I'm thinking of diving into the whole GBS world. Unfortunately when I do something i go all in. GBS Looks to be a handy system that crosses platforms from ccharcoal to gas which I like.
II'm curious on real world thoughts, likes and dislikes.
At the end of the day is it really worth the investment?
Thanks in advance.
Don
I have the grate and the skillet. I use the skillet from time to time when what I am cooking calls for it. Sometimes the Skillet goes in the hole, sometimes it does not. It just depends on what else I am cooking and how much space I have or need. As far as the actual grate is concerned it is a lot more heavy duty than a standard weber hinged grate. I have warped a hinged grate but not the GBS grate. I also like being able to remove the center when using my vortex so that I am not exposing it to 1000+ degree heat.
I think the only additional thing I will eventually get is the cast iron searing grate. I don't think I would use any of the other attachments.
For reference:
Gourmet grate: 8.2lbs
Standard hinged grate: 4.75lbs
The cast iron sear grate is the most used GBS accessory at my house. I have the sear grate, the skillet, the Korean bbq, the ebelskiver, the poultry roaster, the pizza stone, the wok, the dutch oven, and the waffle iron. I want to buy the rest of them eventually.
The thick hinged grates are pretty nice and the big hole in the center works well for accessing the charcoal grate and lighting a chimney. They accessories themselves are overpriced, overdesigned, and the awkward size makes them less functional than if you bought a mainstream version of that accessory. For example, that $55 cast iron wok vs. $20 carbon wok, $35 skillet vs lodge $20 skillet, awkward shaped korean bbq insert that barely fits kalbi, small diameter pizza $35 stone with handles that make it hard to slip a peel on and off of it, etc. It's like whoever designed these accessories envisioned them for the yuppie market but fell way short on execution.
There's nothing that you cant' do with the GBS that you can't do on top of a regular grate. One additional plus though is removing the center section to apply high heat directly to your accessory slows down grate burn out.
The vortex kills a normal cooking grate. Waiting till sales come about will help keep costs down.
I have the GBS, sear grate, and vortex. Not interested an any other accessories. Only reason I have GBS and sear grate, they were on deep end of year sale.
The accessories are stupid small, to the point of being useless.
In general I don't like the fact that it is in two pieces. Would be nicer if they locked together and hung as one.
It is really used as my beater grate and with vortex.
I primarily use standard grate and will invest in SS Weber one of these days.
I don't understand why they don't take the cast iron sear grate and make it the full size of a 22.5 cooking grate? A while back in the 1980's and 90's, they sold a grill grate that was a forerunner to the modern day GBS. Instead of a small round hole in the middle, it was a large rectangle hole that took up nearly the entire grate. In the hole you could put a full size griddle plate or a full size cast iron cooking grate. That was actually a better set up than the GBS system they have now. They should have expanded on that line up instead. They could have easily made a large pizza stone to fit that rectangle hole and other accessories as well I'm sure?
I love my gourmet grate. Use it with my Vortex all the time. It's so convenient and the
Hinged sides make it easy to add wood. That being said .. The accessories for it all
Over priced. I found a wok at Walmart for $8.00 that fits great. And who wants a 10"
Pizza stone?
Bullshit! That's exactly what it is. Although, I like the concept, the fact that Weber doesn't make all the inserts available in all markets sucks big time.
Got one on a recent CL kettle. Yet to cook on it. It is MUCH more heavy duty than the normal hinged grate. That alone is pretty nice. Look forward to the CI sear grate. Not really interested in the other accessories.
I've had the GBS grate for about a year now. I have the sear grate and the wok. The wok gets used about once a week and my family loves it. The sear insert see's action about once a month.
What flavor does the wok impart, that a wok on the stove doesn't?
I see the advantage of the vortex, but my wings are just as crispy without it.
Quote from: TheDude on July 08, 2016, 07:30:02 PM
What flavor does the wok impart, that a wok on the stove doesn't?
A wok burner is hotter than most home stoves can reach.
You get a much better (hotter) stir fry with charcoal, especially with the vortex underneath, than with a home stove.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/06/the-food-lab-for-the-best-stir-fry-fire-up-the-grill.html
http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/05/the-wok-mon-converts-your-home-burner-into-a-wok-range-solution.html
Damn! Sounds like I'm the only one here who actually uses all these accessories?
Sorry, but sear grate aside... I can do everything else on the stove. Every thing else, is cooking on the kettle, to cook on the kettle. Not that I'm against that... It's just not necessary.
Quote from: TheDude on July 08, 2016, 07:59:47 PM
Sorry, but sear grate aside... I can do everything else on the stove. Every thing else, is cooking on the kettle, to cook on the kettle. Not that I'm against that... It's just not necessary.
Maybe so, but using my wok is fun. It gets really hot, much hotter than my stove. The main reason I bought it was to have another reason to use my kettle on weeknights.
I do love showing friends and family, that anything can be cooked on a Weber.
Thanks everyon, iI think I'llpick up the sear grate version and see how it goes. It wwould benice tomake beer can chicken and still be aable to cook other stuff on the grill.
Sear grate + vortex FTW!
There are only a few that don't seem really gimmicky to me. I have the Korean BBQ now, have used it once and I really liked how it worked and felt like I got some unique flavor with that cooking method. I have used the sear grate once and it's OK. I don't know why the holes are so huge. My steaks got like 2 marks per steak. If they redesigned it with straight bars closer together I would ditch the old one.
I don't agree with the complaints about the size. The hole is 12" so that leaves a 5" strip around it. That is really narrow. But they're trying to keep part of your grill surface available on a 22.5. Any less room around the insert and you might as well not have the space there, you could just go full cast-iron. The Korean dome is probably not big enough to cook for a big party in a timely fashion but any bigger and it'd kill the utility of the rest of the system IMO. If you're serving as you go, then there's no problem.
I wish all of them were just cast iron rather than porcelain coated.
I think the griddle sounds really cool. I'd be interested to try a hybrid high-heat smash burger / grilled burger hybrid.
The hole seems perfect for a wok but I would just use a regular wok on it.
Everything else seems to only make sense for a gasser (ebelskiver, some of those EU-only ones) or are just gimmicks to expand the product line and would work better as a standalone pan like TheDude said.
Nice for a dedicated grill maybe. It aint the one to take on the road. Center falls out so it is extra work to handle. I like the way the straight bars on the standard grate brush clean.
Quote from: TD on July 12, 2016, 07:24:57 PM
Nice for a dedicated grill maybe.
That is exactly the set up I have. Two kettles set up for different cooking techniques. One kettle has the GBS with the sear grate for cooking steaks, hamburgers, pork chops, salmon and halibut. The other kettle has the lighter constructed standard grate with flip ups for longer cooking. It is used for chicken pieces, pork loins, ribs,roasts,whole chickens and turkeys. It will also be used for rotisserie use now that I have scored one on CL. I went to the two kettle system because the searing grate is heavy, greasy and a pain to keep trying to remove from the grate. Figured I have 12 kettles, why not use more than one.
The wok I would definitely use, I keep looking at the griddle but I'm on the fence.
Quote from: kinger905 on July 13, 2016, 06:27:56 PM
The wok I would definitely use, I keep looking at the griddle but I'm on the fence.
I actually really like the griddle but I don't use it on the gbs hole. It provides a nice searing surface and is lighter weight than the same diameter cast iron skillet. With that said, I still wouldn't pay full price for it.