Charcoal Grill Face-Off: Weber Kettle vs. Big Green Egg

"With charcoal grilling, the cooking performance is largely dictated by how a fire is built and how the airflow to the flames is controlled," says Larry Ciufo, CR's test engineer in charge of grills. "That means everything from the quantity and type of charcoal to the design of the grill can impact your final result."

Most charcoal grills have two dampers, one near the bottom and one at the top, which work in tandem to direct the flow of air. More air feeds a fire, allowing it to burn hotter. Kamado grills also have two dampers, they tend to have a more airtight design, and most hold more charcoal than a conventional charcoal grill.

We tested each of these grills with its recommended type of charcoal: Weber-brand briquettes and Big Green Egg lump hardwood coal. We filled the Weber Kettle with 3 pounds of briquettes and allowed the coals to ash over. The weight is equivalent to the number of briquettes Weber recommends, and it fills a typical charcoal chimney starter.

For the Egg, we weighed out 3 pounds of lump hardwood and lit it. But because the Egg’s deep cylindrical shape is designed to hold more coal, we also ran our tests with the Egg loaded to capacity with 5 pounds of lump hardwood.

But we didn't stop with these comparative tests. We also ran each grill through our battery of performance tests, as we do for all the charcoal and kamado grills we evaluate, including those for heating evenness, cooking performance, and ease of cleaning, and did a thorough examination of features and design, all to determine which grill makes it easy to cook fabulous food.

Now, for the grill-off.