Dead horse beating ahead. Tell me about your grillgrates.


 
Bruno

Bruno

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Ordered a half moon for my kettle with the Labor Day sale. Anyone have any thoughts on wether or not you like them.

I figured they would be fun for steaks, lamb chops, and pork chops.

I know meathead and others like an overall brown crust but you must admit super dark crosshatches look pretty cool when done right.
 
I've had mine for a couple of years now and I've used them on a gasser, kettle, Qxxx, CGA, and lately a pellet pooper. I like 'em.
 
What’s the ideal temp on the GG’s. I was going to put it over my SNS, bad idea. I do have a digital gun to check, however today was the first I saw that you can overheat them.
 
Bruno said:
What’s the ideal temp on the GG’s. I was going to put it over my SNS, bad idea. I do have a digital gun to check, however today was the first I saw that you can overheat them.
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Keeping in mind that I grill on the griddle side...but for searing typically I shoot for the 600F-650F range, burgers in the mid-500s, more or less. You can go higher or lower, of course, but it depends on how delicate the protein, how thick it is, the protein temp, etc. It's a learning curve, but the higher the temp the more the protein tends to stick and the sooner you'll need to flip, so start off on the lower side of things with some burgers and see how it goes. Use an onion (or vegetable oil) to season the grates first, of course.
 
I got the best crust ever on a ribeye this weekend, a beautiful mahogany color, on GGs in a pellet grill. The GGs run cooler in a pooper, surprised the heck out of me, but 500F on the pooper gives me 435-ish griddle temp. I've never run GGs that low.
 
I have used GG a few times on a pellet grill with reasonable success. Here is one time I opened up my Recteq to full throttle for what it is capable of:

IMG_4361(1).jpgIMG_4355(1).JPG

I also used GG on my crazy Landmann kettle. Don't have pictures, but it worked pretty well.

For me, the biggest plus about GG is that flare-ups are almost completely eliminated, and your grill stays cleaner. I like grill marks, even though they have no impact on taste - just "eye candy" for your company. GG definitely deliver that!

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Steaks & Burgers with smoke.jpeg

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I have owned a full set for the 22" kettle for at least 5 years. They do well for burgers, dogs, sausage, steaks etc. The channel grooves on mine are heavily covered with baked on food remnants & will never look new again. They are aluminum so certain cleaners should not be used on them. My favorite type of steak is the ribeye & since they do minimize flair-ups I sometime opt to not use them for ribeye's as I just can't seem to get them hot enough with lump charcoal.
 
Look forward to seeing how it goes for you, Bruno!

I am sorely tempted by their moving sale to get a set for a 22" kettle, but I am trying to not get in any more trouble at home and use what I have more thoroughly.
 
Jon Tofte said:
Look forward to seeing how it goes for you, Bruno!

I am sorely tempted by their moving sale to get a set for a 22" kettle, but I am trying to not get in any more trouble at home and use what I have more thoroughly.
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Haha aren’t we all.
 
Jon Tofte said:
I have used GG a few times on a pellet grill with reasonable success. Here is one time I opened up my Recteq to full throttle for what it is capable of:

View attachment 58929View attachment 58930

I also used GG on my crazy Landmann kettle. Don't have pictures, but it worked pretty well.

For me, the biggest plus about GG is that flare-ups are almost completely eliminated, and your grill stays cleaner. I like grill marks, even though they have no impact on taste - just "eye candy" for your company. GG definitely deliver that!

View attachment 58931
View attachment 58932

View attachment 58933
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Jon, really nice looking food. The skinless chicken I understand using ridge side up. But wouldn't you rather have an all over sear on the burgers and steak? Just asking as I have been using mine flat side up almost all the time. On chicken with skin I would probably cook until almost done then use the flat side to crisp up the skin. Still learning with mine.
 
Joe Anshien said:
Jon, really nice looking food. The skinless chicken I understand using ridge side up. But wouldn't you rather have an all over sear on the burgers and steak? Just asking as I have been using mine flat side up almost all the time. On chicken with skin I would probably cook until almost done then use the flat side to crisp up the skin. Still learning with mine.
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Joe,
Definitely the other way to go. I have always been enamored with crosshatch grill marks, even though I totally get that they do nothing for taste. I guess I enjoy the "eye candy" aspect. (I have even been kind of called out here as the "painted stripe" grill mark guy!") It always seems to go over well with company, though.

On the other hand, I have been experimenting. One method that even GrillGrates suggests is to use a mixed approach and start with the flat side to get just enough overall crust and then finish on the rail side up. You get a result that might be an ideal compromise if done right.
 
Jon Tofte said:
Joe,
Definitely the other way to go. I have always been enamored with crosshatch grill marks, even though I totally get that they do nothing for taste. I guess I enjoy the "eye candy" aspect. (I have even been kind of called out here as the "painted stripe" grill mark guy!") It always seems to go over well with company, though.

On the other hand, I have been experimenting. One method that even GrillGrates suggests is to use a mixed approach and start with the flat side to get just enough overall crust and then finish on the rail side up. You get a result that might be an ideal compromise if done right.
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Thanks - That makes perfect sense.
 
One method that even GrillGrates suggests is to use a mixed approach and start with the flat side to get just enough overall crust and then finish on the rail side up.

I do half flat, half rails all the time.

For searing, it works especially well if you have n/s burners plus a sear burner, like my Gen 300.

If you put the flat side on the sear burner side, you have three burners getting the flat metal extra hot. Sears like crazy -- so much so that you can easily overdo it. I leave a gap in the middle, so the rail side is a good second cooler zone. Then over to the cooler rail side to finish and to get your diamond stripes.

Half/half is also nice for shrimp, veggies, smashburgers, cheesesteaks, etc.

About the only time I use all rails is when doing a large quantity of wings or other bone-in chicken.
 
So I have not seen someone use GG on an IR burner, so I thought I would try it. I had 2 ribeye's and usually just use the IR burner to fast cook some steaks. Very nice results. I did flip the GG fin side up to finish the thicker one as I had a nice crust but needed more time to get up to 125°.
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Jim C in Denver said:
One method that even GrillGrates suggests is to use a mixed approach and start with the flat side to get just enough overall crust and then finish on the rail side up.

I do half flat, half rails all the time.

For searing, it works especially well if you have n/s burners plus a sear burner, like my Gen 300.

If you put the flat side on the sear burner side, you have three burners getting the flat metal extra hot. Sears like crazy -- so much so that you can easily overdo it. I leave a gap in the middle, so the rail side is a good second cooler zone. Then over to the cooler rail side to finish and to get your diamond stripes.

Half/half is also nice for shrimp, veggies, smashburgers, cheesesteaks, etc.

About the only time I use all rails is when doing a large quantity of wings or other bone-in chicken.
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I keep my set up with both the flat and rails up. The only issue that I have is for indirect cooking. My trusty old Genny B gasser burners run East/West so I can't really indirect cook/
 
Rick P said:
I keep my set up with both the flat and rails up. The only issue that I have is for indirect cooking. My trusty old Genny B gasser burners run East/West so I can't really indirect cook/
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There are multiple ways to indirect cook. You can even indirect on a Q. On E/W just use the closest burner on high and the furthest low or off. On the Q I would use an elevated rack and foil with some slits underneath.
 
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