Home Appliance Reviews

I hate to be cooped up, in a stuffy old house or trailer (camping) when it comes time to cook. In may, 2008 I bought a new Camp Chef
to cook on when we go camping, and it has turned out to be a life-saver. I now how the convenience of cooking in the great out doors.

After our large Ducane ($600) died after 8 years, we looked at buying the Weber E320 at around $700. We didn’t want another grill that took up a huge amount of space in the garage or had to be left on the patio (an eyesore in our opinion) as living in Florida the salt air takes it toll on things outside. Then we saw the Weber Q200, at $220.

I bought this grill for my husband for a present. I got the Sunbeam Grill Series 550 at Lowe’s for about $190.00. I chose this grill because it had the side burner. My husband wanted a side burner on the grill.

The grill had to be assembled before it could be used. My husband is an expert at putting anything together. I knew he would have no problem and he got it together in no time. There were several different pieces to put together. The grilling housing is made of cast aluminum. The legs are made of steel.

I’ve had my Bradley Original smoker for about five years. I’ve cooked ribs, brisket, pork shoulder, kielbasa sausage, salmon, and chicken. Everything I’ve cooked in it has come out perfect. The temperature is easy to control within the range needed for barbeque (150-220F). Even sausage, which is easy to ruin by cooking too hot, can be smoked with reliable results in the Bradley. The wood “bisquettes” are expensive but in terms of dollars per cooking time are about as expensive as cooking with charcoal. The bisquettes are available in several “flavors” (kinds of wood) but to be honest with the Bradley, I have not really noticed the wood to have that big an effect on the flavor of the finished product. Stick with Alder or Hickory and you should be happy with the results.

I have a nice barbecue area setup in my outdoor kitchen patio. I have a couple of gas grills that I use together when we are hosting big parties, and I also have my charcoal grills that I use specifically for smoking salmon. One of these is this Char-Broil Grill.

It is the perfect size and shape for this purpose! First off, when smoking fish, you really do not want a huge surface area. I usually smoke one salmon fillet at a time. With this grill my results have been perfect every time! We have LOTS of chefs come by for dinner and I get high marks and compliments from all of them.

We have owned a number of grills over the years, but never one as well made as this. We purchased this unit over two years ago.

OUT OF THE BOX
This grill came in a huge box. Upon opening the box I was immediately intimidated by the sheer number of parts. I was not sure I would be able to put it together by myself. The directions, however, were very logical and easy to follow. I actually put it together on our living room carpet, which was an aid in keeping the smaller parts from rolling around. It took about 2 hours to put this unit together and it did not take a great deal of effort. Just follow the directions carefully and all will be well.

BACKGROUND

I recently moved to a new home and needed a new grill. I wanted a “summer kitchen” and had the builder brick in a wall enclosure plus provide a natural gas connection for the grill. But I had to make an interim move for 4+ months while the new house was being finished. My temporary place didn’t have a natural gas connection so I needed a butane grill for the interim period. Enter the Char-Broil TEC grill which featured the ability to run on butane and later to change over to natural gas.

Having to host a cookout for the almost-in-laws in a few weeks, I was purchasing parts to turn a steel trash-can into a smoker, when I realized that the total came to twice as much as the Brinkmann Smoke ‘n’ Grill, which could at the time be bought on sale at Wal-Mart for $28.88. I returned all of the bits, the trash can, and the replacement grates, and took what’s known (usually affectionately) around the Internet as the ECB, or “El Cheapo Brinkmann”, home for assembly.

This would be my first gas grill and my learning experience with gas grills.

The igniter stopped working after about 3 months and the grates rusted. The bottom of the grill also rusted out. The flame adjuster also did not work properly and once I opened the grill and the flames shot right out in my face singing my hair. Luckily I was not hurt.

This is, without a doubt, the best grill I have ever owned. While expensive, it has all the features you can ever use, at half the price of grills by Viking, Wolfe and DCS. In fact, those high end grills lack features of this grill.

For those that don’t want to real my full review, here is the summary. It covers all important points:

High Points: