Solaire Infrared Grill

[jchonline]

Hello everyone,

I am considering purchase of an infrared grill (Solaire 2 burner) for my backyard grilling needs. I have used the typical propane convection grills and I have 3 main issues I am hoping the high heat infrared can solve.

1. Flareups - Does the cooking surface of the infrared like solaire get gunked up with oils and grease when cooking, or does it instantly turn all drops to smoke as discussed? I really want to minimize prolonged flare ups!
2. Cleaning - it appears if the infrared ceramic is over 1000 degrees it is effectively self cleaning and I won't need to clean the elements much. Recognizing I will need to clean the bottom of the grill of course, but how tough is it to clean compared to normal grills? I hate cleaning!
3. Time. I am not a patient griller. I don't like to chat and grill for a hour. I want meat cooked and grill off. Is infrared going to improve this over typical convection grills?

All responses very much appreciated.

[sparetimetoys]

I had an IR setting on our old gas grill and didn't like it. I could never figure it out. I would burn the outside and the inside would be raw. Faster isn't always better. I sold the gas burner and now grill over coal and smoke in stick burner or the electric with chips.

[jchonline]

I appreciate the reply. The Solaire is supposedly much better than conventional IR, as it gets over 1000 degrees pretty quickly. I am hearing many steak houses use these types of high heat IR, so there must be a way to get it cooked!

[Boots]

Had the Lynx IR (1400 degrees) and loved it - cooked the most beautiful steaks you ever saw. Whether you like or hate it probably mostly a matter of how yer technique fits it. My thoughts:

1. Flare ups - no flares is a total myth. Any really juicy or fatty cut - ribeyes for example, will flare like a gas torch. Grease is grease, and it sticks and burns like an oil well fire. A flare shield might help, but would defeat the purpose of the IR in the first place. However, for my technique on steaks, it was actually a big advantage. I like a fast, hard sear for a crisp outer crust, and used a butter/whiskey mixture on mine to achieve this. I would soak the meat in it a few minutes prior to grilling, and then spoon it on with a big spoon a couple time to get a big flambé effect. Be warned, it's good to have yer welding gloves on when you do this - generally in the category of "kids, don't try this at home". But do this 3 minutes a side on a thick ribeye, say, and then flip the meat to the "cool" side, off the IR, and slow finish over a low burner - heaven. I'll dig up a photo of my best example and post later. If yer not into this type of technique it probably is not for you, but it is fast. I could go from slap-on to dug in and eat in about 15-20 minutes for ribeye, depending on thickness and weather.

2. They are in fact pretty self cleaning - 1400 degrees pretty much incinerates anything, particularly if you leave it on 15 minutes post cook as I did to burn everything off. But plan to wire brush the grate periodically, and shop vac the burner periodically. The steel burner screen will likely need to be replaced every 3-5 years (I cooked mine to powder in 3 years, that how hot the burner gets).

3. Time - see above. Mine was faster than a caffeinated jack rabbit.

[jchonline]

By that notion should I get 1 side IR and 1 side convection ? I had originally thought both IR, but that might be a bad idea? The Solaire has a low IR setting, would this work the same as convection for slower cooking after the hi heat sear?

[Boots]

Don't know that unit, but just me, I would split it say one IR for every one or two conventionals, depending on how big you want to go. The low setting in my IR burner was like medium or high on the conventionals.