Hey guys, it's been a while but with the warmer weather right around the corner, I'm ready to fire up some BBQs and cook outside again
I have some pretty fantastic cookers including a large Everdure charcoal BBQ, GMG pellet grill, Roccbox etc. but not a gas griller of any description. This isn't a worry to me, but my wife is complaining that she hates the extra time and fuss around lighting solid fuel bbqs, especially on a weeknight family dinner. It doesn't help that I'm often late home from work... She has insisted that I buy a gas BBQ and who am I to complain about the idea of buying new toys
My main issue with gas BBQs in the past has been a slow heat-up and poor heating (not hot enough) in general. The gassers I have cooked on seem to have very uneven heating across the grill, flareups are a pain and cleaning is also a bother. As I have been online "window shopping" I have come across the Crossray infrared BBQ https://crossray.com.au/ These utilise gas-powered infrared burners that promise heat comparable to white-hot charcoal, very even heat up across the entire grill and self-cleaning (similar to pyrolytic ovens I guess?)
I'm very interested because it seems to tick many boxes for me (and also the rest of the family!) However, I am a little concerned about its versatility, reliability, and hefty price tag
For example, the burners aren't laid out horizontally left to right, but rather front and back - facing the centre:
When cooking many different foods, I typically like to have 2 or 3 heat zones, but I'm guessing that would be almost impossible to do here I've watched their promo videos and read their manuals and they recommend using the cooking shelf above for slower cooking items (like sausages etc) but I worry that if you are cooking steaks and want the grill ripping hot that the poor old snags will get cremated! Of course, using a bit of common sense and timing, these things can likely be overcome.
Has anyone here got any direct experience with this type of BBQ? Or perhaps, some more experienced outdoor cooks have considered this BBQ and decided not to purchase... Any thoughts or insights would be very much appreciated!
Happy BBQing