There was a time in my life when I would schedule a rest day around making a single meal for friends. I would smoke some massive, lovely piece of meat on my Traeger and baby it with rubs, juice spritzes, and sauce bastings in increments throughout the day. That was before I became a father. Now just about every extra minute I put into the preparation of a meal feels like it’s deducted from a free-time bank account that’s already overdrawn. But cooking over flame outside is something I need in my life, so I had to find a quicker, simpler, option for getting food on the table. My answer: the .
Don’t let the tongue-twisting name intimidate you: the Force is fantastically easy to crush delicious meals on. The secret is gas. (I know, I’m a little late to the party.) Well, there’s a lot more nuance to this beautifully built grill, but the fact that I can have it lit and hammering heat from a propane tank in under half a minute is the main reason I love this stove so much. Everdure claims it can sear meat in five minutes, and while I have personally found that number to be closer to ten, it is still very impressive how quickly I can turn raw steak into something juicy, delicious, and servable.
That quick heat time comes from a burly cast-iron grill that evenly distributes the nearly 22,000 BTUs, hitting it from the gas fire below, so burgers, steaks, and chicken come out evenly cooked. That excellent heat dispersal across the grill also makes it fantastic for indirect cooking. The sturdy, large hood makes convection cooking a no-brainer as well—I can vouch that it delivers fantastically juicy whole chickens.
It also looks really sharp. I committed to making my backyard as fun as possible for my almost two-year-old daughter, which means I have absorbed all kinds of used outdoor play equipment from buddies, and the place looks like a monster that subsists off of cheap plastic vomited all over it. I will take a handsome piece of backyard equipment when I can.
Don’t get me wrong, I still love my . It’s incredibly easy to use and has been my secret weapon in making many of the best meals of my life. It will always have a place on my deck for large, kid-friendly BBQs and my turkey(s) every Thanksgiving. Night to night, though, I plan to keep my fire-based cooking easy.