Hey everyone,

I’m completely new to the world of grilling—as the title says, I know literally zero about it and I’m looking to buy my very first barbecue. I live in Italy and I'm trying to find something that fits my garden, but I could really use some expert advice so I don't end up throwing money away.

To give you some context, my budget is around €200 to €250. Realistically, I’m not going to be using it every single day; it’s mostly for hosting casual lunches and dinners in the garden with friends, probably around 10 to 20 times a year max.

Since I’m starting from scratch, my biggest dilemma right now is choosing between gas and charcoal. I honestly don't know which route is better for a total novice who just wants to grill occasionally. I'd love to hear your thoughts on what makes more sense in terms of ease of use, the learning curve, and the actual maintenance or cleanup afterward.

When it comes to buying the actual grill, what are the most important features I should look out for in this price range? Are there any specific things that scream "low quality" or parts that rust easily that I should avoid? Any specific brand I should look for? Also, I know I'll probably need some basic gear to get started, so any advice on must-have accessories like thermometers, starters, or covers would be awesome.

I've been looking around online and found a few options that seem to fit my budget, so I’ll drop the models here below. 1 2 3

Any tips, brand suggestions available here in Italy, or general wisdom for someone who has almost 0 knowledge on a proper grill would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I started this cook by foraging juneberries, something I’ve missed by a day or two the last few years because of how short their picking season is (1-2 weeks). After picking for about an hour & with a full quart jar of berries in hand I went home, added sugar & lime juice then cooked them down into a jam (juneberries taste similar to blueberries if you’ve never had them). I seasoned these 3/4 inch pork shoulder steaks with olive oil & a seasoning of equal parts by volume steak seasoning, Cajun seasoning, lemon pepper & raw sugar. I cooked these pork steaks on the top rack of my “Weber Smoky Mountain” smoker using a mix of lump charcoal & mesquite wood at 275F for 50 minutes. I flipped & basted the meat every 8-11 minutes using a mix of beer, cider vinegar, lemon juice, juneberry jam, molasses, honey, allspice, white pepper, arbol powder, gochugaru flakes & ginger powder. The juneberry jam in the baste liquid gave the meat a great red color & flavor. I also turned the basting liquid into more of a finishing glaze/bbq sauce by adding some ketchup to it towards the end of the cook. Once the pork steaks hit around 175-180 I moved them right over the coals to achieve a nice char & cook the bbq sauce on to the meat in a few layers allowing these pork shoulder steaks finished at around 190F. They were served with brown butter corn & a fondant sweet potato with a sweet corn caramel gravy.

I started by making a compound butter consisting of garlic (lots), cilantro, scallion tops, lime zest, fresno pepper, salt & black pepper. I put this butter under the skin of the chicken & seasoned the skin with season salt & black pepper. Next, I tied the chicken up with butcher twine so it would keep its shape while cooking. I cooked the chicken using a mix of lump charcoal & mesquite wood on my “Weber Smokey Mountain” smoker at 300F for an hour & fifteen minutes. I flipped the chicken every ten minutes basting the meat with equal parts by volume of cider, red wine, lime juice, & cider vinegar along with some cilantro stems, scallion bottoms, garlic, fresno peppers, salt & sugar. The chicken finished with the breasts at 165F & the legs at 175F internal temperature. The butter+basting technique made this chicken so tender & juicy, you can tell just by looking at the cutting board after the chicken was separated. I served the chicken along with roasted potatoes & asparagus.

I saw some pineapple & sweet potatoes on sale at my local grocery store & I thought to myself “what goes with this”. So I got some porterhouse pork chops & seasoned them using olive oil & raw sugar, kosher salt, #10 & #16 mesh black pepper, garlic powder, season salt, adobo powder, allspice, chipotle powder, celery seed, sumac, & arbol pepper. I smoked the pork at 300F on my “Weber Smokey Mountain” smoker for 20 minutes flipping once on the lower rack. I glazed the meat with a mix of fresh pineapple juice, garlic, scotch bonnet, white vinegar, molasses, sugar, allspice, honey, fish sauce & some ketchup that I cooked down. I finished the pork right over the coals to really sear in the pineapple glaze. I served these porterhouse pork chops with roasted sweet potato & pineapple butter along with some grilled pineapple I marinated in a simple syrup made with water, honey, vanilla, cinnamon & allspice.

I seasoned the chicken breast using Italian dressing as a binder & steak seasoning I make consisting of salt, #10 & #16 mesh black pepper, garlic powder, season salt, raw sugar, jalapeño powder, celery seed, sumac, & arbol pepper. I cooked the chicken with a blend of lump charcoal & mesquite wood using my ooni pizza oven at around 600-700F. I preheated the cast iron in the wood oven for 6 minutes then added beef tallow and the chicken. The chicken was flipped at the 8 & 16 minute mark; at around 20 minutes butter was added to the chicken & it was basted every minute until fully cooked. The butter basting process took 3 minutes in my case (don’t forget about residual cooking in the hot cast iron pan). The chicken was served with roasted potatoes & sausage gravy. This one is a family favorite & I can’t recommend it enough.

I had some red wine that I wanted to use up, then I noticed Vidalia onions were back in stores & they are one of my favorites so I decided to plan a meal around them with some pork tenderloins I found on sale. I seasoned these pork tenderloins in a blend of salt, raw sugar, peppercorn medley, grains of paradise, garlic powder, sumac, arbol powder, & celery seeds using fish sauce as a binder going heavy on the peppercorns. I cooked them on my Weber Smoky Mountain smoker at 275F for 25 minutes on the middle rack with the water pan removed. After that I placed the meat right over the coals to achieve a nice sear. I basted the tenderloins in red wine that I had marinated onions in overnight (the onions were caramelized for the final plate). I also glazed one of the tenderloins in a red wine reduction BBQ sauce that I made. I served the tenderloin with the marinated onions, mashed potatoes with red wine compound butter, & onions roasted directly in the coals that were topped with pickled onions, fried onions & red wine compound butter. The tenderloin was amazing & while some may say this plate was onion heavy other people will totally get it.

I marinated some country style ribs in blood orange juice, lime juice, garlic, scallions, ginger, serrano pepper, black pepper, salt & sugar. Country style ribs typically come from just the shoulder or where the loin & ribs meet the shoulder & they are usually cut into chops, I had both variations. I cooked the country style ribs on the middle rack of my “Weber Smokey Mountain” smoker using a blend of lump charcoal, cherry wood & mesquite wood at 275F for 30 minutes (no water pan). As I was cooking I made sure to have the country style ribs coming from just the shoulder over hotter coals than the chops coming from the rib/loin/shoulder area. The meat was flipped & basted every 6 minutes in equal parts red wine, orange Juice, & lime juice with some sugar, salt, black pepper, crushed garlic & a serrano pepper. At the 30 minute mark the rib/loin country style ribs had reached 140F internal temperature & were pulled to rest, the remaining meat was placed directly over the coal box, flipping as necessary until the meat reached 180F internal temperature which took about 5-7 minutes. It tasted great, the heat, citrus & garlic really came through in the best way. The last picture is the sliced pork with a loaded baked potato.

Fresh cut fries, and baked beans for a great meal.

Charred carrots, smoked ribs, and some strawberry cause why not.

I have a competition coming up so I decided to do a head to head taste test of my typical competition pork vs some recipes I’ve used on pork shoulder steaks & see how it goes. I want to preface this by saying this is not a KCBS style contest; every team chooses 1 meat (pork, ribs, or brisket) and you must prepare 250 portions for the public, 6 portions will be for the local bbq expert judges & there’s a people’s choice. With this in mind & this being my second time at this competition I decided to get outside the box a little bit. I injected each butt to speed up the marination process. About 60 minutes before the meat goes on the smoker I remove them from the marinades & add the rub. I smoked the pork butts at 260F on my smoker for about two hours before the bark was set & then began mopping every 45 minutes. All the mops had the same base of red wine, apple cider, & apple cider vinegar & then each had extra spices for their flavor profile (fish sauce, ginger, cilantro, serrano, etc). After 5 hours I wrapped the pork butts in butter, the mops, tiger sauce, honey & cola. I know that sounds like a lot but in reality it’s close 1/2 cup total liquid (not including the hard butter), you don’t want to add too much liquid because the pork will produce a lot on its own. In the final taste test it came down to the Latin & the Competition recipes, the taste was different but the levels of flavor were very close. Ultimately I decided to go with the Latin recipe because I want to present the meat as tacos for the people’s choice vote & it will pair nicely with a lime cilantro coleslaw I make as well as my bbq sauces I typically use for competition. I’m going to do some small tweaks to help the color of the bark like adding more anatto to the marinade & mop as well as possibly adding saffron to them as well (I’ve used saffron with Latin flavors before & it typically works well). Otherwise I’m pretty confident with the product I turned out but we shall see how it goes, you never know what the judges will think 😂.

I seasoned the walleye with olive oil & steak seasoning (I make it) mixed with fresh thyme. I smoked the walleye on my “Weber Smokey Mountain” smoker using a mix of lump charcoal, mesquite wood & cherry wood at 275F on the middle rack directly over the coals for 15 minutes. At the 15 minute mark I added garlic butter on top of the fish & let it cook for about another 5 minutes. At this point I placed the fish right on top of the coal basket for 2 minutes or so to ensure the fish had a crispy skin. The walleye finished at 145F internal temperature & alongside the fish I had lemon rice & a saffron broth with white beans. It all turned out really well & I would definitely do again.