Does Size Matter?

ATTENTION ALL READERS! THIS POST IS INTENDED FOR AN ALMOST MATURE, ADULT MALE READER. SOME MAY FIND THE CONTENT OFFENSIVE, SOME MAY FIND IT FUNNY, WHILE OTHERS MAY SIMPLY RIGHT IT OFF AS RIDICULOUS, BUT MARK THE GRILLER'S WORDS MY FRIENDS, SIZE DOES MATTER!

Hello grilling friends!

What a fabulous start to the Fall with the last few weeks of awesome weather! Now then, if any of you guys are like me, the first thing you do in the morning once you wake up is touch it, right? Sure you do, and you probably adjust it a few times and make sure its in the perfect position so no harm can come to it throughout the day right? Right. I spend almost every waking hour thinking about it and what I've accomplished with it. As a matter of fact, if I had a trophy for every time I've scored with mine, I'd need an addition put onto my house just to store my metal. Yup, there's nothing I love more than getting mine right up to speed, red hot, and impressing the Mrs. with it for hours on end, and I'm proud to report that happens almost four times a week, not bad for a happily married man after almost eleven years. My wife prefers when I take it nice and slow and quite frankly I do to and the results have always been outstanding if I do say so myself. I have many friends who like showing theirs off and the various tricks they can perform with it and I'll admit I love performing a trick or two with mine as well but I don't swing this way all the time.

I remember once upon a time my wife thought mine was a bit on the small side and I agreed with her, but thanks to modern day technology and a phone call or two we fixed the size issue and today I feel the most confident I've ever felt and every time I fire mine up it sure feels great to be alive! So, gents, take it from the "Griller", SIZE MATTERS, and you need to be able to utilize every square inch of what you've got, so take control of it, own it, for its yours forever and why should you live with regrets?

By now, you all know that I am talking about something I call "grilling real estate" and making the right decision on how big your ceramic oven of choice needs to be before diving in head first, right? Right. In other words the total size, measured in inches around or across the total cooking surface of your ceramic oven of choice. Its very important that before you invest this kind of money and commit to this "grilled to obsession" lifestyle, you get the facts from a pro like yours truly or your nearest retailer who specializes in ceramic ovens. I remember dealing with a gentleman who was awfully nice and professional but didn't really have a clue about "The Big Green Egg" when I was first introduced to it, hence, I was sold the wrong size oven. Instead of up selling me into the large BGE, I ended up with a medium and for the record I have had many wonderful years of great meals off it but the truth of the matter is that I should have left the store with a bigger model.

I ask all my "Grateful Griller" clients four key questions before they commit to the purchase of a new ceramic cooker.

1. how often will you be cooking?

2. how many people on average will you cook for?

3. what kind of space do you have on your deck or back yard?

4. what kind of budget do you have for the purchase?

Based on the answers I get back I start to offer my clients choices that vary in size for both the oven's and tables and slowly but surely we are always able to make sure the decision on which package to go for is the best package for the client. I remember that feeling well, of thinking that after I had spent close to $1600.00 on my medium BGE package that it was the wrong size but I fixed all that by starting my own brand and company and here I am today with almost every size oven imaginable as it relates to the ceramic cooking world and I get tremendous satisfaction out of steering people in the proper direction in order to make sure their experience is outstanding not to mention exciting for them.

Big Green Egg produces five sizes of ovens ranging from the mini to the XL. The most popular model sold for the folks at BGE is the large followed by the XL followed by the medium. If you are leaning toward anything bigger than the large BGE, "The Grateful Griller's" advice is to take a good look at the XL Primo Oval instead. You will get more cooking surface on the Oval's and due to the nature of the shape you don't lose any depth in the XL Primo like you do in the XL BGE. The other issue in my humble opinion is the XL BGE rear hinge mechanism is very tricky to assemble and not the best on functionality but it does work. Rumor has it that the fine folks at BGE are working on improving this hinge moving forward. The XL Primo Oval has a proper spring hinge and works very well.

Primo produce three models being the Junior Oval, XL Oval ( most popular) and Kamado which goes head to head with the BGE large model and any other round shaped ceramic cooker on the North American market in its size category. I have tested and sold a number of the Primo Kamado's in 2009 and the results have been stellar to say the least from all clients who purchased. A small word of caution on the BGE plate setter if being used in the Primo Kamado. The BGE plate setter is produced to be compatible with the BGE specifically and although it works in other round cookers its not a perfect fit so be mindful before purchasing.

GrillDome are also as stated in past posts a fantastic option if you want to get into this cooking form and the cool thing about their product is that you have five color's to choose from and a 304 stainless steel component package which really takes the bar up as far as I'm concerned. GrillDome's best seller is the Infinity Series XXTall cookers and the SuperDome which goes toe to toe with the likes of BGE and Primo's XL Oval.

So before you rush out and purchase your new ceramic oven, get the facts from the pro's and make sure you ask a lot of questions and with "The Grateful Griller" on your side, you can't go wrong but remember my friends, SIZE DOES MATTER, and besides, in twenty years when your looking at your unit, you don't want to wish it were bigger, do you?

Until we meet again, keep chillin and grillin, "Grateful" style........

Griller

Nests or Stands? Griller says go for the "GTO" Table!

Hello Grilling Friends!

Now that Spring's over and Summer's begun I'm anticipating a great looking September and October and predicting that the leaves should be changing no later than December 1st, wouldn't that be awesome? As we know the reality is that Fall is closing in, like it or not, and quite frankly, I say, bring it on!!! I love the Fall for many reasons but a few stick out above the rest. First off, the leaves up in this part of Canada are nothing less than spectacular and the cool night air puts me in the mood for food, "GTO" style without a doubt. Its also the time of year that we all start to cocoon a bit and get our nests ready for winter, hence my motivation to share a few words about nests. No, no, no, not the ones we live in but the ones that our ceramic ovens/cookers sit in.

Wether you own a Primo or a Big Green Egg you know by now that both companies manufacture and sell powder coated metal stands to house their respective units and I get asked all the time how I feel about them and wether they are worth the investment, and my simple answer is no, and here's why. If a person is about to invest over $1100.00 for one of these fine ceramic beauties in their larger sizes like the large or XL BGE or Primo XL Oval, (which for the record are the most popular models sold) a beautiful hand crafted eastern Canadian cedar table that acts as a great work station and doubles as a perfect place to store all your essential cooking tools seals the deal in my opinion, so why opt for an over priced metal nest or table mates that aren't going to last the test of time?

After all, if you have longed for that special car, wether it be a hybrid coupe, or a soft top two seater or perhaps your the performance sports car type, are you going to rush out to WalMart and purchase some mediocre tires and plastic seat covers that smell cheap to enhance the overall experience? Of coarse not! You'll most likely want performance tires that look and feel great and who can argue about plush leather seats underneath your butt on those long cruising get away weekends.

If your wondering what the Griller's getting at here folks, its simple. Esthetics, nothing more, nothing less and you deserve it when spending this kind of money!. I know, I love looking at my various cookers on my deck and feeling good about the fact that they are housed well, braced well and look beautiful and are complimented by the artistic nature of the wood itself and all this for a fraction more money out of my bank account.

The BGE company as well as Primo do a great job on their cookers for the price and the product that they manufacture for the North American marketplace and I think they all would agree that their metal nests/stands are at best, satisfactory. For the record, I prefer and have more faith in the BGE nests because they are sturdier and come with additional braces unlike their closest competitor being Primo. All this said, both the BGE nests and side tables (now produced in composite material as well) and Primo stands are expensive for what you get, considering you'll be spending just this side of $300 CAN funds when in fact you can currently have a "GTO" Country Classic or Compact Griller table of choice by yours truly starting at $350 and going up from there.

Now, some would argue that they don't have the space for a large table and this could be true, hence if you want to go for the BGE nests, go for it, but just be aware that you have options that are a better value and can be offered in wood. If you happen to be a Primo owner, the "Griller's" words of wisdom, steer clear of their metal stands. They simply aren't made well enough. This whole topic and issue motivated me to create a division of my company solely dedicated to the production of customized Canadian tables made right here in beautiful Wakefield, QC. by my affiliate partner Bizier Inc.

As of 2010, "The Grateful Griller" in conjunction with Bizier Inc. will be open for business across Canada and will be doubling our models moving forward. We will be offering various designs in various wood species and quality control, not to mention our attention to detail will be our top two priorities. If you happen to have the gift of being a carpenter or generally good with wood we would be more than happy to assist you with basic plans to do it yourself.

That's it for me my friends, so have an awesome weekend, enjoy this god given weather while it lasts and keep the fires and "GTO" lifestyle burning like you mean it!

maple planks & salmon too.....

The Grateful One