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The story of the German Grill ...
A few years ago, we needed a new charcoal grill and decided to get something nice to match our fancy new deck and patio furniture. Our family loves barbecue and we really enjoy grilling, so we also wanted something that would stand up to almost daily use, look good and be fun to cook on.
The neighbor has one of those $3,000 gas grills, and all the guys on the block want one, but we like cooking with charcoal instead of gas. So the plan was to go out and get a charcoal grill as nice as that gas grill.
How hard could it be?
We started at the home stores and were not impressed with their charcoal grills. These things were junk; most were thin sheet metal with crappy hardware and bad design.
We went to the patio stores ... where they have some beautiful stuff. But all the nice grills were gas, and only a few lower end units burned charcoal. Most were very basic containers for a bed of charcoal with a cover. We kept looking.
We surfed the internet, read magazines and checked out all the catalogs. We saw a lot of clever cooking systems, and many great ways to prepare food outdoors. You can get ceramic eggs, rolling ovens, starship control panels, and grills that plug in so they can burn little wood pellets. Clever stuff, for sure, but all we wanted was a solid, old-fashioned-quality, charcoal grill. The rest of this stuff was just a little too weird.
I'm willing to spend the money. Why the heck isn't there a great charcoal grill out there?
We couldn't find what we wanted so we decided to build our own:
"We're engineers (and cooks). We can do this! What would the ultimate charcoal grill look like? "
We started asking around, talking to knowledgeable people about grilling ... what they liked, how they cooked, and why. We heard the same comments:
"I'd rather cook with charcoal, but ...
... Lighting it is a hassle ... it takes too long for the coals to get hot."
... charcoal is messy ... I get dirty ... it's hard to clean up."
... you can't control the heat."
... why can't somebody build a charcoal grill that's as handy as a gas grill?"
We spent five months brainstorming and researching. (The guy who designed this grill has a Masters in design from one of the finest schools in the country.) We read the classic outdoor cookbooks, studied food science, heat transfer, and grilling technique. We analyzed charcoal grills, gas grills, and commercial kitchen equipment. Then we spent two years in Germany gathering ideas from around Europe.
Eventually all of this came together into a list of really cool features. But could you actually build a grill that could do all these things?
To find out, we formed German Grill and started cutting and welding.
We built six rounds of hardware. Some of it worked, some of it is now scrap metal, but eventually we perfected each feature and merged the prototypes into one core design.
And then, finally, we hand-built our ultimate grill, and fired it up. (We call it "testing"... that way the food is a business expense.)
We started with the basic "grill foods" like steaks, hamburgers, and chicken. Everything came out fine. The grills were very easy to use, in fact they were fun to cook on. Cleanup was a snap, the charcoal lighting was fast, and the cooking grate was amazing. So we moved on to more elaborate techniques:
We smoked, seared, and barbecued. We experimented with the heat adjustment and different patterns of fire. We added hardwoods and tried all the brands of charcoal. For six months we cooked almost every meal on the grill.
We ate like kings!
It was fun, and the food was amazing; we really got creative with pizza, fruit, shrimp, shish kabob, brisket and ribs. And we soon realized that these grills don't limit you ... they take you to a new level!
- Your charcoal lights fast and clean inside the grill ... without smelly fluids or red hot chimneys.
- You control the fire by raising and lowering the coal basket ... without touching anything hot.
- You have easy access to tend the fire or add wood chips ... without opening the cover.
- You can clean the entire grill ... including the cooking grate ... without getting dirty.
Everything works. We nailed it!
Please explore our website and learn more about our grills. Notice the quality, design, and styling. But also notice the way every feature and function is "thought through" ... in typical German manner.
In grilling, as in life, if you want to do something worthwhile:
- Get the best tools ... it's the only way to take your skills to a higher level.
- Look for cleverness and durability ... it encourages excellence.
- Pay for quality ... life is too short to struggle with junk.
Read more:
How you control the fire
Quality of design and materials
A summary of the features
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