Our experts provide the recipes and skills you need to be a grill master. This was originally written by Erica Puisis, a writer and interior design expert, who has been writing about all things home and lifestyle for The Spruce since 2017. The Spruce Eats Editor Siobhan Wallace compiled testing data from our official Lab as well as insights from our home testers’ full product reviews to compile this roundup.
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. In our medium, indirect-heat chicken tests, the Nexgrill delivered flavorful, juicy meat as a close second to the Weber. And this updated model, when we used the charcoal snake method, demonstrated temperature control almost as good as the Weber.
Finally, we roasted whole chickens indirectly to see if the grills could create browned skin and perfectly cook meat without charring. Sam Sifton, editor for the Cooking section of The New York Times (the parent company of Wirecutter), joined us for these tests. The 26-inch Original Kettle® Premium is the charcoal grill you want at your next party. It’s large enough to weber genesis 2 grill an entire dinner during the week, or a bunch of burgers at your next barbecue. With premium features, such as a hinged cooking grate for easily adding charcoal while grilling, and the One-Touch™ cleaning system with high-capacity ash catcher. Toast to the authenticity of charcoal grilling, classic design, and taste loved around the world—the Original Kettle.
For the same reason, don’t let your charcoal grill sit out in the rain, as the resulting lye will quickly corrode any metal it touches. Instead, bring your grill into a garage, put it under an awning, or tent it with a grill cover (in every case, after the ash is cool). Clean the grates weber charcoal grill before or after each use by brushing them free of cooked-on gunk and wiping them with a wet rag. Oil the grates after heating them, before you cook anything—it’ll help keep food from sticking. Nothing beats the smoky barbecue flavor that can only be created on a charcoal grill.
Where-as with the Slow N’ Sear Kettle you essentially get everything you need to smoke with. The lid thermometer and the exhaust damper are placed on opposite sides. It almost feels like the legs aren’t made flush to fit well into their holes. This results in you getting upset – or in my case mad – inevitably scratching the legs slightly near their base (not capable of being seen). The Art of Manliness participates in affiliate marketing programs, which means we get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links.