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7 Amazing Grills
1. Bar-B-Chef Texas by Barbeques Galore. This versatile grill burns either charcoal or wood—the ultimate fuel. Its heavy cast-iron grates brand grill marks right into a steak. $899; bbqgalore.com.
2. Weber Ranch. A kettle grill on steroids, this enormous charcoal grill measures three feet across. Its size and high-domed lid mean it can even smoke a whole hog. $1,199; weber.com.
3. Grand Turbo All Grill by Barbeques Galore. Grills don't get much bigger than this 1,000-pound model with eight powerful main burners that deliver 84,400 BTUs. $3,499; bbqgalore.com.
4. Lodge Logic Sportsman's Grill. This hibachi-style model is large enough to cook kebabs, yakitori or satays for a crowd, small enough to fit on a table. $108; lodgemfg.com.
5. Kalamazoo Bread Breaker Two Dual-Fuel. If grills were cars, this 500-pound machine would be a Hummer. What makes it so ingenious is that it can burn gas, charcoal or wood. $11,290; kalamazoogourmet.com.
6. Horizon Classic Smoker. Designed by an Oklahoma pit master, this smoker looks and cooks just like the big rigs used at barbecue competitions. $639; horizonbbqsmokers.com.
7. Big Green Egg. This giant, egg-shaped ceramic cooker has fanatical fans. One reason: It can go from 225° (for slow-smoking) to 700° (for searing) in minutes. $700 for the large model; biggreenegg.com.
Steven Raichlen's Top Grill Recipes
Steven Raichlen uses a particular grill to make each of the recipes below—but he's adapted them all so any basic charcoal or gas will deliver fantastic results.
Horizon Classic Smoker
the grill There comes a time when every griller wants to cook "low and slow" (at low heat for half a day or more) in the style of a Southern or Texas pit master. This requires a "pit" (smoker) like the Horizon Classic Smoker, created by Oklahoma pit master Roger Davidson from a rugged 1/4-inch-thick oil pipe. The Horizon smoker works just like the rigs the experts use on the competitive barbecue circuit—the charcoal and wood go in the firebox and the meat goes in the smoke chamber.
the recipe The Horizon cooks spice-rubbed ribs to smoky perfection. The barbecue sauce comes from my neck of the woods, Miami: It's a tropical blend of guava paste and rum. This recipe is adapted from a version in my new book, Raichlen on Ribs.
To cook these spice-coated baby back ribs in the Horizon Smoker, light the coals in a chimney starter. Fill the firebox with hot coals and top them with about 1 cup of soaked wood chunks or wood chips. Set the ribs, bony side down, in the smoke chamber. Adjust the vents for a smoking temperature of 225° to 250°. Smoke the ribs for four to five hours, until very tender. Add fresh coals to the firebox every hour as needed, and add soaked wood chunks hourly for the first three hours.
Chinese Style Ribs with Guava Barbecue Sauce
Barbeques Galore Bar-B-Chef Texas
the grill A great debate rages about the superiority of gas versus charcoal for grilling. But for me, the perfect fuel is wood. And the perfect grill for burning it is the Barbeques Galore Bar-B-Chef Texas, a front-loading charcoal and wood grill with a crank-adjustable pan that raises or lowers the embers to control the heat. Forget about shiny chrome or enamel grill grates: This powerhouse has heavy cast-iron grates for awesome grill marks.
the recipe If you're going to grill over wood, you want a simple dish like these swordfish steaks, marinated in olive oil and lemon juice and topped with basil-caper butter. The idea is to keep the focus on the flavor of the wood smoke.
Grilled Swordfish Steaks with Basil-Caper Butter
Kalamazoo Bread Breaker Two Dual-Fuel
the grill Made from 500 pounds of laser-cut steel, the Kalamazoo is crafted by a fourth-generation metal master whose great-grandfather manufactured one of the first grills in the United States. The most remarkable feature of this machine is its fuel system, which can burn gas, charcoal and hardwood.
the recipe These thick T-bone steaks, rubbed with spicy-smoky chipotle powder and topped with a high-voltage Chilean pepper-tomato salsa, reach their flavor apotheosis when cooked over wood. That's because hickory, oak and other hardwoods burn hot, imparting the fragrant scent of wood smoke to the meat.
Smoky Spiced T-Bone Steaks with Chilean Salsa
Lodge Logic Sportsman's Grill
the grill Grills in the West are all about enormous size and lots of BTUs, but for Asian grill masters, small is beautiful. And it's hard to imagine a more perfectly designed small grill than the hibachi-style one made by 110-year-old Lodge Manufacturing. Constructed of heavy cast iron so it holds and radiates heat, the grill can produce enough yakitori, satays or other Asian kebabs for a group, yet it can fit in the center of a picnic table (on a row of heatproof trivets or an inverted baking sheet), so guests can grill their own food.
the recipe I love to set up a hibachi and have guests cook their own seasoned shrimp skewered on sugarcane. Think of the dish as deconstructed Vietnamese shrimp-mousse kebabs.
Vietnamese-Style Jumbo Shrimp on Sugarcane
Big Green Egg
the grill The Big Green Egg may not be the sleekest or most macho-looking grill on the patio, but this enormous egg-shaped cooker has an almost cultlike following. Its thick ceramic walls hold in heat, making it amazingly fuel-efficient, while its unique venting system allows it to go from 225° to 700° with the twist of a dial.
the recipe The Big Green Egg is the perfect grill for cooking chicken—a meat known for its perverse dual tendencies to dry out on the grill or burst into flames because of dripping fat. The chicken legs here are marinated in garlic and coriander in the Thai manner, then doused with sweet Thai chili sauce.
To cook the chicken in the Big Green Egg, pour hot coals in the bottom of the grill. Insert the grate. Set the chicken on top, skin side up. Cover and adjust the vents for a temperature of 325° to 350°.
Weber Summit Platinum D6
the grill This sleek, well-engineered, six-burner gas grill comes kitted out with all the extras, including bar-steel grill grates, a smoker box with a dedicated burner and a side burner. Plus it's large enough to cook a full seven-pound bone-in prime rib, a whole salmon or more than 30 sausages.
the recipe For my ultimate cheeseburger, shredded Gouda gets mixed into the ground beef, keeping it supermoist even when cooked all the way through.
Gouda Burgers with Grilled Onions and Pickled Peppers
Barbeques Galore Grand Turbo All Arill
the grill The 1,000-pound, 52-inch Grand Turbo All Grill by Barbeques Galore is a behemoth. A well-tuned ignition system fires eight powerful burners (plus two infrared rear burners) under 1,100 square inches of grilling area. No matter how or what you're cooking, the Grand Turbo's 84,400 BTUs put out heat to spare.
the recipe The mustard-glazed salmon recipe here takes advantage of the Grand Turbo's size—large enough to accommodate six or more small cedar grilling planks topped with fish. So what's with the cedar? Plank grilling deftly dodges two of the main problems of cooking fish on the grill: its tendency to stick to the grate and to fall apart when flipped. Plus the planks impart a haunting cedar flavor and make an unexpectedly elegant presentation. The planks are available at most cookware shops.
To cook the planked salmon on the Grand Turbo, preheat the grill to high. Turn off all but the far left and far right burners. Set the planks above the unlit burners.
Cedar-Planked Salmon with Grainy Mustard Glaze
Weber Ranch
the grill This monster charcoal grill is three feet in diameter, with more than 1,100 square inches of cooking area. It's astonishingly simple to use, and its plated steel grates create killer grill marks.
the recipe Thanks to its sheer size and high-domed lid, the Ranch is ideal for making my version of Patio Pig Pickin'. Instead of cooking a whole hog, I slow-smoke a ham North Carolinastyle, and serve it on a bun with peppery vinegar sauce and mustard slaw.
For more of his brilliant grilling ideas, go to foodandwine.com/raichlen.
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