Tips, Tricks & Techniques
What the heck is it?
It’s all about HEAT!
I’ve written several posts in the past year or so about heat and the important role it has for your successful grilling, barbecuing or smoking of meat. Regularly preparing a steak, chop or burger so it has that perfect crust is a goal that most all backyard chefs desire to achieve. The best searing temperatures are in excess of 450F degrees. (Some famous steak restaurants claim to grill steaks at temperatures far higher than that!) [CLICK HERE for my last post on heat.]
This week I received a picture from a regular reader who wanted to demonstrate how happy he is with the purchase at Lowe’s of his new Quantum infrared grill. The only thing he had to say was: “CB – I only had the two inside burners turned on HIGH – both outside burners were OFF.”
Using a hand-held infrared temperature gauge – our intrepid reader achieves high temperature of 617F degrees at the grate for searing his steak.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
THIS JUST IN
Not five minutes ago I received a new picture taken just this evening. His email explains he had all burners on HIGH with the lid closed, then lifted it to get this reading of the temperature of the grates for grilling his steaks tonight. I think this is one happy fella!
Same hand-held infrared temperature gauge different day – all burners on and much higher temperature reading of 842F degrees at the grate.
Here’s a question: How come he’s eating steak every night and I’m having left overs?
Happy Grilling!
I’ve been to many baseball games and first thing I thought of when I saw those pics was a radar focused on the speed of a pitch. Never dreamed of it being applied to bbq
I recognized that guage cuz I’ve got one I use in the shop for checking engine temperatures. My question is what’s all that gunk on the steaks? Ha just kidding. I realize different folks have different tastes, but I’m like CB on this one. If you gotta put a bunch of stuff or sauce on your steak, you need to save up a bit to get a better steak.
Where do I get one of these???
Denis – if you want the Quantum grill – head to Lowe’s where it’s sold exclusively. Be prepared to pay very little for a great grill.
If you want the infrared heat gauge, they are available online from all the usual sources and also at several specialty cooking stores like Sur La Table. Be prepared to pay $50 or higher for quality. – CB
How accurate is a temp gauge mounted on top of the grill dome, as compared to teh cooking surface ? If the dome gauge reads 250, I assume grill gartes actually be more.
Cal thanks for taking time to post this question. While I can’t vouch for every thermometer out there – the hood mounted therms will give you a reading that relates to the temperature in the cooking chamber – useful to the “roasting” and “smoking” techniques. But won’t give you a reliable understanding of the actual temp at the grates if you are grilling. I s’pose if you pre-heat with the hood down and the therm in the hood is registering close to 500F degrees – you can guestimate the temp at the grates could be as much as 50F degrees hotter.
BUT if you have a good grate thermometer, they make some for restaurants that set on the grates and also the infrared thermometer used in some auto shops (or sold by Craftsman) can give a fairly accurate reading to tell you what the grate temperature is. And that is helpful when grilling or searing steaks, chops, etc.
Some of the 2010 Quantum grills from Char-Broil have thermometers at the grate to indicate the general temperature of the grate.
Does that help?