Jon Tofte
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
It has rained every day for a week and I have had a son's graduation (AA) and many activities. Not much time for grill restorations or even grilling.
Today I got out one of the sets of Original Weber uncoated cast iron grates that I had worked over with a wire brush last week. Did my best to get them initially seasoned with shortening and then put them on my Silver C on top of the aluminum perforated sheets I am trying out. This concept of using the sheet aluminum under regular grates to mimic GrillGrates (without aluminum touching the food) was suggested by Larry Michaels, and I have nicknamed them after him!
The first go round using stainless rod grates didn't work out all that great. I wound up having to put metal supports under the sheet aluminum because it sagged during grilling. With that in place, here is my first attempt using cast iron, which was my preferred choice for this concept anyway:
I decided while I was doing this to also put to the test whether to use these grates with the wider flat part up or the narrower curved part. I think it may well be true that on the newest cast iron that Weber sells now, the expectation is that you are supposed to use them with the flat side up. I have never been convinced that this was the case with the old original grates, based in part on old catalog pictures and the fact that the trademark info is embossed on this side. However, I suppose it is each to his own. Different grilling ideas is part of what makes this all fun!
For my personal taste, this test settled it for me. I like the narrower grill marks. The sheet aluminum did not prevent flareups as well as GrillGrates. I think that it may be because the sheet style I picked has TOO MANY holes. I was trying to avoid the Charbroil clog ups and get holes more like GrillGrates have. Anyway, two of the steaks didn't fare so well, but even the one that has recognizable marks doesn't really compare to the GrillGrates results I have had:
On the other side I used the cast iron with the narrow edge side up and got what I feel are VERY NICE results. I would say the equal of GrillGrates:
Now I need to see if the aluminum sheets really make any difference in a follow up test. I did use my laser thermometer (a Harbor Freight $17.99 special) and got readings pushing 700 degrees on the cast iron using the aluminum sheets underneath. It will be interesting to see what happens in comparison without.
Today I got out one of the sets of Original Weber uncoated cast iron grates that I had worked over with a wire brush last week. Did my best to get them initially seasoned with shortening and then put them on my Silver C on top of the aluminum perforated sheets I am trying out. This concept of using the sheet aluminum under regular grates to mimic GrillGrates (without aluminum touching the food) was suggested by Larry Michaels, and I have nicknamed them after him!
The first go round using stainless rod grates didn't work out all that great. I wound up having to put metal supports under the sheet aluminum because it sagged during grilling. With that in place, here is my first attempt using cast iron, which was my preferred choice for this concept anyway:
I decided while I was doing this to also put to the test whether to use these grates with the wider flat part up or the narrower curved part. I think it may well be true that on the newest cast iron that Weber sells now, the expectation is that you are supposed to use them with the flat side up. I have never been convinced that this was the case with the old original grates, based in part on old catalog pictures and the fact that the trademark info is embossed on this side. However, I suppose it is each to his own. Different grilling ideas is part of what makes this all fun!
For my personal taste, this test settled it for me. I like the narrower grill marks. The sheet aluminum did not prevent flareups as well as GrillGrates. I think that it may be because the sheet style I picked has TOO MANY holes. I was trying to avoid the Charbroil clog ups and get holes more like GrillGrates have. Anyway, two of the steaks didn't fare so well, but even the one that has recognizable marks doesn't really compare to the GrillGrates results I have had:
On the other side I used the cast iron with the narrow edge side up and got what I feel are VERY NICE results. I would say the equal of GrillGrates:
Now I need to see if the aluminum sheets really make any difference in a follow up test. I did use my laser thermometer (a Harbor Freight $17.99 special) and got readings pushing 700 degrees on the cast iron using the aluminum sheets underneath. It will be interesting to see what happens in comparison without.