Do Infrared Gas Grills Have a Rock Grate?

Purely Infrared

• Typically, grills that use infrared heat only do not have a rock grate or incorporate lava rocks into the cooking area. The reason is that the rocks are not necessary. Instead, infrared heat cooks the meat directly by applying heat directly to the meat, rather than surrounding the meat with heat by heating up coals or lava rocks, as charcoal or standard gas grills do. However, many infrared grills allow you to insert wood chips between the grates to cook with extra flavor; so, you could also add lava rocks if you want, though they would have a minimal impact.

What Lava Rocks Do

• Lava rocks essentially do two things during the grilling process. First, as the gas grill warms up, the rocks absorb and retain the heat, keeping the temperature inside the grill hot. Second, they vaporize drippings that fall from the meat onto the grate below. The vapor emitted from the rocks is supposed to add more flavor to the meat. However, if the rocks aren't cleaned, they can absorb a lot of grease and drippings over time, and, eventually, more drips cause fire flare-ups, rather than vapor. These flare-ups can burn or char the meat above.

Restaurant -Style Cooking

• Many grillers are on a quest to cook the perfect steak or cut of meat, similar to dishes served in a steakhouse. However, until the year 2000, that quest was almost impossible. Restaurants have been cooking with direct infrared heat for decades, but the technology was never available in consumer products until 2000, when the infrared cooking technology patent for restaurants expired. The infrared cooking technique allows grillers to cook a steak or piece of meat that has the grill lines and a nice sear on the outside, but is still tender and juicy on the inside, just like you would find at an expensive steakhouse.

Best of Both Worlds

• For those that like to cook with lava rocks, but also want to use infrared technology, look for a traditional gas grill that also has an infrared burner. You can use one or the other, or possibly both, simultaneously. You could even try an experiment by cooking a steak with the regular gas and lava rocks method, then cooking the same cut using the infrared burner. There is no right or wrong way; it just comes down to what tastes better after the cooking is over.