Infrared
Fires Up Backyard Barbecues
By
ELLIOTT MINOR
|
(AP)
Jim Watson of Atlanta shops for a
barbecue grill that has the infrared
burner at a
Home Depot store... |
ALBANY,
Ga. (AP) - For a quarter century, chefs
at pricey steakhouses have been searing
meat on burners that cook with infrared
energy. Now the high-temperature technology
may be coming to a backyard barbecue near
you.
With
the expiration of a key patent, major gas
grill manufacturers, including market leader
Char-Broil, have scrambled to bring infrared
cooking to the masses with models in the
$500 to $1,000 range. Previously, such grills
cost as much as $5,000.
"Infrared
is really hot," said Leslie Wheeler,
a spokeswoman for the Hearth, Patio &
Barbecue Association, an industry group
in Arlington, Va. "They're great for
searing and then either you turn it down
or move over to another burner for cooking."
The
grills are still powered by propane and
have traditional gas burners that heat mostly
by convection - or hot air. But they also
can cook foods with radiant heat generated
by one or more infrared burners. (Infrared
falls between visible light and microwave
energy on the electromagnetic spectrum.)
Char-Broil
says its advanced burners operate at 450
to 900 degrees, hotter than the 450 to 750
degrees of standard gas burners. And unlike
charcoal, which can require 20 to 30 minutes
to reach its 700-degree cooking temperature,
heat from the infrared burners can be adjusted
quickly.
Most
leading grill makers, including Solaire,
Weber and Whirlpool Corp. (WHR)'s
Jenn-Air, also offer grills that use infrared.
"It's
terrific," said Wheeler, who owns an
infrared grill. "Grills nowadays give
you many options."
Cooks
can sear steaks or hamburgers, steam vegetables
and give their meats a smoky taste by tossing
a few wood chips onto the burner, said Rob
Schwing, a Char-Broil vice president.
"Infrared
has done to the grill business
what the microwave did to the indoor kitchen,"
he said. "It's presenting consumers
with a whole new way of cooking."
Bill
Best, founder of Thermal Electric Corp.
of Columbia, S.C., developed the technology
in the 1960s, primarily to give automakers
a faster way to dry the paint on cars. That
led to high-end grills for professional
cooks and wealthy consumers.
When
his patent expired in 2000, grill companies
saw a future in America's backyards.
But original infrared burners - and some
offered currently to consumers - contained
ceramic material that was hard to clean,
prone to flare-ups and fragile, Schwing
said.
Char-Broil
formed a strategic alliance with Best's
company to develop a new generation of burners
known as the Char-Broil TEC series. The
fragile ceramics have been eliminated. There's
a layer of glass to shield the burners from
drippings and provide even heat distribution.
Seven
years after Best's patent expired, those
improvements are available at a price more
affordable to weekend grillers.
"I
think it's significant," said Matt
Fisher, who tested one of Char-Broil's grills.
"It really brings a whole new
technology to the market for most
people."
Fisher,
who lives in the Ridgewood neighborhood
of Queens, N.Y., maintains the "The
Cook's Kitchen" Web site and a blog
devoted to barbecue.
Fisher
said gas grills are convenient, but he still
prefers wood and charcoal.
Barbecue and barbecue accessories are a
$4 billion industry in the U.S., with 17
million grills shipped to retailers last
year, a 15 percent increase over 2005, said
the industry association's Wheeler.
Pomona,
Calif.-based Cal Spas has been selling high-end
grills with infrared burners since 2003.
Nicole Lasorda, a company spokeswoman, said
the faster and more predictable way the
burners cook allows people to spend more
time relaxing and less time cooking.
"More
and more people are barbecuing now and they
don't necessarily want to stand in front
of the barbecue all the time," she
said.
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Associated Press writer Doug Gross in Atlanta
contributed to this report.
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