Do you like to party with your friends on weekends but cannot think of a different menu every time? Just get one of the good quality infrared grills home and you are sorted from the next time. This is a kind of gas grill which utilizes infrared technology as the main source of heat. There is little difference between these modern infrared grills and the traditional ones that you must have used earlier. In the traditional ones, the heat from the flames directly reaches the grates. In these modern grills, there is this infrared object between the flame and the grates. This means food is now cooked more evenly and the heat is distributed faster.
In this article, we will get to know the pros and cons of using the modern technology-oriented infrared grills. So here we go with the pro’s first.
Pros:
Preheat Easily
When you decide to barbeque your favorite meat cuts, preheating the grill is a must. You can either use regular charcoal or propane to get the heating of the machine. In a traditional grill machine, it takes about 20 minutes to preheat if you are using charcoal and a little lesser if you use propane.
According to DiligentChef.com, in case of the best infrared grill available in the market, it will take more or less 5 minutes to preheat the machine. It means that there is no more wait time to put the meat in. You can just start cooking once the machine starts getting ready.
Even Cooking
When we use a regular grill while barbequing foods, we often find that the temperature is not spread evenly. There are cold and hot spots remaining here and there which in turn affects the taste of the food. In case of these infrared grills, there is an element that helps in the even distribution of heat and the meat thus cooks evenly. Also, now cooking time is much less as some meat cuts even take just a minute of cooking on each side to be perfect.
Tastier Food
When you think of barbequing meat, you tend to purchase the cuts of meats that cook easily. Now there will not be a problem in cooking some of the more difficult cuts such as hard steaks or maybe short ribs. This is because, in a traditional grill, in which the flame reaches the food directly, there is a chance that the food will burn if left for a little longer.
In an infrared grill, the flame does not reach the meat directly and hence there is a lower chance of it burning. The meat will thus rest inside longer and cook slowly. You can, therefore, enjoy juicier and more tender steaks now.
Easy to Clean
Infrared grills are easier to clean than regular grills. When you cooked food before on a traditional grill, remember the pain of cleaning it? You had to remove the charcoal ash first and clean slowly the residue from the meats and sauces. How difficult it was for sure.
Things have become much easier now with these infrared grill machines. When the grill runs at the highest temperature, all the residue particles burn to ashes which are further left on the surface. You can just wipe them clean with a piece of cloth. Also, some machines are available with a self-cleaning system. This means you can leave the machine on a cleaning mode for a couple of minutes and all the debris will accumulate on the top surface. You can easily clean that later.
Energy-efficient
In an infrared grill machine, you do not require to burn charcoal or propane and therefore harmful elements are not discharged into the air. Not only that infrared grills help in keeping a healthy environment, it means that you do not need to spend more time and energy to cook food on this. However, food comes out tastier than ever at the end of the cook. Now you do not have to sweat and grill wearing your favorite brunch dress.
Cons:
In spite of being the favorite of everyone, there are a few frictions when it comes to cooking on an infrared grill.
More Intense Heat
Infrared grills are known to cook even the most difficult meat cuts fast and evenly. While this is a blessing on one hand, on the other hand, think about cooking other proteins such as fish fillet or other poultry stuff. If you have a model of the infrared grill with less-advanced heat regulation facility, it will be difficult for you to cook stuff other than meat. You can, therefore, get one of those models that have proper heat regulation system.
No Room for Error
Using an infrared grill means there is hardly any scope of mistakes. The temperature rises very quickly and this means even meats need about just a minute of searing on each side before it is done. Imagine what will happen if you leave the buns and patties inside the grill for a little longer? You will have to serve briquettes and not burgers. You, therefore, have to be double conscious while using an infrared grill. The timing has to be just perfect in this.
Two-time cooking
When we say that meat cooks easily here mean that only the searing can be done in a few minutes. While cooking on an infrared grill, you have to cook or sear the outside and then put the meat in another oven to get a soft medium-rare inside. This is because the temperature is usually too high inside an infrared grill to cook the inside of the meat chunks. They can instead burn the skin if left for even a minute longer than required.
Portability Problem
Infrared grills come in bulky and huge setups which means it becomes difficult to move it from one place to another. It usually has to be installed in a permanent place, unlike traditional grills which could be moved into the house and again out to the garden whenever required.
This is a list of some of the most common pros and cons of using and cooking on an infrared grill. You should go through these before purchasing a grill for your home.