Weber Performer Deluxe Slate Blue Charcoal Outdoor Grill + Reviews

Ariane Resnick, who also updated this article, is a special diet chef, certified nutritionist, and bestselling author. She has more than 20 years experience in the food and writing spaces and believes in a joy-filled approach to health and wellness. Stainless-steel grates are inexpensive and lightweight, but you’ll need to clean them with a great grill brush after every session.

The basic kit comes with an aluminum pizza tray, but we recommend using a classic pizza stone for a crispier foundation. Naturally, this isn’t going to give you the same results as a dedicated pizza oven, but it’s still a fun and affordable way to cook a pizza outdoors. Sixty years ago, Weber Brothers Metal Works, later called Weber-Stephen Products, used to make mailboxes, fireplace equipment and a number of various other metal-based products. George Stephen, Sr., a salesman at the company, then decided the grills of the day weren’t up to snuff. Not to beat a dead burger, but the aforementioned thermometer really did help me manage my fire better.

weber charcoal grill

For the more fearless among us, they’ll use this as is, but if you want to be a little more careful, it’s easier to take the whole grate off. Another feature that makes the Weber Original Kettle Premium Charcoal Grill great is its one-touch cleaning system, which sweeps ash into a removable high-capacity container for easy disposal. It’s intuitive to use, and any ash it misses can quickly be brushed away. Weber has improved its iconic kettle grill through the decades and its latest version is nearly perfect.

And sadly, the ribs it produced came out burned, charred and overdone. We noted similar temperature performance from the Nexgrill, along with similar rib results. Cooking ribs low and slow on the Nexgrill required just 4 hours, 30 minutes. Its rack came out well too, though weber genesis 2 like the Napoleon, its bark was more pronounced than what the Weber produced. Interior temperatures had a greater swing, jumping up to 300 degrees F during periods of cooking. While its ribs came out tender and juicy overall, the exterior bark had a few burnt spots.

Of the Grills I own, the Weber Kettle is the one I find myself using the most. Weber is also a company that’s essentially synonymous with barbecue at this point. When it comes to a Kamado-style grill, you won’t find much competition for the Kamado Joe Classic II, save for the Big Green Egg, which we also like. The Orson Gygi Company has evolved from a restaurant wholesale kitchen supply store, to a shopping experience for anyone searching for anything kitchen. There are many appealing, well-thought-out features, despite it being a basic grill.

A few twists of the knobs, and I can have a high-heat zone, medium-heat zone, and low-heat zone at the ready. There are many approaches to how to clean a charcoal grill, but while it’s still warm, you can use a brush, scraper, or block to remove grease, drippings, and fuel residue. Here are some of the best grill brushes and cleaning tools we recommend. Another popular method, which should only be conducted while the grill is cool, is using a spray cleaner.

Sign up to receive new product news, exclusive offers, grilling tips & recipes, and more from Weber and its affiliates / subsidiaries! Combustion by-products produced when using this product contain chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm. From 1999 to 2001 there was a period of tremendous growth for the business. Several additional product lines were added and delivery/setup services were expanded.

They’re all liable to leak, spill, and trash the trunk of your car, so don’t set out without a storage bin or a large, heavy-duty sealed bag to contain grease, ash, and grit. I prefer the weber, coated cast-iron grates to the plated steel grates the Original Kettle comes with, but there are worse things, and the plated steel still cooks relatively well. It’s a fun rewarding experience, though to be perfectly honest I now never smoke on this grill because I tend to always smoke on my Kamado Joes. The bowl and lid are protected against burn-through and rust-through for 10 years.