I Cooked Over Fire for Years as a Chef — This Is the First Gas Grill to Win Me Over

It’s safe to say that I like all things outdoor cooking. My grilling style skews towards live-fire cooking, be that wood or charcoal, as I enjoy the primal nature of manipulating fire and food to extract the best-finished product I can. My backyard has several options to satisfy my cooking mood, from a kamado grill to a simple Weber kettle grill to an open fire pit with multiple griddles, grates, skewers, and a pizza oven that allow me to embrace my inner Francis Mallmann.  

The common denominator between these grills is the potential for fire-borne flavor and the time commitment required. It’s not that the time commitment is daunting: I used to come home and grill after getting out of work at the restaurant after midnight, and my friends voted me “most likely to throw a barbecue on a Monday.” Life has changed since then, and while I still like to grill, the hour or so required to get a good cooking fire going isn’t always practical. 

So, when Weber reached out and asked if I’d like to test the new Weber Summit FS38 S Gas Grill, I figured I’d try it — gas grills offer more efficiency than charcoal grills, and I wouldn’t have to carve too much time out of my routine to use it. I didn’t expect how much more often it would get me grilling. 

Weber Summit FS38 S Gas Grill 

The FS38 S is a sizable and powerful grill. Its five burners produce 65,000 BTUs per hour under the 35 by 19 inch main cooking grates. But that’s not all the cooking space by any means. There’s a 12,000 BTU side burner for heating and searing. However, a side burner isn’t necessary for searing, as one of the Summit’s standard features is a 16,000 infrared broiler. Nothing says you need to use all the grill’s power at a given time. I’ve set a few burners to low to slow roast vegetables and prepare for reverse searing meats, blasting the steaks or chops under the infrared broiler to finish them. However, when allowed to run wide open, the grill burners also do a respectable job of searing.

Weber offers a solution to one recurring issue we've found when testing gas grills: the edges tend to run cooler, which minimizes your cooking space. The burners on the Genesis E-335 go beyond the typical crosswise design, distributing heat to the perimeter of the cooking grates. While it doesn't provide the same direct under-grate heat, it makes the outer reaches of the cooking area more usable.

Other features are just as handy. For example, a common complaint about gas grills is their lack of smoke. The Genesis E-335 offers a solution with a stainless steel smoker box, which holds chips to give food a smoky flavor. I use the pop-up rotisserie more than I maybe should, but I like the crispness and flavor of slowly roasted, rotating meat, which works in conjunction with the infrared broiler. Other niceties include a built-in grill light and an LP gas tank gauge.

The Summit arrived palletized from a freight carrier, so be aware that it’s not a simple delivery. I needed a hand truck to move it from the street to my backyard. If you’re not particularly handy with assembly, paying for the professional assembly may be worth your money. Putting the grill together isn’t a complicated process, but the grill’s size calls for three people to accomplish the first step: attaching the casters so you can roll the grill where it's needed. I assembled mine on my deck, three feet higher than the ground, and I had to get creative about getting the grill from the ground to the deck.  

The entire assembly process, which included figuring out how to get the grill onto my deck and removing packaging and protective coating, took about three and a half hours. The pictogram directions aren’t complicated, but they have some questionable illustrations. I found myself backtracking a few times to correct some pieces I installed backward and couldn’t move to the next step without correcting the issue.

When it’s not in use, the side burner’s lid flips down to make an ample side table, which, combined with the dedicated table at the other end, gives plenty of prep and tool space. The under-cabinet has ample room for storing tools and accessories. The sizable grilling area and five burners (not including the infrared broiler) allow for multiple cooking zones. I can slowly roast some carrots on one end, move them to a hotter zone to char them, and then move them to a skillet with butter and herbs without changing temperature settings or moving inside for the final steps. 

With this many features, the Genesis E-335 has me grilling much more frequently, and I find I don’t rely on my live-fire toys nearly as much. It’s opened a new window for quick-cooking meals in my home. 

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