inbuilt ash catchers and temperature gauges, these grills are easy and convenient to use. You can smoke meat with the dedicated smoker feature so that it adds to the taste of your finished dishes. Charcoal grills often have porcelain-coated plates or porcelain-enameled burners so that the grill will last long and cook your veggies as intended for longer. Look at kettle grills, portable grills and more to find one that is perfect for your style of cooking and grilling.
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. This style of cooking requires strict temperature control over a period of multiple hours. Ideally, a quality charcoal grill will keep its fire humming along close to 225 degrees F for as long as possible. Cooking over charcoal takes longer than cooking with a gas grill, and we typically need to add more fuel during cooking to keep our grills above 350 degrees F for the full duration.
Much like what you read above, we’ve put together a list of our favorite Weber gas grills to help you sort through the top selections. For our tests, each grill gets a full chimney of lit charcoal and a 6-pound chicken opposite the coals for indirect heat. None of the hood thermometers built into these grills mirrored the temperatures recorded by our own thermocouples and data software. The Nexgrill definitely gets hot enough to create a nice sear, but you do have to work a little harder than you do with the Weber to avoid overcooking your meat. You can also raise the Nexgrill’s adjustable charcoal tray basket to its highest position.
Assembly is pretty straightforward and additional assistance is available through the BILT app. All weber genesis 2s come with a limited 10-year warranty covering rust and burn-through of the body . This charcoal grill can hold up to 13 burgers at a time, and you can monitor the internal temperature using the built-in lid thermometer. This Performer Deluxe grill has an electronic charcoal ignition system and a removable timer that mounts to the side work table. Additionally, there’s a convenient charcoal storage bin integrated into the design, as well as the brand’s one-touch cleaning system.
It felt like an important, manly task because in my home, like I’m sure in many homes across America, my dad was in charge of it. Then he’d empty out the old ashes into a brown paper sack and hand me the cooking grate to go clean in the laundry room. When I got back, he’d pour a big pile of charcoal into the Weber’s shiny black bowl. Then came a spray with some lighter fluid, and the strike and toss of a match. We tested six kettle-style charcoal grills because when it comes to grilling, simpler is just better. After a handful of cookouts over the last few weeks, there were two clear winners.
Don’t get me wrong, I love a good gas grill—in fact, you can read about my favorite gas grills right here—but I’ll take cleaning a charcoal grill over a gasser any day of the week. For a long while, charcoal grills were the primary tool of backyard grillers. Hasty-Bake introduced its wonderful cooker with a crank that raises and lowers the charcoal rack in 1948, and it remains one of our favorite brands to this day.
From its modest roots Weber grew to be an internationally recognized name in the grilling world. The company grew from a small band of devotees to a massive business, pushing the edge of food technology at a time when backyard cooking was a rapidly growing fad. Stephen and his growing family, which eventually included 12 children, frequently gathered to enjoy food cooked on the grill.