Often you come to a store, such as Leroy Merlin or OBI, and look at the barbecues there. Beautiful, large, not very expensive. And you think it's time to replace my rusty junk with a good thing. And beautiful, and the food will certainly taste better. But is it? If you buy a beautiful grill without thinking about its functionality, will it be better than the time-tested, but old and rusted in places? Probably yes. But in order not to waste some of the money down the drain, it is important to choose not by appearance, but by other characteristics, which I will tell you about in today's article.
- Depth. As a rule, barbecues are too deep and this can be a really big problem if you are cooking on shallow coals. Ideally, an adjustable bottom or grate is needed, but you can simply follow the rule: the grill is no deeper than 15 cm.
- Thin walls. You can, of course, say that thin walls keep heat worse, but the most important thing, of course, is not this, but durability. Unfortunately, they actively burn out, and a thickness of 2-3 mm is enough for several seasons, no more, so take from 3 mm.
- Too large holes in the side walls. Many already know that it is better to buy a brazier without any "holes" at all, a lot has been written about this. But now it is not easy to find such. If you are not a "professional kebab maker", then, at least, when choosing a barbecue, look for one in which the side holes are small, and if you seriously want to study culinary wisdom, then try to find one without them.
- Roof and lid. In yesterday's article about how to extend the life of the barbecue, I've written a lot about how to protect it from the weather and more. By the way, be sure to read this article! But I will not skip this point anyway, since it is very important. Not only does the lid help protect the metal from corrosion, it is also a way to cook unusual dishes: vegetables over low heat, lightly smoked meat. And, besides, it is an opportunity to keep ready-made food warm!
- Material. Most modern barbecues are made of steel, they are cheap, cheerful, and work fine. For "disposable" the most it. But if you want to cook in a serious way, buy cast iron, perhaps even with replaceable walls, since anything will burn out in 10 years. Or assemble the brazier yourself using heat-resistant bricks. This is the perfect material. One of the variations of the designs in the photo below.
I understand that not everything is so simple, but here is a selection that will allow you to roughly understand how good and how bad. Wrong and correct barbecues:
I hope you liked my note, write in the comments what kind of grill you have now, whether it suits you, and if not, why not!
