BBQ Grills

[sourdough]

We've talked about grills and smokers quite often. If anyone remembers I buy quite a few of them looking for the right combo to take with me. Gone thru quite a few but recently decided I'd try a Camp Chef combo to hopefully cut down on some of the cooking gear I carry around - very disappointed.

Bought a Camp Chef Pro 60x 2 burner camp stove, bbq grill to go on it along with a griddle. The 2 burner stove itself is pretty good but it's only a 2 burner stove...works good and is ideal for a wok or a big pot of shrimp/sausage etc. - but that's where it ends. The BBQ box that I hoped would let me leave a dedicated grill at home is pretty much useless and the flavor it imparts is terrible; sort of like soot. Tried steak, sausage and chicken - it makes all of them taste yukky and just can't hang in there if there is any kind of a breeze. Thought it would be better but..... The griddle is "OK" but small; you can cook one thing at a time or maybe a tiny bit of 2 things. Bacon, sausage, hash browns and stir fry; leaves a lot to be desired IMO. Wanted to connect it to the quick connect on the trailer....not good. It will work but if there is a wind, or if you want a high output for something like a pot of shrimp/sausage..it won't get it done - there's not enough btu from the quick connect. Stuck a 20lb. propane tank on there with the OE regulator and it howls (hot).

Told DW tonite that it will be another one thrown in the corner of the barn and she asked why I didn't sell it; told her I don't like it so why would I do that - I told the folks at Camp Chef I was going to sit it in a lot and put a sign on it to "take me" because it wasn't any good. Should have known, bought a Camp Chef pellet smoker last summer and it doesn't cut it either. A lot of money wasted IMO so just wanted to share in case someone was thinking about it. I know there are Camp Chef fans out there but I'm sure not one.

[chuckster57]

I bought the Camp chef 3 burner stove in about 2005, the griddle covers 2 burners and is da bomb IMO. I did get the bbq box later on, not great but works. My failure was the oven with 2 burners on top.

[dutchmensport]

We carry a Colman camp stove (2 burner) that uses the small 1 pound propane tanks we use for boiling water outside on the picnic table.

For our main cooking, we have 2 Presto flat griddles (electric) that can cook anything. We use an old metal lid that came off a large electric skillet as a cover on the flat griddles and we've been doing it this way for years and years now, through 5 different RV's and been very happing with this arrangement.

In addition, we have an electric frying pan with lid, and we have learned how to use this as an outside oven. We've baked cakes and cookies, as well as stews and soups in it.

We tried different grills and the smoke, grease, and burned food, and black soot on them was constantly a mess to clean up. This did not last very long.

When we really want something in true BBQ fashion, we fix it over an open fire! NOTHING beats that!

[sourdough]

I think the Camp Chef (like many other brands out there) excelled at what they started with which was the free standing burner type cookers. The burners on this one are really, really good and work exactly like I want with a wok or large pot of whatever. The issue I believe comes when these companies start to try to make them versatile or "combos". Trying to make a bbq grill box or flat top griddle work on a round burner has some unique little quirks - which I figure I've not learned how to work around.

The intent with this combo was to cut down on carrying the Blackstone and gas grill as well as gain some high output burners which really come in handy. I always buy a charcoal grill if I stay anywhere for a month or more then leave it with someone that wants it. Last evening I was not happy after spending all evening cleaning the black "soot" up and simmering. DW has asked that I give it another try and cook her chicken differently. I always mix melted butter with soy sauce and baste the chicken before grilling; done it for years and she loves it. This grill does not like that and the melted butter simply turns into a petroleum fire that covers everything in black smoke. I'm going to use a different method. The steak issue will be resolved, I think, by moving from the quick disconnect LP feed to the 20lb. tank; huge difference in the fire volume between the two. The weight of the components is about the same as the ones they replace but they do save space, much easier to set up and has self leveling legs vs trying to use various things to level things up.

Might say the original post was venting. Camp Chef makes well built products it just seems something is lost when trying to gain versatility...or at least in my understanding of how to use them. Just wanted to throw that out there in the event anyone was considering them and thought they might be the perfect answer as I did only to find they're not. In the end though it's fun to cook out soot or not if you know what it's going to be. Sort of like cooking steaks on an open fire in the mountains and one of the yahoos throws an armload of creosote limbs into the fire...takes a lot of steak sauce (or something) to cover that up.