Holland Grill..... point?

[jonnyGURU]

It seems like the big sales pitch on these Holland Grills is "no flare ups": http://www.hollandgrill.com/

Really? Do THAT MANY people have problems with flare ups? Move the damn meat!!!!

I was at family's house last week while on vacation and they had a Holland Grill. They heard I was a big grill person (I have a Weber Professional and a Brinkman smoker) so they asked me to grill the steaks one night.

This thing has no flame because the flame is under a huge drip pan. There's no hot side or cold side. There's no searing the meat. It's a lot like cooking on a grate in an oven. In fact... I'm thinking cooking in an oven might actually be better for steak than this thing. When you open the lid on this thing, you lose almost all of your cooking heat and it takes longer for things to cook. Again, because of the indirect heat source, the entire unit has to heat up to cook the food. Much like... as I said... cooking in an oven.

Pros:

• No flare ups

Cons:

• Doesn't stay at cooking temperature when you open the lid.
• Can't have one hot side and one cold side for cooking different things at different temperatures.
• Can't sear because heat doesn't get hot enough and there's no direct flame contact.

Am I missing anything?

 

[Kanalua]

That sucks...

I really hate when people have over-hyped expectations about your grilling skills, then they provide you with sub-standard equipment!

 

[spidey07]

If it's not getting hot enough then the grill just sucks. You don't need flame to sear and get those nice grill marks, you just need the grates to be hot enough. Most nice gas grills will have some sort of cover on the burners.

 

[Safeway]

Actually, the Holland grill I've used cooked excellent steaks. It cooks extremely evenly.

I'd definitely recommend a Holland.

 

[biggestmuff]

So, what did you tell them?

 

[Safeway]

I have a Big Green Egg, Jenn-Air stainless gas, and a Brinkman smoker.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: spidey07
If it's not getting hot enough then the grill just sucks. You don't need flame to sear and get those nice grill marks, you just need the grates to be hot enough. Most nice gas grills will have some sort of cover on the burners.

Correct. The grill just sucks.

You don't need flame to sear and I don't care about "grill marks". Like I said, I'd be happy if it just got hot enough to sear. The problem is, the Holland works on the premise of indirect heat (intentionally?). Like I said, it's like cooking in an oven. The whole oven has to heat up to cook at all. If the heat was hot enough to get the grill surface hot enough to sear, the whole grill would be too hot because the whole inside of the grill has to heat up to get the grill surface hot enough to sear. It's just plain stupid.

Originally posted by: biggestmuff
So, what did you tell them?

I did the steaks... 15 minutes on each side... they were "ok", as if I cooked them in an oven on a cookie sheet and I apologized that they weren't better and said it was because I wasn't "used to the equipment".

Originally posted by: Safeway
I have a Big Green Egg, Jenn-Air stainless gas, and a Brinkman smoker.

An Egg or a Jenn-Air would be FAR superior at grilling than the Holland. I don't see how you can say you have an Egg and a Jenn-Air and then would "definitely recommend a Holland". WHY would you recommend a Holland? Because there are "no flare ups"? Really? You have that many problems with flare ups with any of your GOOD grills?

 

[spidey07]

OUCH! 15 minutes? That thing must truly suck ass then. Also agree that if you get flare ups, you're doing it wrong.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: spidey07
OUCH! 15 minutes? That thing must truly suck ass then. Also agree that if you get flare ups, you're doing it wrong.

Well.... "Holland Grill Experts" suggest 10 minutes per side, but I was grilling 8 steaks so it took longer. You have to adjust..... LIKE YOU WOULD WHEN COOKING IN AN OVEN!!!!!!! :frown: :frown: :frown: :frown: :frown: :frown:

 

[Gibsons]

I don't see what's so bad about flare ups... yeah, you need to move the meat, but isn't really just an indication that you're probably searing the meat? Which is sort of the whole point...?

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: jonnyGURU

Originally posted by: spidey07
OUCH! 15 minutes? That thing must truly suck ass then. Also agree that if you get flare ups, you're doing it wrong.

Well.... "Holland Grill Experts" suggest 10 minutes per side, but I was grilling 8 steaks so it took longer. You have to adjust..... LIKE YOU WOULD WHEN COOKING IN AN OVEN!!!!!!! :frown: :frown: :frown: :frown: :frown: :frown:

I don't normally do this...but...

FAIL!

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Gibsons
I don't see what's so bad about flare ups... yeah, you need to move the meat, but isn't really just an indication that you're probably searing the meat? Which is sort of the whole point...?

Flareups are from fat, you don't want them as they burn/char the meat. A little bit is fine and good, but when a flame is hitting the meat constantly and just sitting there that's not good.

 

[Safeway]

I don't know, the Hollands are nice. We cooked about 20 rib-eyes, 40 drum legs, and lots of chicken breasts and had huge problems with flare ups on the Jenn-Air. The fat wasn't draining fast enough!

Everything was delicious, though.

 

[Jumpem]

I like flareups. The flames make the meat taste better. I wish they would make a grill where the grates were right above the burners.

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: Jumpem
I like flareups. The flames make the meat taste better. I wish they would make a grill where the grates were right above the burners.

you can buy grills with adjustable grates for the charcoal, dunno about gas ones.

high heat makes the meat taste better by browning/searing the outside. smoke over time also makes it taste better. if you have really high heat relatively close to the meat, it should sear quite well.

im still getting the hang of it on my lil charcoal grill, but i dont have a bad problem with flare-ups unless the lid is off

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Gibsons
I don't see what's so bad about flare ups... yeah, you need to move the meat, but isn't really just an indication that you're probably searing the meat? Which is sort of the whole point...?

Flareups are from fat, you don't want them as they burn/char the meat. A little bit is fine and good, but when a flame is hitting the meat constantly and just sitting there that's not good.

Yep. But seriously... how serious of a problem is a flare up? Really? I guess the Holland is for people that just don't like to cook. Throw the meat on the grill and walk away....

On my Weber, I heat up the coals with the gas. Turn the gas off and move the coal trays off to either side so I have my warm spot in the middle and my hot spots on the side. I sear on the hot spots and if there's a flare up, I just move the meat until the flare up goes away. Big woop. When it's time to cook steady, I move the meat back to the center and put the cover on the grill and let it cook. It's not over a direct flame, so nothing is going to flare up. Is that so hard?

Originally posted by: xSauronx

Originally posted by: Jumpem
I like flareups. The flames make the meat taste better. I wish they would make a grill where the grates were right above the burners.

you can buy grills with adjustable grates for the charcoal, dunno about gas ones.

high heat makes the meat taste better by browning/searing the outside. smoke over time also makes it taste better. if you have really high heat relatively close to the meat, it should sear quite well.

im still getting the hang of it on my lil charcoal grill, but i dont have a bad problem with flare-ups unless the lid is off

Yeah. I used to have a Char-Broil that had one grill right over the flame and another that was elevated. I learned to use that to my advantage big time. Unfortunately, it was built like crap and stuff started breaking on it left and right so I had to ditch it.

 

[djheater]

I recently discovered the Weber indirect method for my kettle and think it's the best thing in the world. Been doing ribs, chickens and butts with a bunch of applewood I have, I'm seriously in love with this hot-smoking method.

Wouldn't help for steaks though.

That Holland thing sounds stupid, but it's for people who don't want to learn how to grill. They want grilling to be as simple as an oven or microwave.

Where there's a market...

 

[Safeway]

The best burgers I've ever cooked were on the Green Egg. I cooked two packages of thick cut maple bacon on the Brinkman with coal and wood. They. Were. Godly.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Safeway
The best burgers I've ever cooked were on the Green Egg. I cooked two packages of thick cut maple bacon on the Brinkman with coal and wood. They. Were. Godly.

Hate to break it to you, but the green egg sucks. Once you learn how to grill and BBQ you'll understand.

It's basically a big oven. That's fine for making bread, but not for grilling or BBQ. Yep, the green egg is nothing more than an oven and if you don't agree...well you don't know how to BBQ or how to grill.

There's a reason why no egg is used in BBQ competitions - it sucks.

If you like the taste of smoldering ash charcoal, then by all means...the egg is for you.

 

[eits]

i like flair-ups.

 

[Safeway]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Safeway
The best burgers I've ever cooked were on the Green Egg. I cooked two packages of thick cut maple bacon on the Brinkman with coal and wood. They. Were. Godly.

Hate to break it to you, but the green egg sucks. Once you learn how to grill and BBQ you'll understand.

It's basically a big oven. That's fine for making bread, but not for grilling or BBQ. Yep, the green egg is nothing more than an oven and if you don't agree...well you don't know how to BBQ or how to grill.

There's a reason why no egg is used in BBQ competitions - it sucks.

If you like the taste of smoldering ash charcoal, then by all means...the egg is for you.

I have three grills. My grilling skills are superb.

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: eits
i like flair-ups.

Same... I like crispy crunchies on the meat. I'm not a big steak fan, but when I get it, I like it extremely well done. As an example of the kind of meat I like, I always get the burnt ends at a pit beef stand. I'll get a sandwich with well done beef, then buy a bowl of burnt ends for the road. I would just get the burnt ends only, but it's hard to put heaping piles of horseradish on them :^D

 

[Modular]

The greatest thing about the Holland is not that there are no flare-ups, it's that the meat stays incredibly juicy and tender; much more so than on any other grill.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: Modular
The greatest thing about the Holland is not that there are no flare-ups, it's that the meat stays incredibly juicy and tender; much more so than on any other grill.

If you're too lazy to grill properly on a proper grill... sure... ok.

Originally posted by: djheater
I recently discovered the Weber indirect method for my kettle and think it's the best thing in the world. Been doing ribs, chickens and butts with a bunch of applewood I have, I'm seriously in love with this hot-smoking method.

Wouldn't help for steaks though.

How do you figure? Is your Weber grill really small? On the professional I can easily fit four T-bones in a line in the middle and be out of direct heat. Of course, if I need to do more, I just use one coal tray and over fill it. But then I have to keep rotating the steaks around because the part of the grill farthest from the coal is obviously not as hot as the middle.

 

[Fayd]

Originally posted by: Modular
The greatest thing about the Holland is not that there are no flare-ups, it's that the meat stays incredibly juicy and tender; much more so than on any other grill.

uh... i never have a problem making a juicy and tender steak on my normal direct heat gas grill.

if you do, you're an idiot.

i've tried cooking on coals, but apparently i'm no good at it.