Let’s cut to the chase: Matt Tyler of Brown Deer, Wisconsin is a genius.
The engineer and baseball fan decided to replicate the Brewers home stadium, in the form of a working meat grill!
Yahoo’s Big Lead Stew and WISN have the backstory and visuals.
I needed to get a new grill myself. My old meat-striper (4 years old?) had taken at least a dozen too many spills off the edge of my flagstone grillpad, thanks to gale force winds that whip around the corner and push the thing around like J.J. Watt pushes around tight ends who try to block him.
So I loaded up the banged up ol’ flamethrower, and pushed it off the back of my pickup at the local dump, like a mafia boss disposing of a dead body.
My replacement is this humble “Brinkman” from the ol’ Home Depot. $199 fully assembled. Probably a tin can waiting to rust, stop lighting, and ultimately break in 2 or 3 seasons. Eh, so be it. I figure I can go through THREE of these before I pay as much as a similar Weber version.
And yeah, I’ve been told Weber will last a loooong time with just a little care. In fact, a woman at the Home Depot asked me as I was loading the new one onto the truck, just how I knew WHICH of the el-cheapo grills on display was the best.
I said simply: “I don’t. But this one had two legs, so I feel pretty good it won’t blow off my patio!”
She said her last Weber grill, lasted 19 years! NINETEEN! Hell, I don’t want anything to last that long! We should be grilling steaks with a magic wand in 15 years!
And thus begins the great experiment. HOW LONG WILL THIS THING LAST!?
I’m not going to cover it either. My experience with grill covers is mostly bad. They are a hassle to put on (after you wait for the grill to cool down), they get torn and ripped, they provide additional “wind sail” to move the grill around, and are pretty quick to wear out themselves. Not to mention the mold, the spiders, and the like.
Plus, they cost like $40! That’s a quarter of a new grill itself! Scam!
Several of you listeners have chimed in with thoughts, stories and pictures of your own regarding that most manly of man activities: OOGH! COOKING MEAT!
Here’s a few!
Hey Czabe:Forgot to send this to you yesterday. Guess it wouldn’t have mattered. But since you’re ALSO a big “buyers remorse” guy, I figured I’d send this anyway.The best grill money can buy is made by a company called TEC. I used to work for a grill store in Bluffton, SC (one of the rich areas outside Hilton Head Island). We sold infra-red grills made by TEC (Thermal Engineering Corp) and they are THE BOMB. They ARE propane, but they don’t have a flame. The propane is injected into a ceramic burner and the burner heats up to red hot. The top temperature for the grill is 1300 degrees (no shit). And it only takes ONE MINUTE to heat up. I know this personally because we used to cook on one every Saturday for the customers.You sear the steak for one minute on high each side, then turn the heat down lower to cook. Works like a charm. We used to cook steaks, chicken, pork butt, all kinds of things. All perfect. (We also had Big Green Eggs… They’re nice too Scott).The catch is they’re not cheap. “Small” ones start around 1500 bucks and they go all the way up to 4500 for a full-size. But if I had the money (like you) I would definitely get the best I could. Check out their website and see for yourself.Happy grilling!Tom OwensBowie, MD
Czabe,
Great summer topics !!We’ve always had a grill cover for our grill. I’ve always tried to keep it covered. Sometimes I would just forget. But the last couple years I rarely covered it. Last year, mid June I decided to shake out the old cover, hose it off and start using it again. Uhhh, until a zillion freaking wasps, hornets or whatever the eff lived under there didn’t like their happy home being disturbed. Sooooo, after sufficiently disposing of the winged beasts, the grill cover has become a decoration on the deck. I make sure that I don’t let it become a home to the bees again. Basically, the grill cover is a nice idea. But our grills have survived some nasty NE Ohio winters just fine.The guy next to me just fired up his new Ryobi trimmer. Poor sap, I’ll see it sitting out on the lawn with the rest of his trash in about 12 months.Take care,Dave Hudach
Czabe,
I had a Brinkmann that sat uncovered on my back porch in Texas weather for 6 years. Did fine. Threw it out when we bought a new house.
Grill away.
Spencer Clarke
Fort Worth
@czabe Grill cover pic.twitter.com/JnHCMOLOOI
— Michael Dellinger (@allinwait) May 29, 2015
We are not hard core grillers, but we do get a ton of use out of it and with that in mind we swear by our four burner Weber. It is much easier to use and just as importantly is much easier to clean. If you are just cooking the occasional burgers and dogs it might just a easy to buy a new cheapie every couple of years. But the more often you grill the more you will want a quality piece of equipment.