Other Types

The standard type of grill that many people think about when they think about grilling in the summer is the cast iron charcoal barbecue grill. This is one of the simplest types of grills which is easy to roll out during the summer months and while it takes a little while to start cooking when you are cooking with charcoal, this is the taste which many people normally associate with the act of cooking out in the United States. There are many other types of grills which are available, however. These grills differ in their mobility, the kind of fuel or heating source that they use, the material that they are made out of, and more.

Most barbecue grills are portable, but there are also brick barbeque pits, such as the ones that you may have seen at campsites or in some people's back yards. There are also what are called built-in barbecue grills - these are usually gas grills made from stainless steel and they can be placed both indoors and outdoors. Usually, they have a grill cover which allows you to contain the heat, and they are often part of an island in a large kitchen or built into part of a long counter. Natural gas is a heat source that has become more and more popular over the years for outdoor grilling and indoor grilling alike. The benefits of natural gas over charcoal are that it is easier to quickly start a gas flame, the pollution is less, and the taste of the meat is less affected (with charcoal burning, the taste of the meat is always influenced to some degree by the smoke of the charcoal). The possible downsides to using natural gas (usually propane canisters or tanks are used) are that the "wet heat" produced by burning propane, as the chemical in the gas are converted to water vapor during the burning, can make the meat a little overly moist, plus of course you are dependent on your source of propane or other natural gas.

Other options for heat sources include wood chip burning, which has its own taste from the smoke, and electric grills such as the George Foreman grills. Several types of indoor / portable small grills are of this general design and use electric heating elements, though you are limited by the need for electrical power. These are just a few of the variations on the standard design of the grill that you can try checking out to find the perfect grill for your next cookout.