Did Weber Just Perfect the Pellet Grill?

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If you love smoked meats, it doesn’t get much better — or easier — than a pellet grill. But while they excel at low-and-slow cooking, most pellet grills woefully underperform in traditional high-temp grilling.

Weber’s Searwood 600, which can reach steak-searing temps of 600 degrees Fahrenheit, is not most pellet grills. Here’s the low down on this highly versatile grill.

Weber

The Backstory: Next generation pellet grilling

For the uninitiated, here’s how pellet grills generally work: an electric fan circulates heat and smoke created by burning compressed wood pellets, which are automatically fed into the burner to maintain a precise and consistent temperature.

Pellet grills automate and accelerate the smoking process — where indirect heat is the name of the game. But if you want to sear a steak, you need direct heat, something most pellet grills don’t offer.

That’s where the Searwood 600 is different. It features Weber’s DirectFlame technology, which delivers high-heat cooking capability across the entire grate, similar to what you’d expect from a gas or charcoal-fueled grill.

The Gist: Smoke, sear, roast and more — all with one grill

True to its name, the grill’s searing capabilities are an obvious differentiator. However, plenty of other features make Weber’s pellet grill stand out in a crowded field.

The Searwood’s extensive temperature range of 180 to 600 degrees means users can also smoke or roast to their heart’s content. And, except for the initial start-up, they can do it all remotely via the Weber Connect app. Hands-on cooks can also keep tabs on cooking temps with the grill’s built-in LCD controller.

The Searwood’s internal RapidReact controller can also heat the grill to temperature in 15 minutes or less and helps the grill quickly regain temperature whenever the lid is opened. It continually monitors and adjusts the temperature while cooking, too.

Since it’s a Weber, the Searwood 600 boasts the kinds of convenient design choices you’d expect, including a weatherproof aluminum cook box, an integrated “pull and clean” grease and ash system, and a newly designed hopper that ensures a steady flow of pellets.

Finally, because it’s compatible with a wide range of Weber Crafted accessories like the full-size rotisserie, griddle, and pizza stone, the Searwood can be flexible for pretty much any occasion.

Our POV: Weber’s Searwood 600 is the ultimate one-grill quiver

It used to be that dedicated outdoor cooks needed a traditional gas or charcoal grill and a pellet grill to cover the bases between smoking and searing. With the Searwood 600, they can do it all with one platform — and that’s pretty cool.

The standard Searwood 600, which boasts a 24-inch cooking area, provides ample room for most home cooks. But for those who like to go big, there’s the Searwood 600 XL, with a whopping 36-inch cooking surface.

Weber Searwood 600

• $899 at Weber