GrillGrate Review

[Greg Jones]

I’ve used the same set of GrillGrates sized for a Large Big Green Egg for 16 years now. I’m a big fan of them to put a nice sear on anything, and I alternate between searing on the flat side (best flavor) and the grate side (best sear marks). There are some folks that are skeptical of them, but they absolutely do what the GG folks say they will do.

Today I saw a review of GrillGrates on the Serious Eats site. Serious Eats is, IMO, one of the top cooking and cooking equipment sites out there, The writer was evaluating the grates with gas grills, but many of the concepts discussed would apply to pellet and charcoal grills as well. There are some good observations in the comment section as well.

https://www.seriouseats.com/2020/08/grillgrate-upgrade-for-gas-grills.html

 

[ifican]

GG are fantastic over direct flame and like you i have owned my set a looong time. However they are not very good with indirect heat. As an example take your gg put your deflector underneath and try to sear more then one thing. You cant with any significant outcome, well you can but if its a thick steak you have to pull it, let the gg's heat back up then put back. They are truly miracle workers over direct flame but leave much to be desired otherwise.

 

[Greg Jones]

My experience is that’s only the case if you flip/rotate meat to the same spot on the GG. For the best experience, the grates need to be twice as large as what one is cooking, so that when the meat is rotated or flipped, it goes to a new spot on the grate. The previously used spots reheat quickly, so it’s not like once they are used in a cook, they don’t get hot enough to sear again.

 

[GH41]

To sear and putting marks on a piece of meat are two different things. Many a fine steak was seared in a cast iron frying pan over a bed of hot coals. Grill Grates have their place but a pellet grill isn't it IMO. BTW... I have them wall to wall in my gas grill.

 

[Greg Jones]

I’m not even going to engage with you. I posted pictures of my Bullseye‘s GrillGrates hitting 940* and you called me a liar.

 

[Azajyum]

I’ve used the same set of GrillGrates sized for a Large Big Green Egg for 16 years now. I’m a big fan of them to put a nice sear on anything, and I alternate between searing on the flat side (best flavor) and the grate side (best sear marks). There are some folks that are skeptical of them, but they absolutely do what the GG folks say they will do.

Today I saw a review of GrillGrates on the Serious Eats site. Serious Eats is, IMO, one of the top cooking and cooking equipment sites out there, The writer was evaluating the grates with gas grills, but many of the concepts discussed would apply to pellet and charcoal grills as well. There are some good observations in the comment section as well.

https://www.seriouseats.com/2020/08/grillgrate-upgrade-for-gas-grills.html

Bought GriollGrates for my Bull based upon a recommendation from Kosmos, but have yet to install them. Even though not as good on a pellet grill as a gas grill, do you find they are useful on a pellet grill?

 

[Greg Jones]

Bought GriollGrates for my Bull based upon a recommendation from Kosmos, but have yet to install them. Even though not as good on a pellet grill as a gas grill, do you find they are useful on a pellet grill?

Short answer is, yes, I do. But the better answer is, since you already have them, why not try them yourself? No one can answer better than you if you feel they were worth the investment.

It’s also important to keep in mind that people eat first with their eyes, so even though sear marks don’t impart as much flavor as a full sear (which I acknowledge in my first post above), there is no question that the appearance of nice sear marks on a steak or a pork chop will impress most people that you are feeding.

I have posted some pictures here recently on the results I get on the Bullseye, but I don’t think I posted any when I was using them on the Bull. I intend to get a steak and cook it on the Bull, one side of the steak cooked on the flat side of the grates and the other side of the steak cooked to get the grid marks. And unlike others here that promised to post pictures of the temps they get with an IR gun and did not, I will post all in this thread.

 

[Fhughes]

I wasn’t happy with mine at first, not because of performance but because the grease dripping in the barrel. Since I have shortened them, I am quite pleased

 

[charlesrshell]

I wasn’t happy with mine at first, not because of performance but because the grease dripping in the barrel. Since I have shortened them, I am quite pleased

How did you shorten them?

 

[Fhughes]

@charlesrshell I used I metal blade in my jigsaw then made sure there were no bur’s with a fine file

 

[charlesrshell]

@charlesrshell I used I metal blade in my jigsaw then made sure there were no bur’s with a fine file

OK, thanks.

 

[Greg Jones]

I wasn’t happy with mine at first, not because of performance but because the grease dripping in the barrel. Since I have shortened them, I am quite pleased

That appears to be a common concern here. I would have thought the grease would have dropped through the holes in the grates before getting to the end, but that must have not worked out quite like GG anticipated. I didn’t have that problem as my BGE GrillGrates are shorter than the Bull grates.

 

[GH41]

I’m not even going to engage with you. I posted pictures of my Bullseye‘s GrillGrates hitting 940* and you called me a liar.

I didn't call you a liar. Maybe you forgot what I said. What I said is quoted below.

Having trouble believing that.

I still don't believe it. For all we know you were shooting the fire pot and not the GG rib surface temp. One thing is a safe bet... If the temp is accurate your little grill isn't going to last very long.

 

[Greg Jones]

I didn't call you a liar. Maybe you forgot what I said. What I said is quoted below.

I still don't believe it. For all we know you were shooting the fire pot and not the GG rib surface temp. One thing is a safe bet... If the temp is accurate your little grill isn't going to last very long.

Well, when someone posts a picture (WTF, you can’t tell if it’s pointed at the GrillGrates or the fire pot?) and says they don’t believe it, there is little room for interpretation. Perhaps you should call RT and advise them of your safe bet?

Better question is, what happened to this claim?

 

[BretM]

@charlesrshell I used I metal blade in my jigsaw then made sure there were no bur’s with a fine file

Any pictures?

 

[Fhughes]

@BretM I don’t have any pictures but I cut them to just under what the drip pan is. I know people are turning them sideways but I wanted to use the fancy spatula

 

[Fhughes]

@Greg Jones i think the majority of the grease was dropping through the hole onto the drip pan but I had a fair amount coming off the ends onto the grate rails and then down into the barrel. I thought at first that my grill was level enough but it is

 

[charlesrshell]

@charlesrshell I used I metal blade in my jigsaw then made sure there were no bur’s with a fine file

Was that lot of filing you had to do to get the burs off? I was thinking of using an electric grinder / wire brush machine I have. I am not sure how the grate will take to the wire brush.

 

[Fhughes]

@charlesrshell No, not much at all. Just a bur here and there. I also tried to make sure there was no sharp edges. I didn’t want to scrape the coating off when stacking them

 

[TriGuy]

My experience is that’s only the case if you flip/rotate meat to the same spot on the GG. For the best experience, the grates need to be twice as large as what one is cooking, so that when the meat is rotated or flipped, it goes to a new spot on the grate. The previously used spots reheat quickly, so it’s not like once they are used in a cook, they don’t get hot enough to sear again.

I have found same thing, I get beautiful sear by flipping food onto a previously unused section of the grill grate.