New Gas Grill

[Winchester]

So, we bought a new gas grill and picked it up on Wednesday night. We've had our old Char-Broil 3-burner now forever and a day (well, maybe about 15 years now) and it was time. We were at Lowes on Saturday (not really even looking for a grill; we had gone down for water softener salt) and they had a 25% off sale on Char-Broils. The problem was that they had all their grills in a huge mish-mash in the store and I had no idea what was on sale and what was not. I asked an associate if the grill I was looking at was part of the sale grills. He said Yepper. Well, we didn't have the truck with us, so I told him that we'd go home, get the truck and come back down. He said that was fine; he'd set a grill aside for us. Lovely grill, too. Six burners and a side burner. All stainless steel grates. Huge cooking area compared to what we have now. And a temp gauge (our temp gauge quit working forever ago.) I asked him again....is this grill included in the sale? Yes. No problem. And he pulled one aside.

We ran home, got the truck and headed back down. Tried to buy the grill and.....it was not included in the sale and they refused to give it to us for the sale price. We came home. Grill-less. And the more I thought about it, the more peeved I got. And I emailed Lowes. Some of you may remember our fiasco with Lowes last year when we tried to buy the dishwasher and how Rick went down not once, but twice because they had things so screwed up. And then when we had some problems a couple months ago. It's like every time we try to buy something, we run into a huge mess. Hence the email. I won't go into a lot of detail....suffice to say that the store manager called me on Tuesday....

We went down Wednesday night and bought the grill with 25% off. And I sent off a Thank You (for working with us) note this morning in the mail on my way to work. (Actually, since we used our Lowes card, we got 30% off. We'll just pay the bill in full when it comes.)

And it really is a nice grill. I kept the old cast iron griddle from our old Char-Broil to use in the new one. The griddle makes lovely French toast, pancakes, and eggs. It makes the best bacon.

I asked Rick if we could do wings on Saturday and he winced. He winced! I looked at him and he said, "But your wings are soooo messy! On the new grill!" I said, "Fine, we'll keep the old grill for messy wings." (Actually I think we're going to put the old grill down by the road with a FREE sign on it. I'm sure it will be gone in about five minutes! All people need to see is a FREE sign.)

 

[margecat]

Oooohh, that sounds nice! I'm betting that it will get a real workout at Chez Winchester! Last night, DH actually arrived home the same time as I did, so he made us burgers on the grill, and grilled corn on the cob. It was great. We had a "romantic" dinner in the home office, using the lateral file cabinet as a table. (He's been painting, so the dining room table has stuff all over it.) Seriously, it was nice--I rarely see him nowadays, due to his awful new job.

If you think Lowes is bad, you should try to do business with our Home Depot...

 

[Mother Dragon]

That's a real winner! And to get it on such a good sale makes it even better. It looks much like the Brinkmann we had but better. You're going to have a blast playing with all the burner combinations, and the side burner will get a huge amount of use, too. I can taste the juicy grilled chicken now, and ribs, and brisket, and ... If you could bottle and sell the smell, you'd make a mint. Wonder why they don't make bbq scented air fresheners?

 

[Winchester]

Thanks! I'm excited! We have four lovely rib eye steaks and 4 pounds of chicken wings (although I'm still thinking I may have to do the wings on the old grill; Dear Richard is not amused at me messing up "his" new grill). I'll be doing the bread on the grill, too. That's the beauty of a larger grill; there's plenty of room and plenty of different heat levels to work with.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I've been wanting to get a gas grill. We have a charcoal one and it takes forever to get hot enough. I'd like to do weeknight grilling here and there. I found a great sale on Bubba Burgers so I have a freezer full right now! My mother marinated chicken tenderloins in a teriyaki marinade, put them on skewers and grilled them last Sunday. They were AMAZING! I really need to work on my grilling skills!

 

[artiemom]

Congratulations on your new purchase. You should get a ton of use out of it; especially with your cooking expertise! Awesome.

 

[AbbysMom]

So how did the new grill go?

I've been wanting to get a gas grill. We have a charcoal one and it takes forever to get hot enough.

You should get one! The flavor isn't quite the same with a gas grill, but it is SO much easier and faster.

We finally got the deck furniture out this weekend and the grill has been cleaned. We haven't used it yet this year though.

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

I hope you got chance to try the new grill over the weekend. We had a gas one once. It didn't last long. My husband didn't like the taste of the steaks and other food as well. We went back to the Weber charcoal grill.

But the gas is quicker. I can see where people who have a schedule and are so busy would really prefer the gas grill.

 

[Winchester]

We do like having a charcoal grill and a new charcoal grill is probably next on our list of outdoor items to buy; the one we have now is pretty much shot and we use the charcoal briquettes that we have on hand in the wood chip box of our gas grill. We'll just wait for a good sale. When we have the time to fire up the grill and let the coals burn down, that is good cooking, too.

Meanwhile we'll enjoy the gas grill. Karen, it all worked out well, thanks. The steaks came out well for everybody (I really prefer to make mine moo and Rick has a hard time with that. But it was good and I enjoyed my steak, too.) He said he's going to have to experiment more. And I want to experiment, too. The bread slices came out perfectly, nice and toasted on the bottom and the cheeses melted down. Yum.

And hopefully, in time, I'll be allowed to do my "messy" wings on the new grill, too. But on Saturday, we had both grills running because Rick didn't want my messy wings on his new grill.

Here's the new grill: Shop Char-Broil Performance Black and Stainless Steel 6-Burner Liquid Propane Gas Grill with 1-Side Burner at Lowes.com We are pleased with it, but have only used it once.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I think I peeked at that one yesterday. It looks big!

A well grilled steak is just delicious. I'm getting better at cooking them inside with sauteed onions and mushrooms. Or garlic.

 

[IndyJones]

Fresh caught fish is great done on the bbq the gas one we have is at least 20 years old and the pezo starter doesn't work but it still makes a good fish or pate. Sometimes we put those rocks in it for flavour. You will have to buy a tray though to do this

 

[Winchester]

I think I peeked at that one yesterday. It looks big!

A well grilled steak is just delicious. I'm getting better at cooking them inside with sauteed onions and mushrooms. Or garlic.

I made an herb-garlic butter on Saturday, then we put a pat of the butter over each steak and let it melt down. Oh man, it was good. I like my steak with mushrooms, too.

Fresh caught fish is great done on the bbq the gas one we have is at least 20 years old and the pezo starter doesn't work but it still makes a good fish or pate. Sometimes we put those rocks in it for flavour. You will have to buy a tray though to do this

We have a tray that we use for some fish. Salmon goes right on the grate. Shrimp is skewered. We're more careful with haddock and tilapia. Catfish is great on the grill!
We have a tray for wood chips; I usually soak the chips for a good 30 minutes or so, then drain them well, then throw them in the tray and put the tray in the grill on High heat until they start to smoke.
We have a tray that we use for baked potatoes. It pokes through the potatoes, so they cook a bit quicker. It holds four potatoes at a time.
We have two really nice screened pans that we use to grill chunked-up veggies; that way the veggies don't fall through the grates. The screens are kind of a pain to clean afterward though. We got them from QVC and I like using them.....except for the cleaning.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

My mother bought a basket/tray type thing from Pampered Chef that we borrowed and used for shrimp last year; but over the charcoal. They always use a charcoal grill too. We have a few things for cooking over the fire pit. Popcorn over a fire tastes so good! I never knew! The hotdog basket was a fail though. If the hotdogs aren't fat enough and you try to flip; they slip right out. Ask how we know! We do those on long skewers sometimes. The kids get a big kick out of it. I remember our landlord making corn on the cob in a firepit and having it grilled and both times it was REALLY good!

 

[Winchester]

My dad used to make popcorn over our campfire.....it was just delicious. I think we might have his popper with the rest of our camping gear. We just skewered hot dogs and did them that way. Yum. There is nothing like a hotdog cooked over a fire.

We have a Char-Broil electric rotisserie that we used on the old grill. Rick is going to see if it's long enough to try on the new grill, but we don't think it's going to work. We did some great chickens on that thing, too.

 

[Mother Dragon]

Did you use straightened coat hangers to skewer the hotdogs? And for marshmallows?

When we were sailing, our club had a marshmallow roasting contest. We gave trophies for the most evenly toasted and the most burned. I found some little disks of wood that were about the shape and size of a marshmallow and painted them appropriately for the prizes. I stuck them on a piece of coat hanger and glued the whole thing on a piece of driftwood. We had a a lot more accidental entries for most burned. I thought of creating a flaming marshmallow torch for the occasion.

Way back in the mid '70s we had a grill. I tried to do a stuffed turkey on the rotisserie. Unfortunately, the bird wasn't properly balanced and the spinning forks dug all the stuffing out and dumped it on the grate. I finally finished the turkey in the oven because it was cooking on one side and raw on the other.

Grilling is not a natural talent for me!

 

[Winchester]

No coat hangers here. We have camping hotdog/marshmallow forks. And mountain pie irons. And all kinds of camping stuff. Your little wooden marshmallows sound so cute.

We did small chickens and Cornish hens on the rotisserie. Rolled and tied pork roasts. I never stuffed anything though, not for the rotisserie. I have stuffed flank steak for the grill though.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

After getting a gas grill; I think I'd love a smoker. My cousin's husband; the grill master of the family, makes an amazing smoked brisket. We have a new BBQ place that makes a good brisket; but it still can't compare to his. It was tender, not greasy, deeeelicious!