On May 7, 4:49 pm, "Ray S. & Nayda Katzaman"
wrote:
Have been on the market for a new gas grill for the past few weeks and
it only gets more complicated. Have seen a couple that I like at BBQ
Galore (Capt'n Cook) that have cast iron burners, then a couple both
at Home Depot and Lowes with stainless steel burners, what is the
difference and which one is the better buy? Same thing for the
cooking grills, stainless steel, cast iron and porcelain covered cast
iron. Then I saw something new at Home Depot, their RED 3 or 4 Zone
Infrared grill. The flame never touches the cooking surface or food.

I own a BroilMaster that I've had for over 10 years now. As of last
fall, it is out of service awaiting a new burner for $85 that I can't
quite bring myself to buy yet. It's a very high quality grill to last
that long - I do nothing to care for it and it is uncovered year round
in Michigan. This is the second time it's needed a burner since I
purchased it. But here's my opinion about what I think I know about...

Grates: Mine had porcelain covered cast iron. My wife did me a favor
and cleaned it once with the scraper end of the cleaning brush and
that did it for the porcelain - for over a year of use after that, I
had to be very regimented about cleaning multiple times before cooking
to ensure the porcelain chips didn't get in the food. Whenever the
grates expanded from the heat or contracted, fresh porcelain would
chip off. Now it's all worn off as much as it's going to be, but I'll
never get that type of grate again. Stainless is nice and would do
that if I had the money, but plain old cast is probably what I'd
settle for since it works well and lasts a long time. A friend has
heavy stainless rods (about 3/8" diameter) for a grate on a trailer
wood/charcoal grill - very sweet. Stays clean and easy to care for.
But too rich for me.

Burners: Realize you'll be replacing it every so often, so be aware of
how much they cost for your model. I think mine is stainless, but
obviously stainless will rust out under those extreme conditions.
Depending on how thick the cast iron burner is, it could be extremely
durable. I have a cast burner on a propane burner that is old as dirt
and still going. On the other hand, it gets crudded up and ideally I
should disassemble it every year and blast the junk out. It isn't easy
to disassemble and clean since it's heated/cooled so many times and
exposed to humidity.

Infrared: No idea. Keep in mind that you aren't going to get much
flavor out of a gas grill - only the smoke from the juices as they hit
the burner unless you toss in a smoker box (which will only provide
marginal flavor - that's not what a gas grill is designed for). The
ability to provide tons of even heat is the key. It should be designed
in a way that doesn't encourage flare ups. If there's a place in the
bottom for grease to pool up, that isn't good.

There are others here who know a lot more about it than me, but mainly
I wanted to provide you the info about the porcelain grates...

--Jeff