The Very Best Charcoal Grills

Size: 924 square inches of cooking space (in a 199-pound body) / Material:  A double insulated body made of powder-coated steel / Geegaws: The Traeger app, connected to the Bluetooth-enabled grill, allows you to control temperature remotely and includes hundreds of easily searchable recipes

Like the best contraltos, the holy grail of grills is one that combines range and consistency. It can hit high notes. It can hit low notes. And it can sustain. Traeger’s new Ironwood XL is, therefore, like the Marian Anderson of grills. Combining the flavor of charcoal with the convenience of a propane tank, the Traeger Ironwood XL relies on compressed wood pellets, fed in through an auger, to imbue its cargo with a smoky flavor. Aside from the monstrous cooking surface — enough for four pork butts, four chickens or eight rib racks — what really endears the thing to chefs like Tom Colicchio, who relied on one to slow smoke $1,000 of beef ribs for his Fourth of July celebration, is that the electric auger allows the temperature to remain constant with little oversight. “It’s the best ‘set it and forget it’ grill I’ve used,” said Colicchio. Tennessee-based chef Alex Belew loves the range too. “The temperature can get low enough for cold smoking and hot enough for grilling and searing while not having to worry about flare-ups since it’s indirect heat.” Another convenience: If you should want to adjust the heat, the Traager app allows you to increase or decrease temperature even when you’re not in front of the grill, and it comes with scores of recipes.

Size: 363 square inches of cooking space (in a 91-pound body) / Material: Steel coated with porcelain enamel / Geegaws: A built-in thermometer, a touch-and-go ignition, and an ash-catcher

Bret Lunsford, the executive chef at New York’s Blue Smoke, grew up grilling. “My daddy had two grills in the backyard in Mississippi. Both were Webers,” he says. Now when he’s making barbecue at home, Lunsford returns to the well, although slightly upgraded. As opposed to the (also very good) Weber Original Kettle Grill, Lunsford goes for the schmancier Performer Deluxe. “It just has a lot of little improvements that make life a lot easier,” he says. Like an apartment in a fancy building, the grill is a standard no-frills setup surrounded by a lot of amenities. In this case, the 22-inch kettle is nestled into a wheelable table fraught that includes an ignition switch, expanded work space, an LCD timer, an ash catcher (which the original model also has) and a compartment to dispose coals. “I just use it as a trash can, but it’s great,” he says, also noting that, like all things Weberian, this grill is sturdy. “You can kick it around a little bit. You shouldn’t, but it’ll be all right.”

Size: 424 square inches (in a 28-pound body) / Material: An anodized aluminum body with stainless steel grates / Geegaws: A built-in thermometer, ergonomic handles, very handsome

For the long history of man and fire, travel grills have sacrificed durability for the sake of portability. The impermanence of the classic Smokey Joe Weber, though an affordable picnic staple, is manifest at the end of the summer, as the discarded and broken kettles pile up like horseshoe crab shells by the trash cans of public parks. The NOMAD grill, which looks like a very serious suitcase, is both a sturdy and moveable feast. Launched in 2020, the Nomad combines smart design (a baby-blue handle, a brushed-aluminum case), technology (rare earth magnets! Heatsinks!) and functionality (424 square inches of cooking in a 28 pound package). It’s also astonishingly versatile. According to Boston-based chef Ken Oringer, “It’s super-easy to operate as it doubles as a charcoal grill, oven, and a smoker all in one. It’s my top pick for summer barbecues or when you go camping for a fun and reliable grill.”

Size: 54 inches of cooking surface (in a 14-pound body) / Material: The body is handmade of diatomaceous clay, the cooking net from steel / Geegaws: Minimal, though I’d recommend purchasing the optional charcoal starter ($12)

Binchotan charcoal comes from Japanese ubame oak, burns hotter and more consistently than its international counterparts, and imbues an ineffable and delicate smoky flavor to the protein its heat touches. The smokeless charcoal also happens to be very expensive. That’s one reason chefs tend to use small table-top grills called konro, yakitori, or hibachi grills when they use it. And they use it often. Chefs like Dominique Roy of Eleven Madison Park, Sam Clonts of 63 Clinton, and Diego Oka of La Mar are die-hard fans of konro grills made by Korin, better known as a manufacturer of Japanese knives. What sets the Korin konro grill apart is that it is made entirely by hand, of carved diatomaceous earth bricks, a method which allows the grill to withstand and retain heat. (The more insulation means the less charcoal needed, important when a five-pound bag costs $70 dollars). The results are worth it. Alex Raij, for instance, who uses her Korin for Mar y Montana dishes like secreto iberico with squid and local peas, lauds the effect. “It’s smoky but clean,” she says. “It doesn’t taste like the inside of an ashtray.”