Photo: Matthew Korfhage
The grill is a symbol of American restaurants and short-term cooking, and the hero of all street tacos. We tested each grill’s ability to make the largest foods for flat grills.
On the seven grids where I tested this guide, I made dozens of Smashburgers, tacos, fagitas, pancakes, bacon strips and eggs. I also crisped the skin of the fish, grilled pork chops, and tested the ability of each barbecue to cook vegetables at lower temperatures, such as asparagus, and meat cooked at higher temperatures on different burners.
For Smashburgers, this involves cooking at the highest temperature each grill can handle, which can test each grill’s ability to quickly crush the meat that is minced onto the grill and then release the meat onto the spatula. Pancakes. Placed on the grill is a test of uniformity of the grill across the entire cooking surface. Thicker meats (such as pork chops) test the ability of barbecue slices to maintain temperature during the scorching process.
And, we just use infrared thermometers to be very familiar with each grill and check the temperature along the grill surface when heating at high or low temperatures. We also competed with each other and checked how long it took each barbecue to heat up by 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
Although note that faster speeds are not always better: the heating speeds can sometimes be lower, or even lower. Our top pick, Traeger Flatrock 3-Zone, takes 10 minutes to reach 500 degrees. But it does it evenly on the surface of the grill.
I assembled each stove myself, both of whom are familiar with the workload each customer faces, but also introduce the trivialities of how each device is put together: you can really understand a grill while spending an hour twisting together.
In particular, over time I did the work of cleaning and seasoning, seasoning and reconditioning each grill, understanding its foam and hot spots, how quickly it cools, and how quickly it heats – learning the effort required for each grill and how much this effort is rewarded.
