Up Close and Personal with an MHP Grill

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Hey Y’all! It’s the grill girl. Today I’m so excited to show you one of the new grills we’re selling now on our website!

 

One of the greatest things about MHP grills (besides their experience, high quality grills, customer service, and warranty), is that their grills are highly customizable.

Almost every part of the grill that I highlight here has different options available.

You can see how to build your own grill right here or give us a call at 877-244-0737 during business hours if you have additional questions!

-GG

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Gas Grills – Who? What? Why?

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If you haven’t noticed, we’ve started carrying a line of grills on our website made by the company Modern home Products!

Gas Grills for Sale Now On Website

WHO?

Modern Home Products (or MHP for short) is a company owned and operated by the very same family that introduced the first gas grill to the public in the early 1960’s and they have been developing and perfecting it ever since. They stick to what works and design for what people want. They came up with the idea to have the top hood on a hinge. Isn’t that amazing? Can you imagine grilling today without being able to swing open the top of your grill?

WHAT?

The grills MHP manufactures are made here in the USA. They come with the highest quality parts and best warranty. That’s a lifetime warranty on the grill castings and 10 year warranty on stainless steel parts. The grills are highly customizable which means you can get exactly what you want – no more cookie cutter grill from the big box store. MHP has even patented a special kind of cooking grid called SearMagic. They are rust-free anodized aluminum cooking grids with a wide-ribbed side to brand steaks, chops, burgers and ribs with sear lines and a flip side, with a smooth surface for grilling delicate foods such as seafood and vegetables. Speaking of aluminum – MHP’s most popular grills are cast aluminum which means the aluminum is actually poured into a mold to create a grill body that will never rust. Don’t worry, they sell stainless versions as well if you like shiny grills!

WHY?

You know how we feel about quality. We care. We care about our customers, we care about the product we offer. That’s why we’re so excited about offering MHP grills! We know these people. We’ve been in a business relationship with them for years! We have visited their warehouse and seen how they work. They care about their customers just as much as we do.

That’s why MHP.

Pro Fire Bravo

Here is the newest competitor to The Big Green Egg. It’s called the Bravo, but we like to call it the big charcoal colored kamado style smoker. 🙂

Click here to see the other ways you can use the Bravo – like built into your outdoor kitchen or using the beautiful stainless steel cart!

-GG

Meatless Monday – #Grilled

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Have you ever heard the term “Meatless Monday?”

Let me tell you, I hadn’t, until recently. I grill. I grill a lot. My favorite season to grill is “warm.” In other words, if it’s warmer outside than I want my house to be inside, I’d rather grill and leave my house cool. That being said, I will grill at any time as long as it’s not pouring down rain.

Wikipedia defines Meatless Monday as “an international campaign that encourages people to not eat meat on Mondays to improve their health and the health of the planet.”

How to Grill Vegetables

Here are a few general rules about vegetarian grilling.

Tofu
Tofu is a great meat replacement. With its hearty consistency, you can highlight it on the grill and not miss the meat you’re avoiding.

  • Purchase firm or extra firm varieties of tofu for the grill.
  • Always press the tofu to remove excess moisture.
  • Marinate tofu in any sauce you like from bbq sauce to soy sauce to salad dressing -overnight in the fridge is best. A sauce with sugar will create some yummy caramelization when you throw it on the grill.
  • Brush your grill grids with oil because tofu will stick as you cook it.
  • Try using shish kebabs for an easier way to cook tofu on the grill.

 

Veggies
You’re probably used to slicing up some onions and throwing them on the grill packaged up in tin foil. Keep your vegetables out of aluminum on Meatless Monday so they can be grilled heroes of the night.

  • Slice your veggies in a uniform manner, but keep their surface area as large as possible. This will help them have a similar cooking time but also make it easier to flip them.
Cauliflower on the Grill

See how this cauliflower is sliced in a thin manner but still has a large surface area to grill?

  • Use olive oil sparingly so your vegetables won’t stick but you don’t have oil dripping into the grill either.
  • Season with salt and pepper or your favorite grill seasoning mix.
  • For denser vegetables like potatoes, sear them on the main cooking grid and then allow them to finish cooking on the warming rack so they cook all the way through without getting burned.
  • Use kebabs or grid toppers to make the job easier.

 

Fruits
Throw some fresh fruit on the grill to bring out the sweetness and add a perfect healthy end to your Meatless Monday

  • For the easiest fruit dessert, turn to hard fruits like apples, pears, pineapples and citrus.
  • Slice the fruit in the same manner as vegetables – thinly with large surface area.
  • Leave the skin on – it will keep the fruit in one piece and be easy to remove after it’s done cooking.
  • Soak in cold water with a drop of lemon juice for 20-30 minutes before grilling to keep in the moisture.
  • Brush the fruit sparingly with a light cooking oil to keep it from sticking to the grill (the flavor of olive oil is too overpowering).
  • Clean the savory bits (from the meat or veggies) off your grill before throwing on the fruit and spray the grid with a light cooking oil.
  • Fruit needs no seasoning or addition- just cook on medium until your desired tenderness and serve warm.
  • A dollop of ice cream is a perfect end to that hot fruit.
  • If you’re feeling adventurous, experiment with nutmeg or cinnamon and alcohol instead of the lemon water marinade. You’ll have a big flare up once you throw the fruit on the grill so beware if you like how you look with eyebrows.

There are so many recipes available for vegetarian meals but not as many that offer meals you can actually cook on the grill. I’m always on the lookout for a good grill recipe to try and you can follow my Pinterest board here. 

For today, though, I’ve compiled some meatless recipes that look absolutely delicious.

Two options for an entree:

Grilled Eggplant and Pesto Burgers

Tofu Kebabs with Cilantro Sauce

Outside the box take on grilled sides:

Caramelized Grilled Asparagus

Grilled Cauliflower Steaks with Fresh Corn and Black Bean Salsa

So, how does Meatless Monday sound now?

Think you might try it? If so, let us know!

Happy Spring!!

-GG

Visit GrillPartsSearch.com’s profile on Pinterest.

Do you Ship to Canada?

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It’s Easier Than Ever to Grill in Canada!

It’s pretty warm down in Georgia today and we think – we HOPE – that the warm weather is here to stay.

Every now and then, we get a call from a grilling devotee from our northern neighbors across the border – hello Canada!!

Well, we think everyone everywhere should repair their grill instead of buying new, so we’ve done a lot of work to save our Canadian customers more money and make it easier to get parts for their grills.

The North American Free Trade Agreement ensures that grillers across North America can buy, sell, and ship parts to each other without fees and duties that can really rack up a bill.

There’s only one caveat – the parts have to be made in North America to qualify. That’s why it’s great a majority of our most popular parts are indeed manufactured here in the USA.
Canadian Flag - Canadians Love to Grill and We Love Canada

Doesn’t it look like a lovely day to grill?

Maple Leaf - Canadians Love to Grill and We Love Canada

So, in a word, yes. We DO ship to Canada!!

-GG

Buyer’s Guide to Gas Grills

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Spring is so close we can taste it.The world outside is defrosting and the biggest craving grill fanatics have is a hot juicy burger with some perfect sear marks. Dripping like icicles… yum.
Of course, we are the biggest fans of repairing your grill and keeping it out of the nearest landfill. If you’re even slightly curious as to whether or not you could refurbish your grill, give us a call. We are friendly and we answer the phone 🙂
However, sometimes you just need a new grill. We did some research and found that when reviewing grills, Consumer Reports looks at these aspects:

Preheat performance: Evaluates the temperature and evenness over the grill’s surface after a 10 minute preheat using thermocouples. It also gives an indication how quickly the grill reaches its maximum temperature.
High temp evenness: Evenness of heating over the grill’s surface at the highest setting, using thermocouples.
Low temp evenness: Evenness of heating over the grill’s surface at the lowest setting, using thermocouples.
Indirect cooking: This indicates how well the grill will slow cook foods when only some of the burners are on and the food isn’t placed directly over the flame.
Convenience: Evaluates construction and materials, and useful accessories such as electronic ignitor.

These are great things to know when you’re looking at the purchase of a new grill, because of course, how the grill cooks is one of your top concerns. However, being in the repair business, we have a different view of grills and would like to share some other things to keep in mind.

Get the Grill You’re Happy to Own

Do the Hood Test:

First, firmly grip the handle of the hood. Instead of opening the grill, shake the grill from left to right. How does it feel? Is the handle firmly in the hood? Is the hood firmly on the grill? Does the grill move a lot when you do this? Do any parts of the hood or body warp with the left-to-right movement?

  • Why? If the “casting” is not actually casting but just sheet metal, you will be able to tell how thin the metal is with this test. The thinner the metal, the faster it will corrode, even if it’s stainless steel!! You will also get a feel for how the grill is made – are the parts put together well, will they hold up on the drive home, the journey to your patio or backyard?

Do the Weight Test:

Grab the grill with both hands and gently lift to see how hard it is to lift. If you can’t lift it, tilt it backward (carefully!) by lifting the front with both hands. Note if anything shifted. If anything shifted, try to determine what it was. Open the grill and lift the cooking grids -how heavy are they?

  • Why? The heavier the grill, the more material used to make it. The more material, in most cases, the longer it will last. The heaviest part of a grill will be the body and this is a good indicator of what kind and how much material is in the grill. It’s okay if some things shift slightly (like the cooking grids or heat plates) but most things should stay in place with a bit of movement. Even some cooking grids are made of sheet metal, formed into grids. These rust out the most quickly.
  • ** THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO THE WEIGHT OF THE HOOD ALONE**
    While it may sound conspiratorial, it’s true – grill companies put heavy material such as lead into the handle of the grill hood so it feels nice and sturdy when you open it! We wish we were kidding.

Do the Manual/Model Test:

Is there a manual in the grill you’re looking to purchase? Can you find the model number on the grill itself? Does the model number on the grill match the model number on the manual? (This is especially important if you buy a floor model grill).

  • Why? You will need your manual to use your grill to it’s maximum potential. KEEP YOUR GRILL MANUAL!! Additionally, if you plan to use this grill for more than one season, there’s a high likelihood that you will need to purchase some part or accessories. You’ll need the correct model number and if you can’t find it now, you won’t be able to find it when you’re on the phone with the friendly representative asking for it.

Do the Customer Service Test:

Call the number of the brand of the grill you’re looking at. If you get in touch with them, tell them you’re looking to buy one of their grills and which do they suggest?

  • Why? In this industry, many manufacturers don’t bother to pick up the phone. If you ever need anything from them, it’s important to know if you can get in touch with them. If you do talk to someone, this question will be different from most they get. You’ll have a chance to see how honest or helpful they are.

The sad truth for far too many people is they don’t know to look for these things and instead they find themselves looking once again for a new grill just a few years down the road.

If you’ve ever sought service from our company, you know we have our customers in mind when we pick up the phone. That’s why we’re so excited to announce that we will be selling grills in addition to grill parts this season.

You can trust the grills we list on our website the same way you’ve learned to trust our help and grill repair.

If you can’t repair your grill or are in the market for a new one, visit and feel free to email us with feedback! The grill website is still a work in progress but we’re too excited not to share!

Fire up that grill this weekend!

-GG

How to Find the Model Number on Your Gas Grill – w/ Video

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Hey Y’all! Grill Girl Here to Help You Find Your Gas Grill Model Number!

Today we’re going to be finding the model number on a Charbroil 463268606.

You can use these tips to find the model number on most types of grills. And don’t worry – if you can’t find the model number or the number is illegible, we can still help you fix your grill.

On grills with front doors, the best place to check first is inside the doors. If the model number isn’t there, try going around the back of the grill.

You’ll be looking for a label or sticker that has tiny print. Usually the model number will be listed along with certification information and maybe even a serial number.

We’ve also written post about how different manufacturer’s format their model numbers so you know what to look for. You can find that post here: What’s a Model Number?

Thanks for watching!!

-GG

Thanks to RutgerMuller for our beats!

Replacing the Heat Shield – with Video

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Hey Y’all! Grill Girl here!


Today we’re going to be replacing the heat shields on Charbroil 463268606 grill.

You will notice it’s time to replace the heat shields (or heat plates, vaporiser bars, flavorizer bars) when they are rusting excessively or have areas that have rusted through, leaving holes. In this case, we could bend the heat shield in half, it was so rusted.

This is a very simple job and usually all you have to do is lift out the old heat shield and set in the new heat shield.

Notice there used to be a peg in the casting of the grill that has rusted away to nothing. You can just rest the heat shield on the casting of the grill. It is still far enough away from the burner that no flames will touch it.

We used a stainless steel plate to replace the original porcelain coated plate. The stainless steel will long outlast the original.

Look at that pretty, shiny new stainless steel part!

Thanks for watching! -GG

Thanks to RutgerMuller for our beats

Pancake Day – Pancake Burgers

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Grill Grilling Parts

Grilled Pancake Burger

It’s Mardi Gras. Some people refer to this as pancake day because pancakes were a great way to get rid of the indulgent things in the house like flour, eggs, milk, and sugar. Whether or not you give up something indulgent for the Lenten season, we think it’s a great excuse to eat pancakes.
Well, we saw a recipe for savory “pancakes” as the bun for a burger over at jamesvsburger.com. We wanted to see how it tasted with a classic pancake that had some sweetness to it.
Of course we kept the bacon.

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Season Ground Beef – we used Monterey Jack cheese, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper

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I like to roll the ground beef into balls to help regulate the size, then they’re easy to smash into round patties

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You’ll need to heat the grill with the griddle on it. We started that early because it was cold here today

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Start the bacon on the griddle and grill burgers on the remaining space

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When the bacon is done, start the pancakes on the griddle using the bacon grease

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I used the warming rack as a holding space for the cooked pancakes. They stayed warm and crispy

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The Result

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See those grid marks from the warming rack?

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Then we had a party. #pancakeday Happy Fat Tuesday!

You’ll Need:

  • Pancake mix and ingredients needed to follow directions (We used the “just add water” version)
  • BACON
  • Ground Beef
  • Burger seasonings of your choice (we used cumin, cayenne pepper, salt and ground black pepper)
  • Monterey cheese (optional)

Directions:

  • Make burgers
  • Grill bacon on griddle
  • Grill burgers
  • Make pancake batter (according to box)
  • Grill pancakes on griddle in bacon grease
  • Assemble
  • Enjoy!!

Happy Fat Tuesday Y’all!!
-GG

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No Grilling like Snow Grilling!

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Polar Vortex. As defined by wikipedia: “A polar vortex is a persistent, large-scale cyclone located near one or both of a planet’s geographical poles.”

I also looked it up on Urban Dictionary, but I do not recommend that to my lovely readers. 🙂

Basically it’s cold. It’s cold everywhere, even in our usually tame state of Georgia.

If you live in a state that has closures and general mayhem due to this kind of weather, it’s easy to get cabin fever. During this nasty weather, we’re going to get grilling and want you to do the same!

But always grill using the caution that gas and flames require!

grill fires

Have fun and be careful!

-GG

Manufacturer Highlight: Charbroil

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Charbroil Grills –

The Highs, The Lows

and how to keep yours running

Char-Broil-K6B
Looks yummy right?

Char-broil is one of the oldest grill companies that is still in business today. The grills they build range from cheap to expensive, basic to fancy. They sell grills in big box stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s. This makes the grills very accessible and popular. However, because of their contracts with these huge retailers, Charbroil has to get a grill available to the public at a very low price point. Stainless steel is very expensive and still going up in price. To combat the high price of stainless, manufacturers will use thinner stainless steel and/or a lower quality of stainless steel. This is why many parts rust out in 1-3 years of use and need replacing.

What does that mean for all of us? Basically that there are a lot of different models numbers and a lot of different replacement parts available. When you know that you might need Char-Broil burners, cooking grids, heat plates, briquette grates, carry-over tubes, or knobs, it can seem very overwhelming. The good news is that we are dedicated to making your search for replacement Charbroil gas grill parts as easy as throwing a steak on the grill!

This is how we do it; every year we get new parts for Char Broil grills, like burners, cooking grids, heat shields, and carryover tubes. Then, we do research on your grill model numbers using the online manuals, grill sizes, and information from Charbroil directly. This allows us to show the exact parts for your model number. We have a drop down list that includes every Char-Broil gas grill model number we know and list those parts we sell for each. We also include our phone number so if you don’t easily find the parts or model number, you can call us and we’ll do our best to dig up the dirt on your grill and the Char-Broil replacement parts you need.

There is a great selection of high quality parts for Charbroil gas grills available on our website, including new stainless steel burners, carry-over tubes, and cooking grids that were added to our line this year!

We list parts for Char-Broil Advantage Series, Commercial Series, Performance Series, Designer Series, Front Avenue, Masterflame, Precision Flame, Powerhouse and Big Easy burners and heat plates too!

We even have parts for the Infrared and Quantum Infrared Grills. The Quantum Infrared Series grills made it into the number 4 spot of a top 10 list for 2013. We have parts for all three Quantum models sold by Charbroil: 463270610, 463270909, and 463271310.

Click CHAR-BROIL to get started, or give us a call at 877-244-0737.

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