Certain models double as smokers or have integrated thermometers. Others have side tables or are designed to be especially easy to clean. It’s your grill and your food, weber charcoal grill so decide what’s most important to you. Grilling cooks food quickly using high heat, while smoking uses indirect heat and lower temperatures to cook food slowly.
The worst was our Tacklife review unit, which didn’t hold much heat and didn’t sear while cooking. The steak on that grill needed an additional five minutes to get to a temperature of 135 F, the minimum for medium rare. The 22-inch Napoleon Rodeo Charcoal Kettle Grill (model number NK22CK-L) is considered one of the better Weber clones available (the pros at AmazingRibs.com, among others, rate it weber q highly). In our cooking tests it performed well, though not quite as well as the Weber. In particular, we didn’t find its unique heat-diffusing plate—a shallow metal dome that sits in the middle of the coal bed—to be as effective as we would have liked. However, at 34 inches at the grates, it’s nearly counter height, and a full 7 inches taller than the Weber, so it was less tiring to work on.
The integrated water reservoir holds a quart of water and provides a humid cooking environment. The Napoleon Freestanding Charcoal Kettle Grill took the longest to set up, clocking in at an hour and five minutes of build time. While this grill does come with an included cart, portable bbq which added to setup time, we also found the instructions hard to follow, and the amount of hardware included felt a bit overwhelming. If you’re going to purchase this grill, then we’d advise looking into having your local hardware store build and deliver it to you.
The Professional Cart Grill has an interesting rotisserie design, too, that uses a special charcoal basket across the back for a dedicated rotisserie fire. The Char-Griller Super Pro is a versatile steel barrel charcoal grill with a whopping 850 square inches of total cooking area, if you count the top warming rack. The main grates are made of heavy-duty cast iron and resemble the grates of some of the best gas grills we tested this year. Like the Char-Griller weber q Classic, the Super Pro can also be converted to a proper smoker by attaching an optional side fire box, and the enameled steel body does a great job of retaining heat. Overall, this is a good basic barrel grill, but assembly was frustrating and it lacks many of the features that made the Classic our pick for best upgrade. Starting a charcoal grill is definitely not as easy as starting a gas grill, so it’s important to understand how to do it correctly.
Throw your hands up for the love of charcoal and ridiculously good food. Whether entertaining on a small patio or in a big backyard, the need to grill has no limits. After dinner, fold down the side table, push together your chairs, and toast to the Performer charcoal grill. The Ducane Products Company began as the Ducane Brothers Metal Fabricating in 1946.