Cast Iron vs. Grill Grates


 
I prefer the crust you get over the entire surface you get when a using cast iron pan over grill marks. I do love using my CI grill grates mostly for the heat retention that mass of cast iron gives you. Me personally I have no use for the grill grates, not interested in those grill marks and I do mostly indirect cooking so I don't have flare up problems. Can't think of any other advantage grill grates give you.
 
John Solak said:
I prefer the crust you get over the entire surface you get when a using cast iron pan over grill marks. I do love using my CI grill grates mostly for the heat retention that mass of cast iron gives you. Me personally I have no use for the grill grates, not interested in those grill marks and I do mostly indirect cooking so I don't have flare up problems. Can't think of any other advantage grill grates give you.
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I agree and that's my experience as well, but I find it interesting that many "professional grillers" disagree because they feel you only get the flavor from the grill marks and you should be shooting for complete browness and they feel that cast iron hurts this, but I've noticed exactly the opposite
 
The cross hatching "because you care" idea just strikes me as silly. Ok, it's kind of pretty but, I'd prefer a nice full crusty look (and flavor) I have the gourmet system too and find I rarely use the CI insert. It's just one more thing to fool around with, it's not big enough for four real steaks, the diamonds are pretty big so, it would want a fairly good sized single piece of meat to show the "cross hatching"
My take on this is more like "Take the time to do it right and, do not rely on the tools to make those technique decisions. Learn how to do these things with simplest equipment and your results will show in the end product."
All this said, I do have a ton of equipment, some is a help, some is a snare and a delusion. I've made some good equipment buys and some......not so good buying decisions. Some of the less good ones make for interesting wall decoration though.
 
Thanks for the write-up and test. I have no trouble getting great grill marks with either cast iron (Silver B) or stainless grates (S330). I don't understand the appeal of grillgrates, but if they work for you, cook on!
 
Thought I would add this to the thread. I called GrillGrates because I was reading significantly lower temps on my grillgrates than on the cast iron grates on my gasser. I found that if iwanted to get a really strong char the cast iron was better. They informed me that this was indeed the case when grillgrates was used on a cast iron grate. Their theory is the cast iron holds the heat rather than transferring it. I checked it against my kettle with wire grates and sure enough the grill grates were reading higher. I have not yet had a chance to confirm this on my gasser using non cast iron. I plan to get around to that at some point. Wanted to see if anyone else experienced this.
 
This method must have been posted before...I have a Weber Genesis, about 2-3 years old. I turn about 1/3 of my grill grates (I have enough to completely cover my grill surface) flat-side up and have found that I can get an overall sear/char very nicely on the first side on the flat side of the grill grates, then flip them over onto the ridge-side of the remaining grates to finish the cooking on the second side and get the visual of nice cross-hatches on the second side and crusty on the bottom. Best of two worlds.
 
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I don't do gas, but have a set of 3 GrillGrates that I use on a kettle, mostly for burgers, and sometimes for steaks.
Flat side up 99% of the time.
For burgers it's nice to get a good char, then slide them off the heat and temp them until done to my liking.
as I did last night:

IMGP4377.JPG
 
Thanks for the tip Rita. I had not thought of trying that, but I will next time that I grill.
Rita Y said:
This method must have been posted before...I have a Weber Genesis, about 2-3 years old. I turn about 1/3 of my grill grates (I have enough to completely cover my grill surface) flat-side up and have found that I can get an overall sear/char very nicely on the first side on the flat side of the grill grates, then flip them over onto the ridge-side of the remaining grates to finish the cooking on the second side and get the visual of nice cross-hatches on the second side and crusty on the bottom. Best of two worlds.
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I use mine on my gasser mostly and have enough GG to most of the grill. That's all I have and I get higher temps than the old cast iron grates.
 
I have a couple of 4-5 year old Q's, one a 300 and one a 320. The cast iron grates even with care, rust and flake after a few years. The GrillGrates, I have 3, cover the rust and provide a great cooking surface for me no matter which side of the grates I use. To me, they provide a excellent way to still cook on my Q's without having to worry about the flaking cast iron grates. Some day I will break down and give Weber a call to order new ones, but until then---
They also get use on the kettles when needed.
 
John Solak said:
I prefer the crust you get over the entire surface you get when a using cast iron pan over grill marks. I do love using my CI grill grates mostly for the heat retention that mass of cast iron gives you. Me personally I have no use for the grill grates, not interested in those grill marks and I do mostly indirect cooking so I don't have flare up problems. Can't think of any other advantage grill grates give you.
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Then they probably wouldn't give any advantage to you.

I, on the other hand, love 'em. Grill marks aside, I still do a lot of cooking over direct heat, so there's that. Plus, their design does amplify the heat of your grill so you can use less fuel.

When I'm at my parents', all they have is an old, small, cheap, Char-Broil gasser. The original grates were in pretty bad shape and a set of GGs fixed that problem along with the flare-up issue - got 'em on sale to boot.

Oh, and you just flip them over and they're great for cooking potatoes either wedges , rounds, or cubed up w/onions.

Finally, they've stopped the sacrifices to the asparagus gods.

Of course they're not the "be all-end all" by any stretch, and they're certainly not for everyone. And there are many other products, CI pans, CI grates for example, that are just as good, if not better.

But GrillGrates are a well thought out, well produced, product that is of benefit to many, many, many of our BBQ brothers and sisters.





BD
 
Tom, you should be able to clean, oil, and reseason your original cast iron grates for the Q without having to replace them.
TOM BAUER said:
I have a couple of 4-5 year old Q's, one a 300 and one a 320. The cast iron grates even with care, rust and flake after a few years. The GrillGrates, I have 3, cover the rust and provide a great cooking surface for me no matter which side of the grates I use. To me, they provide a excellent way to still cook on my Q's without having to worry about the flaking cast iron grates. Some day I will break down and give Weber a call to order new ones, but until then---
They also get use on the kettles when needed.
Click to expand...
 
Bob H. said:
Tom, you should be able to clean, oil, and reseason your original cast iron grates for the Q without having to replace them.
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The last party I had (~3.5 weeks ago), I had my gasser & 22.5" platinum going, along with a deep fryer. Friends were watching the grills & fryer - not sure what I was doing but I was happy to have things taking care of themselves.

The next time I went to use the gasser I thought my grates had rusted....it was on a spot I don't normally cook on. A few cooks later they look just fine, without oiling them or anything. I was a little concerned but I think whatever the issue was, it may have resolved itself. (PCI grates - aka porcelain enameled cast iron).

The Q grates I believe are the same thing.... just throw some chicken thighs on them! I've only had my used Q200 for a little over a year but had a friend with one similar who's had it for a LONG time with no issues.
 
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