In life, there are few things that bring me as much joy as a perfectly cooked meal.  It’s one of the main reasons I’ve amassed a larger grill collection than anyone I know.  Women have purse collections or shoe collections.  I have a grill collection.

I love cooking, and in the summer, I especially love grilling.

But there’s one area that up until a month ago, was notably absent from my quiver of cooking skills.  Smoking.  No, I’m not referring to smoking of the nicotine variety that ends in a bout of lung cancer, I’m talking about smoking of the hardwood variety, where you take a tough, typically undesirable piece of meat and cook it all day at extremely low temperatures.   It might be a pork shoulder, it might be a beef brisket.  But if you do it right, the result is always the same:  an absolutely gorgeous piece of smoke infused meat so tender you can quite literally cut it with a fork.

I don’t know why I never learned to smoke.  Part of it was probably because I’m from the Midwest, where smoking and barbecue are much lesser known than they are in the South.  And part of it was because of the difficulty I thought was inherently built into smoking.  Picking the right wood, keeping temperatures stable, etc. all seemed like an exceptionally difficult task for a home cook, not to mention the smokers themselves.  I’ve been to barbecue competitions and I’ve seen the smokers – these aren’t smokers you throw on your deck or in your outdoor kitchen.  These are huge smokers pulled behind pickup trucks.

Then something happened.  Call it fate, call it divine intervention or call it luck.  A new restaurant opened 10 minutes from my house.  The owner – a Tennessee native who recently relocated to the Midwest, opened a small restaurant with a cuisine focused on one thing and one thing alone:  barbecue.

Before I go any further, I should tell you that despite my lack of smoking experience, I love barbecue.  I lived in the South for a little less than 10 years and ate my fair share of barbecue, so when the new restaurant with actual southern barbecue opened, I was ecstatic, to say the least.

Needless to say, I became a regular at the restaurant and became great friends with the chef/owner.  One day, over a perfectly smoked brisket, I asked what his secret was for cooking the meat, and we began a long conversation on the fundamentals of smoking.

Long story short, he told me it came down to the heat.  For brisket, pork shoulder, etc., he explained that you need a method to sustain an extended cooking time – anywhere from 8 to 16 hours – at temps in the 200-240 degree Fahrenheit range.  He recommended lump hardwood charcoal to accomplish the aforementioned heat.  The smoke, he told me, was a separate entity.  Once you’ve got the temperature nailed down, which creates the tender, succulent meat, then you focus on the smoke flavor, by adding hardwood chunks that have been soaked to the already burning charcoal.  Because they’re soaked they don’t burn, so they don’t affect cooking temperature.  Their singular purpose is just to smoke and add flavor to the meat.

He noted there are variations to the formula, but this was one of the ways – and one of the most foolproof ways – to prepare great smoked meat.

And then, as if he was reading my mind, he told me I could do it at home.  He asked if I had ever heard of the Big Green Egg, to which I responded “the Big Green what?”

We talked for another 30 minutes, and by the end of the day, I was officially a member of the Big Green Egg family.

What is the Big Green Egg

So what exactly is the Big Green Egg?  From a classification standpoint, it’s what’s known as a kamado style cooker, one of the oldest cooking vessels in existence (some clay kamados dating back over 3,000 years have been discovered in Asia).  But in more modern terms, the Big Green Egg and it’s kamado heritage can really be summed up as three things in one:  it’s a smoker, it’s a grill, and it’s an oven.

Most importantly, however, isn’t just that it does all three – it’s that it does all three with an equal dose of perfection.

But before we get into the individual cooking elements, let’s talk briefly about it’s build.  Big Green Eggs are constructed from a remarkably robust ceramic that appears, as you may have guessed from the name, egg-like in shape.  The Big Green Egg’s ceramic is incredibly tough (so t0ugh, in fact, that they come with lifetime warranties), it’s impervious to weather (meaning you can use the Egg in the dead of winter without fear of cracking), and most importantly, it boasts amazing heat retention capabilities.

Fueling the Big Green Egg is accomplished with your choice of charcoal or hardwood, while precise temperature control is accomplished by adjusting either the lower flow draft door or the upper metal top control (we’ll talk more about temperature control in a second).  Other features of the Big Green Egg include spring assisted lids on the two largest models to make opening and closing the Egg easy for anyone, as well as a built-in thermometer to allow you to accurately view the Egg’s cooking temps.

Smoking on the Big Green Egg

Talking about construction features is one thing, but the true test of the Big Green Egg (and any cooking device for that matter) is how well it actually cooks.  I told you earlier that the Big Green Egg is a smoker, a grill and an oven all in one.  And it is.  But for me, the Big Green Egg is first and foremost a smoker.  When I purchased the Egg I already owned other grills that I was happy with, but talking to my friend/barbecue master, it was him extolling the smoking virtues of the Big Green Egg that sold me on it.  He told me it’s simply impossible to get the same results out of a standard grill.  And he was right.  Temperature control and ease-of-use and are absolutely impeccable.

There’s no better testament to this fact than in describing my first time smoking with the Big Green Egg (it’s a little long, but bear with me).

I’m always up for a challenge, so in setting out to smoke for the first time, I wanted to try something difficult.  My cut of choice:  beef brisket.  Widely regarded as one of the most difficult cuts of meat to get right, it was brisket that would be my first forray into the world of smoking.

Step one was prepping the meat.  The day prior to cooking, the brisket was given a spice rub, wrapped in plastic and placed in the fridge.  Total time:  10 minutes, at most.

Step two, the next morning, was filling the Big Green Egg with charcoal.  To do so, I used Big Green Egg’s own brand of hardwood lump charcoal, dumped straight from the bag into the Egg’s fire pit.  Unsure of how much to use, I completely filled the fire pit, and against the online advice of other Egg owners, I didn’t take the time to sort any of the charcoal by size.  Total time:  15 seconds.

Step three was lighting the fire.  I used a single Big Green Egg fire starter, placed in the center of the charcoal, slightly buried.  Total time:  10 seconds.

Step four was getting the temperature to optimal smoking range (remember, you want a temp consistently in the 200-240 degree Fahrenheit range).  To do so, I let the fire burn for roughly 10 minutes with the Egg’s lid open, then closed the lid to get a temperature reading from the thermometer.  As the needle rose at a relatively slow pace, I started closing the upper and lower draft doors.  Rather than letting it heat up too much, I let the temperature slowly creep up, closing the vents more and more as the the temp increased.  By the time the temperature reached 200 degrees, the lower vent was open about 1/8″, and the top vent was closed with the micro adjustment open a little less than half way.  The temperature rose to about 220 degrees and stopped.  Total time:  about 5 minutes.

Step five was adding the hardwood chunks and grate.  I had taken the brisket out about an hour prior to let it warm to room temperature, at which time I also began soaking two fist size chunks of hardwood for smoking.  Once I had the temperature stabilized on the Big Green Egg, I took the brisket, hardwood chunks, and an aluminum drip pan out to the Egg, along with what’s called a plate setter.  The plate setter is also sold by Big Green Egg, and it’s very similar to a pizza stone, except it has legs.  I placed the hardwood chunks on the burning charcoal, set the plate setter over the fire with legs facing up, and set the drip pan on the plate setter to catch grease from the brisket.  Lastly, the Egg’s grate was put in place, resting on the plate setter’s legs.  Total time:  1 minute.

Step 6 was adding the brisket.  Proper brisket includes a thick layer of fat on one side.   Some say cook with it down, some say cook with it up.  I recommend the latter.  With the fat up, as the brisket cooks, the juices flow into the meat, in essence basting the meat the entire time it’s cooking.  I placed my brisket fat side up, directly over the drip pan, and closed the lid.  Total time:  10 seconds.

Step 7 is waiting.  If you’ve been keeping track, actual time prepping and getting your meat smoking has taken less than 15 minutes.  And here’s where the true beauty of the Big Green Egg comes into play:  you’re virtually finished.  Once you have your temperature controlled and everything in place, the Big Green Egg goes into autopilot.  For the next 4 hours, I didn’t touch it.  The temperature sat between 210 and 230 degrees.  It was simply amazing.  At four hours, I opened the Egg, flipped the brisket, closed it and cooked it for another hour.

Step 8 (optional) is wrapping the brisket in foil.  At the recommendation of my friend, after a little more than five hours, I took the brisket (which was a gorgeous brown at this point) and wrapped it in aluminum foil.  I then placed it back in the Big Green Egg and cooked it for another 7 hours, which is the time it took for the brisket’s internal temp to hit 190 degrees.  And did I mention I never touched the fire?  For twelve hours straight, the Big Green Egg held its temperature steady at the perfect smoking range.

Step 9 is the joy of perfection.  Once the brisket hit 190 degrees, I took it out of the Egg and let it rest for an hour in a cooler (which in this case, the cooler helped keep the brisket warm).  After the rest period, I took the brisket out, unwrapped it, and the result was absolutely incredible.  A mouth-watering piece of brisket so perfectly tender I could cut it with a fork.  And this from someone who had never smoked anything in his life.

You may be wondering why I went into such detail about how I smoked my brisket, and the answer is simple.  I wanted to demonstrate how easy smoking with the Big Green Egg really is.  Prior to the Big Green Egg, I thought smoking was a craft that would take years to perfect, but in truth, the Big Green Egg makes it possible to get incredible results from day one.  No experience needed.  The way that it manages to maintain a stable temperature for such an extended period of time without the need to refuel can only be described as magic.  You can literally take 15 minutes to prep a piece of meat and fire up the Big Green Egg, and with a couple checks throughout the day, have an absolutely mouth watering piece of meat as the end result.

It’s simply astonishing.

Of course, smoking on the Big Green Egg isn’t relegated to brisket.  Since my brisket adventure, I’ve smoked salmon, pork butt and ribs, all have turned out beautifully.  In a word, the Big Green Egg is amazing.  From a recommendation standpoint, the smoking element in and of itself makes the Big Green Egg worth the price of admission, even if you already own another grill.

Grilling on the Big Green Egg

Speaking of grilling, if you’re familiar with grilling on other charcoal grills then you’re familiar with grilling on the Big Green Egg.  Fill with hardwood lump charcoal, light with either a fire starter or chimney, give the coals 10-15 minutes to get hot, and you’re good to go.

Grilling with charcoal is my preferred way of grilling, so it’s no surprise I love grilling on the Big Green Egg.  Lump hardwood charcoal burns incredibly hot if you allow it to, so for steaks or other foods that you want to sear, you can easily reach temperatures of 750 degrees with the Egg.  Best of all is that due to the Egg’s ceramic construction and its fantastic heat retention, you can sear your food, then dial down the temperature to finish off your meats at lower temperatures.  The Egg acts like a convection oven, so your meat stays juicier, more tender and more flavorful.

For more delicate foods, such as many seafood options, the temperature control is equally as superb for grilling as it is for smoking.  Adjust the upper and lower dampers and you have precise temperature control for any type of food you can grill, from supremely low to supremely high (and everything in between).

How good is the Big Green Egg as a grill?  It’s absolutely superb.  I could easily replace my other grills with the Big Green Egg and be perfectly content.  Coming from someone that loves grills and has amassed an impressive assortment of them, this is really one of the highest compliments I can give.

Baking with the Big Green Egg

Just when you thought the Big Green Egg couldn’t get any better, it does.  Yes it can smoke, yes it can grill, but if you (like me) share an unhealthy affection for pizza, there’s a third element of the Big Green Egg you’re going to absolutely love:  it can bake.

If you’ve been to Italy, you’ve no doubt tasted the joy that is pizza cooked from a wood-fired brick oven.  And that’s precisely what you can get from the Big Green Egg.  With the simple addition of a pizza stone (in addition to the plate setter), the Big Green Egg transforms into an oven capable of producing results virtually indistinguishable from those produced by an authentic Italian brick oven.

At high temperatures, pizzas are cooked in mere minutes, perfectly blackened with gorgeously puffy crusts.  Turn the temperature down, and anything you bake in a traditional oven (breads, cookies, etc.) can be baked with the Big Green Egg.  The versatility of the Egg is simply phenomenal.

While I wouldn’t forgo a traditional oven in favor of the Big Green Egg for everyday baking, I will say that for anyone wanting the results of a brick oven in a smaller package, the Big Green Egg is as close as you’re going to get.  Pizza lovers, rejoice.  Add in its smoking and grilling capabilities, and the Big Green Egg is easily one of the most versatile outdoor cooking devices on the planet.

Selecting a Big Green Egg Size

It’s only taken a month for me to fall in love with the Big Green Egg, and in retrospect, I’ve been ecstatic with how it performs.  Looking back, however, the one thing I’d change about my purchase is the size.

In picking an Egg, your options are the mini (10″ cooking diameter), the small (13″ cooking diameter), the medium (15″ cooking diameter), the large (18.25″ cooking diameter) and the x-large (24″ cooking diameter).

I opted for the large, but the more I’ve gotten to know the Big Green Egg, the more I’ve found myself using it not just for meats but for entire family meals (meats, veggies, sides, everything).  As a result, my Egg can get pretty crowded at times cooking for four people.  Add in the fact I entertain on a regular basis, and the x-large probably would have been a better fit.

My advice:  buy a size bigger than you think you need.  The beauty of the Big Green Egg is that it burns fuel extremely efficiently, so by moving up a size, charcoal consumption is only minimally increased.  Once you start using the Egg and see how versatile it is, you’ll find yourself cooking more and more on it, and the extra space will come in handy.

Big Green Egg Conclusion

The Big Green Egg is one of those rare things that makes a wealth of promises as to how it performs, then actually delivers on the promises.  I bought the Big Green Egg to use as a smoker, and if that’s all it did, I’d still be ecstatic with my purchase.  But seeing how well the Big Green Egg can grill and replicate the results offered by a brick oven, you have an outdoor cooking device that is without equal.   It’s three incredibly great things in one, and in my opinion, it’s an absolute must for anyone that wants to take their outdoor cooking to the next level.

Pricing for the Big Green Egg ranges from a little under $400 for the mini up to about $1,200 for the x-large.  I’d also recommend a nest for the larger models, which is basically a table with a space that the Big Green Egg rests in.  For the full details of the Big Green Egg family as well as the lengthy list of additions you can add to fine-tune your cooking experience, head over to the official Big Green Egg website.

With Father’s Day upon us, we felt it was fitting to wrap up our Father’s Day gift suggestions with a gift so perfect it could very well be considered the Holy Grail of Father’s Day presents.  The gift to which I’m referring is the Weber One-Touch Gold 26.75″ Grill – a gorgeous, porcelain enameled monument to the fine art that is charcoal grilling.

Before I go any further, let me be frank.  In the world of charcoal grilling, there are many contenders, but there can only be one that reigns supreme over all others.  That one is Weber.  When selecting a charcoal grill, it’s not a case of which brand to buy, it’s a case of which Weber to buy.  And truth be told, you can’t go wrong with any.  Webers come in a variety of different configurations, and the fact is, they all deliver superb results.  Instead, it’s more about size and convenience – you can opt for a smaller, basic Weber charcoal grill, or you can opt for a larger variant with more features.  All, however, are excellent, and all will give you fantastic, mouth watering results.

What makes Weber grills so great?  A major factor in the dominance of Weber is the ingenuity of their design.  They’re remarkably simple, yet they work remarkably well, and because they all share a similar construction, you get the same rugged durability in any size you choose.  They’re made from U.S. steel, coated with a porcelain enamel finish that makes them exceptionally impervious to varying weather conditions – so much so that my neighbor is proud to boast that his Weber has withstood over 20 years of non-covered use and is still going strong.  It’s an attribute carried over to virtually all parts of a Weber grill.  Vents are made from aluminum so they won’t rust.  Handles are made from glass-reinforced nylon so they won’t break.  Wheels are high quality plastic so they won’t crack.  Webers are brilliantly designed and built to provide years of trouble free use, and they do exactly that.

As for the Weber One-Touch Gold 26.75″ grill, it’s the pinnacle of the traditional Weber charcoal grill lineup.  In addition to the aforementioned basic construction features, the One-Touch Gold 26.75″ features a tuck-away lid holder, offering ample support for its oversized lid; a built in thermometer, ensuring perfect grilling temperatures for your various meats, seafoods, etc.; and heavy duty grill grates, offering a solid foundation for numerous grilled items.  As is the case with all Weber One-Touch grills, the One-Touch Gold 26.75″ also features Weber’s brilliant aluminum ash catcher, meaning cleanup is as simple as emptying the lower ash container when it’s full.  Inside, ashes are automatically swept into the ash container every time you open and close the lower vents.  In the world of charcoal grilling, it’s about as clean as you can get.

Using the Weber One-Touch Gold 26.75″, you’ll immediately discover the benefit of using a larger charcoal grill.  Quite simply, bigger equals better.  If you’re new to grilling, you’ll learn that are two methods for grilling:  direct, and indirect.  Direct grilling is cooking directly over the coals, and is ideal for steaks, burgers, or anything else requiring quick heating (i.e., cook time in minutes).  Indirect grilling involves placing the charcoal on the outer edges of the grill, and cooking your foods in the center of the grill, usually with a drip tray underneath to collect fat and prevent flare-ups.  This is ideal for tougher meats that take longer to cook including ribs, briskets, whole turkeys, etc.   As for why the larger Weber 26.75″ grill is better, when you have more space, you can better control the heating environment.  When indirectly cooking, there’s more room away from the coals to cook your food; when cooking directly, you have more surface area to grill over the coals, and you also have the option to have both a hot area and medium area, etc.   The better you can control your grills heating, the happier you’ll be with the results, especially when you start grilling more complex foods.  Aside from the beautifully monstrous Weber Ranch Kettle (which offers 1104 sq. inches of cooking area), the Weber One-Touch Gold 26.75″ Grill offers the largest charcoal grilling area available by Weber (508 sq. inches), all for a mere $300.  In the world of cooking (and just the world, for that matter), Weber grills may very well offer the best value for your money of any product available – they really are that fantastic.

For Father’s Day, and any day for that matter, Weber grills are truly magical creatures.  They offer such a unique blend of cost and performance, and they above virtually anything else demonstrate American ingenuity at its finest.  If you’ve never tried charcoal or a Weber charcoal grill, you’re missing out on one of the greatest culinary experiences on the face of the earth.  Buy one; buy one of Weber’s chimney starters to go with it ($20), and you’ll be on your way to grilling euphoria in no time.

In defining what is the quintessential American meal, it depends who you ask.  But the fact is, few meals can rival the undeniable bliss felt when consuming a gorgeous, perfectly cut piece of beef.  There’s only one problem:  finding quality meat is becoming an increasingly difficult task.  Local butchers have been replaced by mass grocery stores and super centers, and meat as a whole has seen a steady decline in quality and taste.  If you’re lucky, you can still find quality beef locally, but for many – local isn’t an option.  Your next best bet:  have it shipped.  Thanks to the magic of UPS and FedEx, ordering meat and having it shipped straight to your door is a piece of cake.

When shopping for steak (or beef) online, here’s a simple recommendation:  skip the mass beef retailers that inundate the Google sponsored results.  Just as mass grocery stores stock inferior meats, so too do the majority of major mail order beef suppliers.  Instead, seek out a smaller source for your meats that specializes in quality over volume, and you’ll be signficantly happier with the results, I guarantee you.  Want an example?  Check out the Texas Heritage Beef Company.  They’re a family owned business with over 100 years in the farming and ranching business, and more importantly, they sell some damn fine beef.

It was Texas Heritage Beef that christened my new Lynx grill on its maiden journey, and as I said in my review then, the results rivaled those produced by any steakhouse in the country.  The cuts were gorgeous – perfectly marbled – and the end result was an incredible steak with just the right amount of tenderness and flavor.  In terms of what makes Texas Heritage Beef so great, it’s really a combination of factors.  For starters, there’s the cattle themselves.  Texas Heritage beef is an heirloom breed of cattle that’s thrived in its natural habitat for over 500 years.  The Texas Heritage Beef Company simply continues this process of allowing their cattle to exist in their preferred habitat, thus eliminating the need for all the things that have become commonplace in typcial beef.  There are no hormones, no steroids, no antibiotics, and no pesticide in the pastures – in other words, there’s nothing in it you don’t want you or your family to eat.  If that’s not enough incentive, factor in the health benefits.  Texas Heritage Beef is lower in saturated fat, cholesterol, and calories than traditional beef, and is even healthier than a variety of other meats (here’s a chart for the specific figures).  And then there’s the dry aging.  Almost all store bought beef is wet aged, which does nothing to enhance the beef’s flavor.  Texas Heritage Beef is instead dry aged, which plays a significant role in increasing both tenderness and flavor, and that’s exactly the reason that most established steakhouse serve dry aged beef.

Ultimately, what it boils down to is this:  beef, and more specifically, steaks, have become a lost art.  Quality that existed in the past has been replaced by convenience and mass production, which really is a shame.  But the fact is, there are still great companies out there that master the art of beef, and the Texas Heritage Beef Company is one of them.  If you’re looking to make a fantastic steak (or any other form of beef) in the comfort of your own home, I can’t recommend them enough.  Once you’ve tried them, you’ll never look at your local grocer or super center’s steaks again – it really is that good.

To see Texas Heritage Beef in action, here are some photos from a recent dinner.  The four dark cuts of beef you see are the Texas Heritage Beef; the other lighter steak that looks more like a piece of pork is a mail order steak from another major retailer costing roughly four times as much.  If that’s not a testament to the difference in quality, I don’t know what is.  For more info regarding the Texas Heritage Beef Company or to place an order online, you can do both at the Texas Heritage Beef Company website.

There comes a point in every boy’s life when he must become a man – when he must cast aside his childish inhibitions, and undertake a certain rite of passage, if you will.  Buying his first car.  Joining into the union of marriage.  Welcoming his first child into the world.  It’s something that varies from man to man – in many cases, it may be a combination or all of the aforementioned milestones.  But when it comes to becoming a man in the culinary world, there’s really only one rite of passage – and that’s the day he brings home his first grill.

Grilling is one of those things that brings out the raw, basic emotions that are hardwired into your brain.  There’s just something inherently beautiful about seeing flames dancing around a tender piece of beef – it’s like there’s something deep inside you telling you this is the only way food should ever be cooked – over an open flame.  And it very well may be.  Beef, poultry, seafood, vegetables, even fruit – almost everything that you eat every day, if it’s cooked, can be cooked on a grill, and it almost always tastes better if it is.

My baptism by fire took place about 15 years ago with a small Weber charcoal.  I’ll never forget the taste of that gorgeous, perfectly charred burger that was the first to grace my grill grates.  Since then, I’ve spent countless hours seeking to hone my grilling skills.  I’ve used charcoal and gas grills, numerous brands, numerous cooking techniques – and they’ve led me to a place that I would consider grilling nirvana.  Throughout the summer I’m going to be sharing with you my experiences to help you pick a grill and improve your grilling abilities, all while avoiding the various pitfalls I encountered along the way.  In the end, if you heed my advice, you will, in no simpler terms, encounter sheer grilling bliss, and you will be all the more happier for it.

Gas vs. Charcoal

When entering the world of grilling, the common methodology is that you must decide on either a gas or a charcoal grill, when in actuality, you don’t.  Grilling isn’t like your marriage – you can have more than one love.  Charcoal is what I started with – it gives a distinct flavor to what’s being grilled, it’s economical in comparison to gas, and there’s just something great about manually manipulating hot coals to cook your food.  The downside is that charcoal is more labor intensive than gas as far as getting the grill up to heat and adjusting the heat; and it’s significantly dirtier to use.  The one thing charcoal doesn’t do, however is give food a bad flavor.  A common misconception is that charcoal adds a strange chemical taste to food, but in actuality, it’s when charcoal grills are used improperly (i.e., with lighter fluid) that the results become less than stellar.

Gas, on the other hand, is significantly more convenient to use.  A few turns of the knobs are all that separates you from a perfectly seared Porterhouse.  There’s no charcoal to get your hands dirty with, and as we’ll discuss, with the right grill, the flavor produced by gas is absolutely superb.  The downside is that a gas grill is significantly more expensive, but as you’ll see, the cost is easily justified by the convenience of use.  I own both, and I’m all the happier for it.

Selecting a gas grill

In selecting a gas grill, you’re looking for two key elements:  power output and build quality.  The secret to perfect grilling is having copious amounts of heat at your disposal, and the more power you have, the more heat you can produce.  Secondly, there’s the build quality.  Grills take a tremendous amount of abuse.  They’re subjected to adverse climate changes and they have the ability to generate exceptionally large amounts of heat – both of which mean you need a grill that can stand up to the rigors of consistent use, both inside and out.  All of this comes at a price.  For a professional grill and professional results, the truth is you need to bypass the disposable grills found at your local home improvement stores and select a grill that’s capable of delivering your intended grilling results both now and years into the future.  After struggling with multiple failed gas grills – none of which produced results I was happy with – my quest for the ultimate grill began.

Lynx Professional Grills

In my search for the superlative gas grill, it didn’t take long to discover Lynx Professional Grills.  While there’s a variety of entrants in the high end grill market, Lynx’s defining principle of bringing commercial-grade kitchen products to the outdoors is immediately evident – more so than any other brand I encountered.  Lynx Grills aren’t gleaming stainless steel showpieces designed to be shown off at catered outdoor dinner parties, although their gorgeously streamlined design may tell you otherwise.  At their core, they’re pure business – robust masses of metal capable of generating scorching amounts of heat, designed to be used day in and day out.  Exactly what a grill should be.

Separating Lynx from the rest of the pack, Lynx grills utilize what’s called a seamless heli-arch welded construction on the outside of their grills.  What this means is that instead of mechanical fasteners, Lynx components are singular pieces of beautifully crafted stainless steel – increasing their durability while eliminating gaps and seams where moisture and grease are prone to live.  But inside… inside is where the true magic takes place.  Lynx grills utilize two unique heating components:  cast brass burners, and the ProSear infrared heating system.  By using cast brass, Lynx eliminated the hollow tubular steel burners found in most other grills, offering a substantially more rugged and corrosion resistant design while offering a higher, more consistent heat supply.  And speaking of heat supply, did I mention that each Lynx cast brass burner generates a blistering 25,000 btu’s of power?

Complimenting the brass burners, Lynx also incorporates their proprietary ProSear infrared heating system into all their freestanding grills (it’s an option on the 27-inch).  Unlike other brand’s infrared systems that utilize only “high” or “off” settings, Lynx ProSear is completely variable, meaning you can use it to sear a variety of different foods – steaks, scallops, or what have you.  The best part?  It generates an additional 25,000 btu’s of heat, which paired with the infrared technology, offers what may be the greatest grilling platform in existence.  It also means that Lynx’s smallest grill – the 27-inch – still produces a grand total of 50,000 btu’s.  Move up to the 36-inch Lynx Professional Grill, and power increases to 75,000 btu’s; whereas the largest Lynx grill – the 54-inch – tops out at a staggering 100,000 btu’s.  Also available are 30-inch and 42-inch Lynx grills, which share the same btu’s as their smaller counterparts (50,000 btu’s and 75,000 btu’s, respectively).

One Month Review of the Lynx Professional Grill (36 inch)

I’m the type of person who does months’ worth of research on a product before making a purchase.  I’m by all standards a perfectionist, and for any major purchase, I demand perfection from whatever it is I’m buying.  In selecting a new grill, I looked and researched virtually every major brand of professional grill available, and it was Lynx that eventually won out in the end, based on both build quality and power output.   After settling on the Lynx grill range, it then became a question of selecting a specific grill.  At present I don’t have a dedicated outdoor kitchen, so I opted for a freestanding grill as opposed to a built-in option.  As for size, I wanted something that I wouldn’t outgrow – this is going to be the last major grill purchase I make for at least the next decade, and with a family of four and occasional dinner parties, the two lower sizes (27″ and 30″) were out.  While the 54-inch is a sheer work of grilling art, it’s size was a little greater than what I’d use on a regular basis, leaving the 36-inch and 42-inch.  In the end, I oped for the 36-inch, as they both share the same power – but in hindsight, either option would have served my needs perfectly.

Unboxing the Lynx 36-inch grill, you’re immediately reminded of Lynx’s staggeringly beautiful build quality.  The welded construction gives the grill an absolutely gorgeous exterior, so much so that it’s almost painful leaving it outside.  Your first thought is to install some form of security to protect it – that is, until you try to move it.  You’re then reminded again of the Lynx’s build quality – not because of its appearance, but rather it’s weight.  The 36-inch Lynx grill weighs roughly 400 lbs., adding a heightened level of security in and of itself.  Thankfully Lynx freestanding grills sit on high quality caster wheels, making moving the Lynx a relatively easy, one person task (assuming the correct foundation).  Lifting the Lynx, however, is an entirely different story, and something that requires careful, well choreographed effort.

Once it’s in location, setting up the Lynx is an exceptionally straightforward task.  My Lynx came completely assembled – the only setup necessary is removing the various cables and tie-downs throughout the unit that keep the various grates and burners in place.  I opted for the LP version (natural gas is available as well), and connecting the fuel supply is equatable to any other gas grill.  One key difference, however, between a Lynx and other grills is the use of electricity.  Lynx grills need power for two functions – their interior and exterior lights as well as their ignition system – so plan your outdoor kitchen area accordingly.  Once you’ve added your fuel supply and connected power, the Lynx is good to go.

Firing up the Lynx for the first time, memories of my first time grilling echoed in my head.  No gas grill has ever brought me the same enjoyment as my first Weber, but I can say undeniably the Lynx has superseded any of my prior grilling experiences.  The amount of heat generated by the Lynx is astonishing – searing a steak on the ProSear takes no more than a minute on each side to develop a incredibly delicious, charred crust while trapping all of the meat’s inherent juices.  Using the ProSear without long-reaching tongs is an impossible feat – it’s so hot that if you even attempt to reach to the back of the grill you’ll feel the heat searing the flesh off your arm.

Christening the Lynx grill on its maiden voyage, it only seemed fitting to grace it with some beautiful cuts of meat – two ribeyes and two New York strips from the Texas Heritage Beef Company, to be exact.  While I’ll extol the virtues of Texas Heritage Beef in another article next week, I will say that the company’s beef paired with the Lynx created a steak that would rival any of the nation’s top steakhouses.  The outsides were perfectly charred, offering a perfect level of saltiness to the meat; while inside, the steaks were all incredibly tender with just a hint of buttery flavor present.  They were without question the best steaks I’ve ever managed to prepare.

Since then, the Lynx has become our family’s primary cooking source.  It’s prepared a variety of meat, poultry and seafood, and it has performed beautifully, delivering exactly what I ask of it each and every time.  While initially it wasn’t something I gave enough precedence to, one of the things that has most impressed me about the Lynx is its extraordinarily even heat distribution.  It uses a series of ceramic briquettes as well as what Lynx calls a heat stabilizer to provide steady heat throughout the grilling area, and the end result is heating so consistent you could likely use it for baking, if the need arose.  It is truly a remarkable design.

A month in, and I can say wholeheartedly that purchasing the Lynx is a choice that I’m exceptionally glad I made, and I haven’t regretted it for a second (except maybe for the fact that I should have opted for the 54-inch, seeing how much I love the 36-inch).  It’s also a choice that I should have made years ago, saving me the pains of using lesser products.  Lynx Professional Grills aren’t cheap – pricing ranges from roughly $3,400 for the 27-inch grill up to about $8,600 for the 54-inch – but it’s a cost far outweighed by the results Lynx grills are capable of producing.  Add to that the fact they’re made to last a lifetime, and Lynx Professional Grills are one of the best purchases you’ll ever make.