Itâs a good grill, and I like it. But as Iâm not sure where the customer will be in terms of knowing what infrared is and all of that, please bear with me while I get a little Alton Brown here.
There are three kinds of cooking methods: convection, conduction, and radiant. When youâre roasting something, or boiling/braising something, youâre cooking by convection, or indirect heat. Itâs characterized by the heat flowing around the item via air, water, or whatever (and yes, technically this means deep frying is convection…). In contrast, conduction is direct heat. You put the item in a frying pan over a burnerâ¦thatâs conduction. And it works, but itâs also inefficient. Think of all the fuel being burned to achieve the rocket-hot temperatures required to properly cook a steak, for instance.
So in contrast to all of that, we have radiant heat, and thatâs what infrared is. In contrast to convection and conduction, radiant heat does not require a mediumâ¦it will travel, for instance, through a vacuum. Itâs the reason we exist, being that the sun gives off all that radiant heat. In fact, this characteristic makes infrared pretty popular for grilling in colder areas, since infrared doesnât have to fight colder ambient temperatures. In other words, while conduction will need to overcome a cold pan, infrared will not have that need.
So whatâs the benefit? I like infrared because it creates a much higher temperature at the grate than any other grill. Period. Moreover, it heats fast. Wicked fast. In my testing, I had a 750 degree temperature at the grate on this grill in under ten minutes. High heat means you can, for instance, get near-steakhouse quality on those chops you toss on there. And itâs at this point I have to quell what I think is overpromising by CharBroil on this grill. They will tell you that their Tru-Infrared will cook quickly, sear fast, and âlock inâ juices. But thatâs hyperbole. Searing creates a crust, true, but thatâs the carmelization of proteins and such that are at the surface of the meat (aka the Maillard reaction). It creates great taste, true, but the real juiciness isnât preserved by the searing. Instead itâs preserved by proper cooking and resting of the meat. This all said, this kind of brutal thermal assault can be a downside if you want to cook comparatively more delicate things like fish. Some grills offer a separate infrared burner coupled with a regular conductive side. This is not that grillâ¦itâs all infrared. So consider that as you think about this grill. Indeed, with this grill you will very likely have a hard time doing low temperature until you get zen with it.
This is a two burner configuration, so it doesnât offer acres of cooking space. I found it ideal for an apartment or for a weeknight grill if you just want to do up something quick and easy. The first thing youâll notice when assembling this grill (and assembly is straightforward but a little time consuming…don’t rush) is that it uses a kind of odd burner/emitter/grate system. Thereâs a waffle-like stainless steel layer between the burner and the grate. This is your infrared emitter. The perforations are designed to only allow the infrared wavelength energy through (wavelength of under 1mm). From a practical standpoint, since itâs between your food and the burner, you will not get flareups. You will also not lose vegetables if they happen to fall through the grate. However, please know that the emitter can be a bit of a bear to cleanâ¦grease does have a tendency to clog the holes, and itâs those holes that must be clear in order to enable the infrared cooking in the first place. So tip: When cleaning, use a grill brush on both sides to dislodge any gunk, then run a toothpick along the perforations to clean them up, followed by another run with the grill brush. You can also clean the emitter by putting it in the self-cleaning mode of an oven.
I appreciate that the grate is cast iron with a porcelain coating, although the grate is not strictly necessary. By that I mean the use of a cast iron grate is intended to enable conductionâ¦and you know how we feel about conduction. Cast iron, being so dense, holds onto heat, but again, weâre cooking infrared so we couldnât care less about conduction. The main utility of the grate is to keep food off the emitter.
So what about use? Well, it works like crazy is what. Once you get into the zen of infrared, and itâs not a steep learning curve, youâll enjoy it. Nothing does beef, chicken, or pork better. Whatâs more, because of the temperatures involved, you will get those grill marks on the food that makes everyone say Oooh, grilled food! I am not a fan of the top mounted thermometer (I donât care about the interior temperature of the closed grill because Iâm cooking with radiant, not convective heat) and would prefer a reading at grill level, but whatever. Theoretically I guess you could do indirect heat with this grill, just by turning on one burner, but to me that seems like using a Ferrari to go to the 7-11 (more on that in a minute when I talk about the cabinet) Same with the warming rack. I use it as a resting place for stuff just coming off the grill, but thatâs really it.
The cabinet is nice â stainless steel dominates, but donât expect a quality grade of stainless. No, this is 400 series stainless and you really need to be careful with it. The cabinet, emitters, and burners all appear to be made with the same quality stainless. Well, after using this a few times the burners and emitters WILL discolor. At the temperatures we’re talking about here, it’s inevitable. Moreover, if you keep this thing on high heat with the lid closed, you run the risk of the lid discoloring as well (and the next step from discoloration is rust). It’s a factor of using a lower grade stainless to meet the price point. Therefore, only run this thing with the lid open (it’s infrared, you don’t have to worry about colder air temperatures to get a good grilling temperature), If you want to do indirect heating, use your oven.
For the shelving, regular old laminated steel is used. I like that it folds up compactly for storageâ¦another point for this being an apartment grillâ¦and it has the GearTrax system for hanging grill tools. Not a ton of space in the cabinet for storage, as itâs dominated by the propane tank.
For care of this thing, wellâ¦listen. Youâre going to keep this outside. The experience of humanity has been one in which we deal with water. The air has moisture. It rains. It snows. All of that. If you keep this thing outside, only protected by a canvas cover, you WILL SEE RUST in a couple of years. Itâs inevitable. I keep my grills in a covered patio during grilling season, but when I winterize I remove all the guts out of the grill and keep them inside â remember, burning propane creates moisture that will rust out your burners if you arenât maintaining them. You donât have to go overboard, but you do have to pay attention to it.
So verdict time. This is probably the best dollar-to-value ratio for a two burner infrared grill in the Char Broil line. Having the casters on the cabinet of course makes it easier to move around, and since this thing is made to store easy youâll probably be moving it around more often than you think. Provided you do your part, this grill will have a lot of life in it. The technology here heats fast and cooks fast, with quite a bit of upside. Itâs a good grill and I like it a lot.