Electric Grills, do they not get hot enough, are they a waste of time?

[adiben]

We are about to head out on a road trip from Seattle to Montreal.
I dont like cooking in the unit, it gets all smokey and residue can stick on walls and curtains. Hubby is against a propane grill, not enough room in our tow vehicle to hall another propane tank. How about an electric grill?
Its just the two of us. Is there one that cooks hot enough? I love to sear my fish and meats. I find most are kind of wimpy.

Any suggestions for one that is not too too big but cooks hot?
If not, I guess we'll go propane but not our first choice.

[Foiled Again]

Originally Posted by adiben

We are about to head out on a road trip from Seattle to Montreal.
I dont like cooking in the unit, it gets all smokey and residue can stick on walls and curtains. Hubby is against a propane grill, not enough room in our tow vehicle to hall another propane tank. How about an electric grill?
Its just the two of us. Is there one that cooks hot enough? I love to sear my fish and meats. I find most are kind of wimpy.

Any suggestions for one that is not too too big but cooks hot?
If not, I guess we'll go propane but not our first choice.

I think you have a solution that's looking for a problem. Get your gas grill and use it. (Electrics ARE generally wimpy, and if the power is out? Useless.)

Airstream started installing an extra propane fitting on the tongue - designed to hookup a hose to use with a propane grill. I think it was added in 2014 but might have been in 2015. At any rate even if you don't have that on your unit, it's not difficult to modify your tank setup so that you can do this.
If you don't like messing with propane lines, any competent supply company can do it quickly and easily.

I have a "Volcano Cooker" that can use charcoal or wood, and has a propane burner that is part of the set. I curled the hose inside the carrying case. Generally I use charcoal, but it's also about a 2 minute job to hook up the hose.

Of course, you've also got two tanks, and normally you have one that is shut off. You CAN just pull it off the rack and use it.

OR lots of propane grills use the little disposable cans - which are about the size of a quart can of paint. Every WalMart, camping store, etc. carries them, take one or two along on every trip.

Paula

[Zil]

If electric is your choice, check the inductive cook tops. I am impressed by mine.

[Plasma800]

Originally Posted by Zil

If electric is your choice, check the inductive cook tops. I am impressed by mine.

Inductive would be my choice!!! And they are small, but they are "not" a "grill", you would cook in a pan on them, but personally, my wife makes the best steak in the world in a pan and the oven...

[DaveFL]

Electric fry pan, grill, or crock pot all work on the picnic table if you have a 15-20 amp outlet and a heavy duty extension cord.

[Rich W]

Originally Posted by DaveFL

Electric fry pan, grill, or crock pot all work on the picnic table if you have a 15-20 amp outlet and a heavy duty extension cord.

I had forgotten about my electric skillet hidden away in the bottom kitchen cabinet. That would be an excellent addition to our AS camp outdoor kitchen. Thanks

[JCWDCW]

We had an electric grill for BBQing..would not do a steak...no where near hot enough!
We bought a small Olympic propane grill and still use it. The extra connection at the 30 lb propane tanks is the easiest supply for BBQ
JCW

[LucasS]

I have a combo propane and infrared that I use. If you want to only use electricity as power I highly recommend a portable infrared grill. Camping World and Costco both sell them. They fold up nicely. But they cook VERY fast. I only use the infrared to sear and finish on propane. I also had my dealership add an outlet near my tank to hook up the grill too. Learned the hard way it didn't come stock my first trip out but yet another reason I love the RV lifestyle the only store in town had closed and multiple neighbors let me use their extra mini tanks.

[AWCHIEF]

Th one lb gas bottles take up very little room. They can be refilled from a large bottle as needed. I bought an electric grill and returned it. Not enough heat output to make me happy. I have both a small gas grill and a Cob grill. The gas for quick and easy, the Cob for moist slow cooking and smoking.

[Sunnysideup]

Hi. I envy your planned trip. I have been doing alternative cooking for many years. My kitchen stove was for storage of pots and pans. Before becoming a full timer, I used a NuWave since they came out. It is great for French Fries and I used it for steak the other night. Need to buy a thick steak if you want it rare. It does take up a good bit of space in an AS. Then I discovered Precision Induction Cooktop (PIC). That is my "stove" of choice now because the temperature is adjustable in increments of ten degrees at the touch of a button. I don't burn anything. My AS has no stove (I also have a Cuisinart "Combo" convection steam oven which I adore) and I use my PIC for everything: perfect scrambled eggs, steak (in a Lodge ridged skillet) and I use my old LeCrueset Dutch oven or my pressure cooker for everything else. The PIC has a small footprint, light weight and very versatile including you can take it outside. It is easily cleaned and stored. I keep mine in its own little drawer out of the way until I need it. Have a lovely trip. If you need more information please just ask.

[Gnorts]

Here's what ya need. Cuisinart Griddler. Got one at home, cooks steaks great, also panini sandwiches, pretty versatile. Removable interchangeable cooking surfaces.



http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-GR-4...-in-1+griddler

[scamp]

If your looking at electric BBQ have a look at the webber Q I have seen them at lowes I have the propane version and love it I think it's the best BBQ I ever had!
Don

[mefly2]

Originally Posted by Zil

If electric is your choice, check the inductive cook tops. I am impressed by mine.

Ditto!

[LucasS]

Originally Posted by Sunnysideup

Hi. I envy your planned trip. I have been doing alternative cooking for many years. My kitchen stove was for storage of pots and pans.

I love induction so much I had my range at home replaced with induction burners. I have a nice portable two burner induction cooker I use in my AS. So something I'm having done as we speak (pictures to come on a future post) is replacing my oven with a dishwasher. I already have a convection microwave and I RARELY use an oven for anything anyways. I found out that the single drawer style RV dishwashers fit into the space of a dometic oven perfectly. Since the oven and cooktop were one unit the last thing we're working out the details on is the cooktop. I can easily get the standard 3 burner gas Dometic but I want induction. I've been looking everywhere to see if there's an induction cooktop the same size as a Dometic made for RVs (I'm sorry y'all I think my range was a Magic Chef...a why's). If somebody has a line on that I'd LOVE to know.

As of right now if I want induction it means a whole new custom countertop....not cheap but looking like it's the only solution.

Anyways happy cooking! And once again if you only want to grill with electricity instead of LP its all about infrared. I know people who swear by them alone. (And everyone else swears by Charchol. Lol).

[gandttimes]

Originally Posted by scamp

If your looking at electric BBQ have a look at the webber Q I have seen them at lowes I have the propane version and love it I think it's the best BBQ I ever had!
Don

Just came back from a wonderful BBQ dinner at friends. The are in a condo and can't use gas so they use the electric Q at home and the gas 100Q on the road and they say they cook the same. I sure can attest to the dinner cooked on the electric tonight and we love our gas version.


George

[Sunnysideup]

I tore my Magic Chef stove out of our AS also and put in a single drawer dishwasher. Under the dishwasher is my drawer for my PIC. My hands can't take hand washing anymore. I love induction so much and the Nuwave PIC is wonderful. I have two. One in the AS and one in the summer camper in Ohio near Lake Eire. (This morning we were treated to a half dozen families of geese on the Portage River.) I have used the PIC for close to three years. I still use the infrared but not as much. It is harder to clean than the PIC and a pan. I am glad to hear of some other ASer who committed the sacrilege of tearing out their Magic Chef stove!

[Caffeinated]

At home we use and quite like a Wolfgang Puck electric grill/griddle. It gets hot enough to turn out fabulous rib eyes (prime from Costco) and also will grill asparagus and zucchini. It doubles as a griddle for pancakes, hash browns etc. Very versatile.

Mike

[Foiled Again]

Small Hijack. I have the NuWave induction burners and whenever I'm camped with hookups they're #1 for anything simple - especially that morning cuppa coffee. You can literally set the timer (read the instructions, I have to every time I reset the thing) so that the teapot will start heating at 7:00 AM. Alarm clock and water is ready to pour over grounds!

Now for the hijack - I bought my last pair in November of 2013 - and in the mail today I got a dunning notice that I hadn't paid the last of three installments. After reviewing my credit card statements from that time period and my spam file of ads from Nu-Wave..... They never BILLED ME for the third payment. My credit card did expire about 7 months after the purchase, but they didn't bill me on month 3. Next, I scanned every e-mail sent to me by the company - and not one EVER said "hey we couldn't bill you because...." I got over 20 offers to sell me MORE stuff... no hint there was a balance owed.

About 3 months ago I did get a new card with a new number and security check feature built in - due to someone else's large data breach, but we're talking a year and 4 months after the company failed to bill for the 3rd installment.

I don't dispute that I owe them the money, but the letter was a threat to go to collections - so I called and got "Ms. Nasty" All I wanted was to make this right, but I also did not feel it was appropriate to fail to notify me that there was a problem for 16 months, then threaten to send me to a collections company.

I actually LIKE the Nu-Wave. It's performed exactly as shown in the infomercials, but it is bulkier than many other induction burners, and the great bargain "2 for $100" is deceptive. The great bargain is offset by a "shipping and handling charge" of almost $70.00. I'm not cheap but I vote with my pocketbook. I like having 2 of them, though I've probably used both at once only a few times. (Owning a very small call center has left me with zero tolerance for snottiness from people who are being paid to be nice to me!) So, If the current ones burn out, I'll buy a different brand locally.

Go ship and handle yourselves, Nu-Wave!

Paula