What to Look For In a Barbecue Set
So you’e looking around for that perfect barbecue set, either for you or some you obviously love. Finding the right barbecue set means knowing what to look for as well as what to look out for. Tool sets are literally everywhere and range from what you might find at the dollar store to what’s available online. We’ll help you out with your research.
The Average Set
You average run of the mill set that you might expect to find at a local retailer will generally include a fork, tongs, spatula and hopefully a basting brush and a wire brush for cleaning. Although the plain Jane version will only have first three, usually equipped with a stained-red wood handle.
The Set You Want
Now that you getting serious about finding one of the better sets, here are a few things to look for. The set should come complete with a hard plastic or metal case Рwhich is ideal for keeping the set organized and clean when not in use – and most, if not all of the following items.
- Spatula
- Tongs
- Fork
- Basting Brush
- Wire Brush
- 4 Skewers
- 4 Steak Knives
- Set of 4 Corn on the Cobb Holders
Durability
The durability of the set is also a big issue. There is nothing worse that picking up one the tools and the handle falls apart on you. Handle durability seems to be a big issue, or should I say non-issue for some manufactures. The cheaply made stained-red wood handle should be made out of hard wood like oak, cherry or walnut, not pine or another soft wood that will fall apart the first time you put it in the dishwasher. Of course if you get a stainless steel set with polymer grips, make sure the grips don’t move around on the metal at all.
The metal should not bend very easily nor should it discolor after only a couple of uses. Better quality sets won’t have any welded parts but will be one solid piece of steel. A good quality tool might even be a little heavy, that’s a good thing; if it’s feather light, then it probably won’t last too long.
High and Low
Of course there is a quality scale applied to barbecue sets as well. You will find low end, middle of the road and of course, high end. Now just because you paid a small fortune for the set doesn’t mean that it is a quality set. You need to look closely at the craftsmanship. The best way to figure this out is to look at the steak knives. They should be well tooled and polished to high shine with a very sharp blade. The blade itself should not bend under normal pressure. And I’ll say this again, it should be heavy. These are just some of the indicators to look for. Also, some sets will have a obvious high quality appearance to them and some will not.
Cost
Barbecue sets can cost anywhere from a couple a bucks at the dollar store to a hundred dollars or more. It really depends on the quality along with the quantity of items in the set.
