A finishing sear is second only to the grill’s and meat’s starting temperature for grilling a perfect steak. It’s a popular misconception that searing meat seals in the juices, however it is how you get the contrast in taste and texture between the crust and the interior that all the best steakhouses are known for.

This press works equally well with charcoal and gas grills. It will even work on the stove top if you’re broiling a steak in the oven.

I set my press on the grill directly under the hottest point for at least 15 minutes before I throw on my steaks. Cast iron works best when it heats up slowly. A press that is too cool won’t deliver the sear you’re looking for.

Even with the “Cool-Grip” spiral handle, you’re not going to be able to touch it without a grill mitt or tongs if the press is as hot as it should be. Personally, I use tongs for everything from turning steaks, flipping the grill grate to add the hot charcoal, and even for this press.

As with all cast iron, never run it through the dishwasher. Use hot water and the least amount of soap you can to clean it to avoid damaging the seasoning. I always put my cast iron on a burner set on high heat for about 15 seconds to rapidly dry it before applying a thin coat of vegetable oil over all surfaces to prevent rust.

I store my press on the wire grate at the base of my Weber kettle grill.

My father always started our charcoal grill by crumpling up newspaper in the bowl of the grill and making a pyramid of briquets on top of the grate. This works, but there’s an easier way.

This device works by pulling up air up through the chimney to provide more oxygen for the fire, as if you were standing there fanning it. The result is hotter coals that let you start cooking sooner.

The Weber chimney holds just the right amount of charcoal for the 22″ Weber Original Kettle Premium Grill. Simply load it up with charcoal, hit it with some lighter fluid (you are saving money on your lighter fluid, right?), making sure that the fluid lightly saturates the top third of the charcoal. Light it immediately. I always set the lit chimney directly on the grill grate to prevent someone from tripping over it and to start heating up the grill.

As with their grills and smokers, you are getting thicker steel that is galvanized better to last longer than the cheaper competition.

One note of caution – be mindful of the wind’s direction to avoid damaging the handle. While the handle is well-built, it is still plastic and will start to melt if it gets too hot. I ever so slightly blistered the plastic handle on my chimney one time when high winds were blowing the flames back onto the handle.

I don’t grill burgers without this stuff. This is one of the few seasonings that I use regularly that I don’t make myself because I feel that it would be hard to improve on. I keep two shakers of this seasoning on hand at all times: one on my grilling shelf in the pole barn with my charcoal grills and one in the cabinet below my gas grill.

The three main players in this seasoning are garlic, onion, and peppers; more or less the standard fare for burger seasonings. However, a lot of cheaper seasonings use far too much salt as a cheap filler, resulting in an overly salty hamburger.

When I’m in a hurry and just need to pull some frozen Costco patties (which I highly recommend, by the way) out of the freezer for a quick dinner, I hit them with this seasoning while they’re on the grill. If I’m making my own patties, I will knead it right into the meat and refrigerate them for several hours before grilling. Incorporating the seasoning into the meat in this way adds a surprising amount of depth to the flavor.

A charcoal grill is one of those products where you end up paying more in the long run when you’re cheap. A charcoal grill that costs $50 will rust out after a couple of years because the cheap alloys cannot handle the heat cycles. The Weber brand is known for performance and longevity, while still being affordable. Weber has more or less kept the same design for more than 60 years. Simply put, this is America’s grill.

Just like their line of Smokey Mountain charcoal smokers, Weber offers this grill in three sizes: 18″, 22″, and 26″. The 22″ is probably the best choice for most people. I have two of the premium 22″ grills and have grilled 12 third-ounce burgers at once on mine. The 22″ version is large enough to set up separate heat zones with your briquets to cook burgers on high heat on one side and slowly warm up hot dogs on the other. This would be a little harder to do with the 18″.

There is a premium and standard version of their kettle grill – the premium includes an ash catcher for hassle-free cleanup and a temperature gauge in the lid. The convenience of the ash catcher alone is worth the approximate $50 added cost over the standard grill.

The porcelain-enameled lid is fairly scratch resistant and won’t peel over time if you keep it out of the weather. My two Weber kettles are 13 and 6 years-old respectively and they both still look almost like they did when they were new. This grill is currently available on Amazon in three colors: black (original), copper, and green.

The hinged cooking grate is one of my favorite features. If you have an original kettle grill, you can order the hinged grate by itself here. This lets you add charcoal while you’re cooking by simply flipping up the hinge with tongs. I use it for tossing in a few mesquite wood chips when I cook burgers to give them a hint of wood smoke.

This grill is a perfect gift for newlyweds and first-time homeowners. Unless they keep it out in the rain, there is no reason why they couldn’t be using your gift 20 years from now, only having to possibly replace the grate during that time.

There isn’t much I enjoy more about summer than getting my charcoal smoker ready to work some magic on baby back ribs and a pork butt and having friends and family over for a cookout.

Electric smokers are unquestionably more convenient and forgiving. You can literally be lying in bed and raise or lower the temperature of an electric smoker from an app on your phone. While you can get very good, consistent results from an electric smoker, there’s simply comparison to the flavor of charcoal. Is the extra work and attention worth it? Yes, it is!

Weber sells this smoker in three different sizes: 14″, 18″, and 22.” I believe that the 18″ model – which was the original – is the best option for the majority of people considering a smoker.

Avoid the 14″ – is too small to smoke ribs without having to cut them up and you won’t be able to smoke a larger brisket without having it touch the sides, i.e. burning it.

The 22″ is good for those who regularly host large gatherings, however I have never felt like I didn’t have enough capacity with the 18″ even when feeding 20+ guests. The 22″ doesn’t sound like it’s much larger than the 18″, but the added room it will take up in your garage is considerable. Another downside with buying a larger size than you need is the amount of charcoal you’ll go through. You’ll still need almost an entire bag of briquets even when you’re only smoking a couple racks of ribs.

With the 18″, you can smoke three racks of ribs on the top rack and two large pork butts on the bottom. I can also do ribs on the top, with a brisket and a pork butt on the bottom. An 18″ smoker loaded up with meat can feed a lot of people!

While it comes with a thermometer built into the dome, keep in mind that this is simply the temperature at the top of the dome. This isn’t nearly as useful as knowing the internal temperature of the meat, which you measure with a probe thermometer. Weber added a convenient rubber grommet in the side of the body a few years back specifically for this so that you don’t have to compromise the seal of the lid with your wire. While you can get away with making ribs without an electric thermometer, you’ll want one for sure if you’re doing thicker cuts such as pork butts and especially for a less-forgiving brisket. You don’t want to ruin a $50 brisket because you were too cheap to buy a thermometer.

Minimal assembly is required. I did have an issue with the lip of the lid being slightly out of round out of the box, but I believe this was a one-off issue. For a $300+ smoker that I planned to have for many years to come, I expected the lid to mate up better with the body. I contacted Weber, who promptly sent a new lid via UPS. The new lid fit perfectly.

If you like Weber’s Original Kettle Premium Grill (I have two of the 22″ models), you will love this smoker for all of the same reasons. There is a reason that the competition’s imitations sell for half as much. You’re getting much thicker and higher quality steel with the Weber.

The combination of a Smokey Mountain and a Kettle Premium grill will let you pull off the ultimate barbecue or cookout – ribs, pulled pork, brisket, burgers, brats, and hot dogs all in the same day using only basic pieces of equipment.