Used the Q with those stainless grates again


 
LMichaels

LMichaels

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
So I used my Q320 last night again with the stainless (Stanbroil IIRC) grates. Again cooked catfish fillets on it. Put a little EVOO on them some BBQ rub we all like got them nice and hot, turned off center burner turned down outer burner to med/low and cooked. A nice crust developed on the outside, fillets were easy to flip and remove and supper was wonderful! Again, these are highly recommended. Sorry for the bad lighting. Getting dark WAY too early now, so light was from my exterior lamps on the garage and the little LED light on the handle20201109_170307.jpg
 
Thanks for the update. I keep telling myself that I need to do some grilled fish soon. I wish the wife liked Salmon. She does like catfish though. I really should go out and catch some, but I will probably hit up the super market. Where do you get yours? Fresh or frozen?
 
I get it typically from Sam's. Economical and they sell a decent product. I get their Sashimi graded salmon there as well BTW
 
Looking really GREAT Larry! The more I see of these in action the less reservations I have about how well they will work.
 
I just got done doing some nice thick pork chops on mine. I just love them. They cook well and I don't have to mess with all the scraping and seasoning and all the BS of CI grates. I just heat it up to full temp, scrape it off with a SS spatula and throw my food on for the next cook. When I am done, I just turn it off, go in and enjoy dinner.

Oh yah, best of all, I know I wont be worrying about porcelain chips or SS bristles in my food and I won't be looking at replacing the grates in three years because of rust.
 
Chris in GA said:
Larry how does ss compares to ci ?
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Honestly I would say if I had to put a "number" on it. They're 95%. On some things I would still give CI the slight edge. But understand I went into these things a total skeptic fully expecting to hate them and return them. But here I am killin it with them. If you're into deep dark grill marks these ain't for you. But then IMO those marks are for show not taste. The steaks I have done on them have a very good Maillard crust all over not just on te stripes. It's like the best of a griddle and grill combined. They weigh about 90% of what the CI ones do so heat retention is nearly as good. Honestly for the loss of all the upkeep and worry they're well worth it.
 
If anyone can post a link to the stainless grates LM posted, and price paid/good price to pay, I would appreciate it. I cant seem to find it on amazon.
 
Here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074RZ17FC/?tag=tvwb-20

A little pricey at this price. I got mine with a $30 discount when Stanbroil was offering a lot of great discounts. But, just keep in mind that this is the last set of grates you will likely ever have to buy for your Q. Also, you don't have to worry about or deal with the rust and chipping porcelain coating ever.

If you wait a while, it could be they will go on sale during Black Friday or Cyber Monday sales before Christmas.
 
Here's the crosshatch design for the Q300/32000 at a pretty strong price:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FXF7MYB/?tag=tvwb-20

You could buy one new one and one "used" one for a little over $50 total. My experience to date with Amazon "used" is that they are returns that have never been used. One I got still had the form inside from the store that does Amazon returns.
 
Very tempting Jon. I have a Q3xx that needs a set of grates but I am not in a position to drop the dime right now. I have added them to my list. I will seriously consider these when it is time to outfit the Q3xx.
Maybe even see a great deal on these and others during Black Friday/Cyber Monday.
 
I don't have any big Qs right now, so I have not justification myself. It is a pretty decent deal especially seeing Larry's success so far. I didn't think the regular ones would make nice marks - which is not at all a deal breaker - but, in fact, they definitely do. That makes me wonder how the crosshatch ones would do. I have posted before that when grilling with my Q grills on the OEM cast iron with very tight spacing I usually don't even try my typical rotate to get diamond marks. With these it would give you that with no extra attention required!
 
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I haven't had a lot of luck with either the straight cut SS grates or the diamond cut ones when it comes to sear marks.
 
That catfish Larry made looks really good! I hope I can get a Genesis 3-burner up and running so I can try out the Stanbroil grates myself. I do think that cast iron or thick stainless rods (or GrillGrates!;)) will probably work better if grill marks are your primary aim.
 
Bruce said:
I haven't had a lot of luck with either the straight cut SS grates or the diamond cut ones when it comes to sear marks.
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If you noted however I am not a believer in "marks" they're simply eye candy. The REAL Holy Grail is an overall Maillard reaction crust not lines. And Bruce you have to admit. Those flat stainless Q grates do one helluva job at that overall "crust". I am honestly well pleased with that. After all you cannot eat lines or taste them
 
Larry, I totally agree. They do actually make a good overall crust. I was just commenting that they don't do well on sear marks if that is what you really want. Sear marks are fun, but that is not my primary concern when grilling.
 
LMichaels said:
If you noted however I am not a believer in "marks" they're simply eye candy. The REAL Holy Grail is an overall Maillard reaction crust not lines. And Bruce you have to admit. Those flat stainless Q grates do one helluva job at that overall "crust". I am honestly well pleased with that. After all you cannot eat lines or taste them
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Thanks all for the info on the grates.

I agree with Larry on the grill marks. There is a website called amazing ribs that explains the science behind cooking and it says the same. You either want a good sear for the crust or minimum contact for smoke flavor. I recommend that site.

I also recommend reading this article on the site: https://amazingribs.com/technique-and-science/more-cooking-science/safe-serving-temperatures Understanding this and using a decent digital thermometer and the temperature guide gets an armature cook at least a 50% improvement in their grilling results based on reports from people I recommended they do this. It did for me too. The site used to have a pdf to print the temp chart but now sell a magnet. I think you can still copy a pic or search google images and copy a pic and paste in a word document and print it.

On the Q 3 grates, I will watch for a deal. Keeping those cast iron Q grates in top shape is a pain. Funny story: I read all the comments about the Q being a great little grill on here. My house has a kitchen upstairs and an outside deck. I kept my Weber Genesis grill downstairs and had to always be down there grilling. So, I thought I would find a Q3 and try it upstairs. I already had several grills I was refurbing for many nieces and nephews for wedding gifts, so I was not sure another would go over well with the wife. I located a great condition Q3 with cover and tank for $50 and bought it. Luckily the cover was a Weber with a big Q on the front. So I took it home set it up and gave it to the wife on mother's day and told her it was a Weber Queen grill. It went over well enough and now she loves it so we can now sit on the deck together when I grill.
 
Although I guess I have (willingly) picked up the "crosshatch sear mark" title on this board, I completely agree that it is nothing but eye candy. That isn't all bad; I like eye candy. I also agree that food with bold black lines but little or no crust in between is inferior to an overall crust. I have been trying harder to blend the results of both in my grilling.

What I really like about Larry's catfish shown above is that there IS a great overall crust but also still some evidence of grill marks. To me that is a perfect combination of taste and appearance. I would not have thought of these stainless grates as having this capability, but Larry's wonderful results so far have changed my mind.
 
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