If time allows we continue cooking until the ribs are completely done and make note of the total cook time. Lesley Stockton is a senior staff writer reporting on all things cooking and entertaining for Wirecutter. Her expertise builds on a lifelong career in the culinary world—from a restaurant cook and caterer to a food editor at Martha Stewart. She is perfectly happy to leave all that behind to be a full-time kitchen-gear nerd.
That doesn’t mean each grill is set to the same preheated temperature. It simply means we turned the knobs to what each grill indicated was medium heat. To keep our results as fair as possible, all the chickens are as close as possible to 5.5 pounds. When space is limited, finding the right grill to give you the taste you want can be hard. This gas grill from Monument is compact on the outside but surprisingly large on the inside. It’s big enough to cook a spatchcocked turkey or several large steaks, and because it’s a gas grill, it’s ready as soon as you want to use it.
More than a steakhouse and BBQ, Weber chefs are the grilling experts for seafood and vegetable specials as well. The Hess Collection Shirtail Ranches wines are carefully crafted for restaurants. A collaboration between Winemaker and Chef,these wines were crafted with food pairing in mind. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the perfect pairing of Hess wines and Weber grilled cuisine.
Case in point, I cooked a cowboy (rib) steak, a thick ribeye with a bit of actual rib, that puttered along in the indirect zone at 225 degrees until the internal temperature came up to 110 degrees. At that point, I cranked up the left burner and sear burner on the direct side and put the steak over the hot spot to give it a dark crust. If you grill regularly or you enjoy grilling on weeknights, when time is at a premium, you should invest in a gas grill. A good one costs $400 to $900, but it will serve you well for years. That’s more than twice the price of a quality charcoal grill, but if you prioritize speed and convenience, the higher price is worth paying.
With probes in place, I could track what was happening without even moving from my rattan rocker, only getting up when the thermometer alarm beeped. Pretty much all I had to do was set the left dial to medium, close the lid, and crack a cold one. This puts the indirect zone—albeit a smaller one—in the center. The Broil King Signet 320 offered the highest British thermal unit figure (40,000 Btu) of the grills we tested in the $400 to $900 category, but this didn’t prove to be an advantage. In our burger test, the grill topped 700 °F after 15 minutes of heating, and as a result it blackened the patties. (“Tastes like a Marlboro,” said Sam Sifton.) It also ran too hot for our barbecue chicken, topping 450 °F on the lowest setting when our goal was a steady 375 °F.
As for maintenance, the Spirit II E-310’s flat grates were easy for us to keep clean with a grill brush, and its grease trap was easy for us to access for dumping and washing. To keep your grill in tip-top shape—quite possibly for years after its decade-long warranty expires—be sure to clean it regularly and thoroughly. The Weber Spirit II E-310 provides an unrivaled combination of top-notch grilling performance, a versatile three-burner design, durability, and a relatively affordable price. During the first 45 minutes, with each grill’s lid down, we occasionally checked for charring and redistributed pieces as needed. Then we flipped the chicken parts, slathered on a coating of barbecue sauce, and closed the lid for another 15 minutes.
It comes disassembled for easy shipping, but putting it together was tedious, with a lot of guesswork when the instructions weren’t clear. Once it was built, it worked great, but it was a pain to get it together. Tim Heffernan is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter and a former writer-editor for The Atlantic, Esquire, and others. He has anchored our unequaled coverage of air purifiers and water filters since 2015. In 2018, he established Wirecutter’s ongoing collaboration with The New York Times’s Smarter Living. Our reader survey revealed high satisfaction with Weber grills’ performance and reliability.
The 513 square inches of cooking space was consistently even in heat, with some slightly hotter temperatures observed directly over the burners. The sear zone produced delicious steak, though you might want an additional burner like we did. It’s even great for beginners weber charcoal grill since the app includes everything you need to know for grilling and maintaining a gas grill. There’s a reason Weber is nearly synonymous with classic, quality grills. The brand has been around since the ’50s when the founder first invented the kettle grill.
Stainless-steel grates are inexpensive and lightweight, but you’ll need to clean them with a great grill brush after every session. Porcelain-coated grates can last a long time if taken care of properly. Don’t use metal tools or brushes on them to avoid the coating chipping off. Uncoated cast-iron grates will need to be maintain like cast-iron cookware.