The Weber can also smoke low and slow at a rock-steady cooking temperature. For our tests, we cooked hamburgers on direct heat for four minutes on each side and then compared their level of doneness. The two Weber grills both cooked our hamburgers to medium rare, while the Oklahoma Joe’s, Cuisinart and Char-Griller all ran slightly hotter and cooked our test hamburgers portable bbq to medium. We cooked burgers on the Napoleon grill with the cooking grate at its highest level, which was pretty far away from the briquettes. Each grill did a great job searing the chicken leg quarters while still leaving them juicy on the inside. The Oklahoma Joe’s Kettle Grill and Weber Original Kettle Grills gave the chicken skin the deepest sear.
Those designs offer attractive versatility, but they’re also expensive—$350 at minimum, and the most popular and best-regarded styles run twice that or more. And Salvaggio noted that wood pellets simply don’t produce the searing heat you need to make perfect burgers or steaks. Our experiments ran the gamut from grilling burgers to smoking .
If you prefer meat that’s more well done, you can extend the cooking time, or sear and finish cooking in an oven. They’re bulkier, the assembly is more involved and you’ll likely need more fuel to keep the larger space at a high temperature. Our results, however, were almost as good as with the kettle-style Weber, so if you’re interested in a cart-style charcoal BBQ, this is your best bet.
The idea is that the fire spreads slowly from the center of the coal bed outward. Without fail, there comes a point when all of my coals are burning at once. Most grills come with analog hood thermometers, if they have one at all.
Its main cooking grates are porcelain-enameled, which helps to retain heat as well as distribute it. This is always a key feature I look out for on modern grills as portable bbq its helps to reduce uneven cooking temperatures. Due to their comparably simple construction, they tend to cost less than a similarly sized gas or pellet grill.
Bringing the delicious taste of BBQ, without the city limitations. The Weber Original Kettle Premium 22-Inch Charcoal Grill is a classic backyard cooker that’s inexpensive, versatile, and nearly impossible to break. Gear Patrol participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. Welcome to Brand Breakdown, a series of comprehensive yet easy-to-digest guides to your favorite companies, with insights and information you won’t find on the average About page. From the Smokey Joe to the brand-new Genesis range, here’s everything you need to know about Weber, America’s favorite grill makers.
It’s about waist level in height for almost everyone, so it’s quite comfortable to cook on. The 363-square-inch cooking area can easily handle a pair of whole chickens or about 10 to 13 burgers, depending on how large you make your patties. Any more than that and the grill can get overloaded, making it difficult to cook everything evenly and to flip the patties. The Performer adds a prep table, cooking timer and gas-fired charcoal starter to the standard kettle grill.