Over the past four years I have gone through six different barbecues that I can remember.
For decades, when we lived in single-family houses. We used a good-sized barbecue and had natural gas run out to it for every house we lived in.
But four years ago we moved to a high(ish)-rise condo building. My understanding is that provincial legislation bans using elevators to carry propane tanks. At the same time, refitting the natural gas line in our unit so I could run it out to our balcony would cost a small fortune. And I'm too impatient to wait for charcoal to get going. So we started with electric barbecues.
- Our first electric barbecue barely got hot enough to warm up hot dogs. I have no idea what brand it was, but we got it from Canadian Tire, we returned it for a full refund, and they no longer carry whatever that model was.
- Our second electric barbecue was a Dimplex. It seemed to work... sort of, but it too didn't get very hot. So we got rid of it and replaced it with ....
- Another Dimplex. This replacement electric barbecue got reasonably good ratings on Amazon. It didn't really get as hot as I'd have liked, but it worked ok and had a nifty computer programme that helped guide me for cooking times. Of course those cooking times should have varied considerably, depending on the outside temperature and wind. We used it for several years and still have it (albeit in our storage locker as a backup). It's a good, solid barbecue, but it just doesn't get hot enough, really.
- For some reason I decided to experiment with using a barbecue that uses wood discs. It might have been ok, but the smoke would drive our neighbours crazy if I used it much, and we tend to barbecue 3-4 times/week pretty much year-round. So we gave it away.
- Thinking I might like more heat, I decided to try a small barbecue that uses propane canisters. I can carry these up the stairs in our building, and so I'm still ok legally, I think. The one I bought was a Master Chef, on sale for only $35 at Canadian Tire. We were quite pleased with the results. It heated quickly, it got hot, and things came out quite well. So, since that was just a trial before a major investment (aka expenditure on a consumer we-hope-durable), we gave this one away and bought...
- A Napoleon Travel Q. So far we love it. It has cast-iron grills, which require careful seasoning and care, but the heat, the solidness (this one isn't likely to blow off the balcony in a strong wind), the evenness of the heat all make this a wonderful barbecue. I still have much to learn and relearn, but I think this one is a keeper.
