The most burning question of our times. Infrared Grills.

[techs]

From Wiki:

Infrared grills work by igniting propane or natural gas to superheat a ceramic tile, causing it to emit an infrared radiation of a thermal radiation technique that cooks food. The thermal radiation is generated when heat from the movement of charged particles within atoms is converted to electromagnetic radiation in the infrared heat frequency range. The benefits are that heat is uniformly distributed across the cooking surface and that temperatures reach over 500 °C (900 °F), allowing users to sear items quickly.

Infrared cooking differs from other forms of grilling, which use hot air to cook the food. Instead of heating the air, infrared radiation heats the food directly. The benefits of this are a reduction in pre-heat time and less drying of the food. Grilling enthusiasts claim food cooked on an infrared grill tastes similar to food from char-grills. This is because charcoal, when burned, emits infrared radiation, the same as an infrared grill, but the difference is that char-grills cook with only about 25% infrared heat and the remaining 75% from convection (hot air). Proponents say that food cooked on infrared grills seems juicier. Also, infrared grills have the advantages of instant ignition, better heat control, and a uniform heat source.

This technology was previously patented, but the patents expired in 2000 and more companies have started offering infrared grills at lower prices



Anyone have any experience with these? Better, worse or different from regular gas grills? Anything they can or can't do?
I am getting ready to buy a grill this summer, and this is a burning question.

 

[Eli]

Sounds pretty cool, I wouldn't mind trying one.

I just bought a 40lb bag of lump though. Can't wait for the weather to get nicer.

 

[ElFenix]

i managed to make 2 nice beer can chickens indirect on a charcoal weber today without any fancy technology.

if i need that kind of heat i'll jet engine some natural lump by using the charcoal chimney to concentrate the flame.

 

[BoomerD]

When we were looking at new gas grills a few years back, many of the higher-end grills had an infrared burner along with the standard burners.
My neighbor has one in his grill, and I doubt he even knows what it's for or how to properly use it...

We opted for a grill with 3 burners, no infrared burner, and no side burner. (IMO, those are a waste)

 

[nerp]

Watch Iron Chef America if you want to see one in action. I'd be OK with one in a cooktop in the kitchen, but if I'm outside, it's lump charcoal all the way.

 

[techs]

Watch Iron Chef America if you want to see one in action. I'd be OK with one in a cooktop in the kitchen, but if I'm outside, it's lump charcoal all the way.

You're thinking of electric ones. These are propane or natural gas powered.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Infrared grillz? Like the ones you put on your teeth?

Sounds pretty bad ass.

 

[eits]

two of my colleagues got one and they absolutely love it. they got it on sale and it's the best grill they've ever owned. it definitely beats their flame grills (gas or charcoal).

 

[brblx]

You're thinking of electric ones. These are propane or natural gas powered.

wouldn't it not matter what the heating source for the ceramic is?

 

[Rubycon]

wouldn't it not matter what the heating source for the ceramic is?

Yes because electrical power of a standard household circuit in the USA is 1875 watts. With gas you can go much higher.

 

[techs]

You're thinking of electric ones. These are propane or natural gas powered.

wouldn't it not matter what the heating source for the ceramic is?

Yes because electrical power of a standard household circuit in the USA is 1875 watts. With gas you can go much higher.

Bingo.

These new grills look like a well kept secret. The only drawback I have read about is they don't do low heat as well as a regular gas one.

 

[TheSlamma]

Might as well just cook inside on a stove at this point.

 

[HannibalX]

I'll stick with lump/chunk charcoal, thanks. Part of the fun when grilling is building the fire and smelling the wonderful aroma.

 

[techs]

I'll stick with lump/chunk charcoal, thanks. Part of the fun when grilling is building the fire and smelling the wonderful aroma.

Where I live, and in many other places, you can't use a charcoal grill on a deck. My town rules are something like 10 feet from the building.

 

[Rubycon]

These can also be installed indoors and run off natural gas/LPG. A fan draws air to the outside next to the grill so there is no smoke inside.

 

[HannibalX]

Where I live, and in many other places, you can't use a charcoal grill on a deck. My town rules are something like 10 feet from the building.

Do you live in an apartment or something?

 

[olds]

Reminds me of something that happened years ago.
Aerojet is a local company that used to (may still be in operation, I don't know) manufacture solid rocket fuel.
Supposedly, an employee brought some home to get his barbecue going. He put it in the grill, ignited it and went back in the home.
The stuff burns so hot that it burned through the bottom of his grill and landed on the wood deck, igniting it. IIRC, it burned part of his house too.

 

[HannibalX]

Reminds me of something that happened years ago.
Aerojet is a local company that used to (may still be in operation, I don't know) manufacture solid rocket fuel.
Supposedly, an employee brought some home to get his barbecue going. He put it in the grill, ignited it and went back in the home.
The stuff burns so hot that it burned through the bottom of his grill and landed on the wood deck, igniting it. IIRC, it burned part of his house too.

So did the insurance company pay for your deck? :awe:

 

[Rubycon]

Reminds me of something that happened years ago.
Aerojet is a local company that used to (may still be in operation, I don't know) manufacture solid rocket fuel.
Supposedly, an employee brought some home to get his barbecue going. He put it in the grill, ignited it and went back in the home.
The stuff burns so hot that it burned through the bottom of his grill and landed on the wood deck, igniting it. IIRC, it burned part of his house too.

You would think someone that works for a rocket company would know better.

Nothing beats George Goble of Perdue University. He poured liquid oxygen on grilles to get them going instantly. Made him famous too. The school made him remove his page a while back but you can find archives if you're into that kind of thing.

 

[olds]

You would think someone that works for a rocket company would know better.

Nothing beats George Goble of Perdue University. He poured liquid oxygen on grilles to get them going instantly. Made him famous too. The school made him remove his page a while back but you can find archives if you're into that kind of thing.

I would only suggest this if you like your steak well done:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBLr_XrooLs

 

[Rubycon]

I would only suggest this if you like your steak well done:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBLr_XrooLs

Haha that's him! Hard to believe it's been 15 years! To be 30 again...

I prefer broiled not grilled. The flames singe the flesh. I don't like that smell at all and prefer not to eat it either.

 

[techs]

Haha that's him! Hard to believe it's been 15 years! To be 30 again...

I prefer broiled not grilled. The flames singe the flesh. I don't like that smell at all and prefer not to eat it either.

That's one of the advantages of infrared. No flare up.

 

[seepy83]

That's one of the advantages of infrared. No flare up.

Speaking from experience, be careful with the infrared ones if you are doing any cooking with flammable marinades/sauces/oil/etc.

I do a lot of grilled veggies, and I like to give them a good coat of olive oil first. With my particular grill (I have a Char-Broil, but it's probably the same for all), if you've got too much olive oil dripping down and it pools on the U-shaped heating trough and it puddles, it will ignite and give you a nice grease fire. That might seem obvious to most people, but I used mine the same way plenty of times with no problem (drips would just burn off immediately), and then it gave me a little thrill one day.

 

[techs]

Speaking from experience, be careful with the infrared ones if you are doing any cooking with flammable marinades/sauces/oil/etc.

I do a lot of grilled veggies, and I like to give them a good coat of olive oil first. With my particular grill (I have a Char-Broil, but it's probably the same for all), if you've got too much olive oil dripping down and it pools on the U-shaped heating trough and it puddles, it will ignite and give you a nice grease fire. That might seem obvious to most people, but I used mine the same way plenty of times with no problem (drips would just burn off immediately), and then it gave me a little thrill one day.

Interesting, I had not read about that.
Char-Broil seems to be the leader in infrared grills. How well does yours work?

 

[techs]

http://infraredgrillsreviews.com/

The infrared grill is a relatively new form of grilling technology which cooks meat directly instead of indirectly using a convection method like the traditional barbecue grill. This results in a steak that is cooked and seared to perfection on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside. Until recently the only way you could get a steak cooked like this with the impressive char marks was to go to a restaurant because the infrared grilling technology was only available to commercial establishments. However in the year 2000 the patent on the technology expired and manufacturers began producing infrared bbq grills for consumer use. It is now possible to cook your own restaurant style steaks and other tasty grilled food from your own back yard.

Interesting info on this site. Though probably biased towards infrared.