Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet Glossary of Outdoor Cooking Terms and Grilling Techniques

304 Stainless Steel
304 stainless steel is also known as food-grade stainless steel. It is highly resistant to corrosion and bacteria. All of our grills are fabricated from 304 stainless steel.

Bow-tie Burner
See Dragon Burner

Bread Breaker
Bread Breaker is the old name for our largest grill models, and are among the largest grills available anywhere. All Bread Breaker grills are now called the Kalamazoo 900 Series.

Built-In Grills
Generally, any grill designed for inclusion in a masonry, stucco or other structure outdoors. Most built-in grills require an enclosure that they are dropped into, but Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet built-in grills stand on their own leveling legs and include cabinetry. We do this to reap the performance benefits of a deep hopper design, but it also makes our built-in grills easier to design for, install and maintain.
Learn more about our built-in grill designs.
See also Deep Hopper Design.

Configurable Grilling Surfaces
See Laser-Cut Grilling Surfaces

Deep Hopper Design
A deep hopper design is a grill firebox that is funnel-shaped, with a drip tray at the bottom of the funnel for clean out. The benefits of our deep hopper design include: burners that are further from the cooking surface for better heat characteristics; more dynamic heat distribution and circulation when using indirect cooking techniques; and much easier cleaning than there would be with a large, flat drip tray across the entire grill.
Because of our deep hopper design, none of our grills, including our built-in models, are anything like the drop-in grill heads that are common to most of the stainless steel grills on the market.

Dragon Burner

The Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet Dragon Burner is the only cast stainless steel bow-tie burner available. Many chefs agree the heat characteristics of a bow-tie burner surpass the performance of linear or pipe burners. By casting our burners in 304 stainless steel, we not only guarantee performance, but we also guarantee they will last a lifetime.

Dual-Fuel Gourmet Grilling Drawer System
A Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet exclusive feature allowing you to grill with charcoal, hardwood and gas on one grill. The drawers insert above the burner, so you can use the burners to start or boost the power of solid fuel in the "charcoal" drawer. The "gas" drawer is lined with ceramic heat retention briquettes for when you want to use the main burners without charcoal or hardwood.

Dual-Fuel Grilling Drawers

Dual-Fuel grills come with pairs of drawers. One "gas" drawer and one "charcoal" drawer. With its side-by side drawer configuration, a 900 Series Hybrid Grill includes two pairs of drawers. A 450 Series Hybrid Grill includes one pair of drawers.
Learn more about our Dual-Fuel Gourmet Grilling Drawer System.

Free-Standing Grills
A free-standing grill is not portable, but can be easily repositioned. With the exception of the Sculpture Series, all of our free-standing grills are on heavy-duty industrial casters for ease of movement and a lifetime of durable service. Many high-end stainless steel free-standing grills are a grill head dropped into an optional cart. Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet free-standing grills are one solid unit with a welded frame for superior durability and rock-solid performance.

Hardwood Grilling
One of the most flavorful ways to grill is directly over an open hardwood flame, using hardwood limbs or chunks. Hardwood grilling can be done on our Sculpture Charcoal grill or any of our Dual-Fuel models.
Learn more about Kalamazoo Grilling & Smoking Hardwoods

Hopper
See Deep Hopper Design

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Hybrid Grilling
Grilling with a combination of gas and charcoal or hardwood.
See Dual-Fuel Gourmet Grilling Drawer System.

Indirect Cooking or Indirect Grilling
Indirect cooking on a grill is used primarily for ribs, roasts, especially thick cuts of meat, and other situations where longer cooking times are involved. The food is placed on a part of the grill that is not directly above a flame/heat source. The simplest indirect cooking is done with one half of the grill on and the other half off. The food is on the half that is off. Indirect cooking is done with the grill hood closed, and can be done with gas, charcoal or hardwood, with or without smoke.

Learn more about indirect cooking in our techniques section.

Infrared Burners
Infrared burners are gas burners made of ceramic. With thousands of small gas ports, infrared burners produce intense heat with an even flame across the entire surface of the burner. Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet uses infrared rotisserie burners and searing burners on models that include those features.

Laser-Cut Grilling Surfaces
Laser-cut grilling surfaces are available for all grill models. The surface is cut out of solid sheets of stainless steel. Four patterns are available for you to specify in your preferred combination of meat, fish, vegetable and solid/hibachi grilling surfaces. You can also order your laser-cut surfaces personalized with your initials, logo or other artwork.

Learn more about custom cooking surfaces.

Liquid Propane
All Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet gas grills can be ordered for use with natural gas, 20 pound liquid propane tanks or bulk liquid propane supplies. Most liquid propane grills use the standard 20 pound tanks, but bulk liquid propane tanks are common in some parts of the country. If you have a bulk liquid propane fuel source, please understand this requires a different grill configuration than a standard liquid propane grill. Please specify what you need. Each of the three fuel sources has unique requirements. If you don't know what you need, just ask us.

Modular Outdoor Kitchen System
Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet's modular outdoor kitchen system is built to NEMA 4 standards entirely of stainless steel. Modules can be combined into a wide variety of outdoor kitchen designs to suit your needs. Learn more about our Custom Outdoor Kitchens.
See also NEMA 4 Enclosure.
See also Outdoor Kitchens.

Natural Gas
All Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet gas grills can be ordered for use with natural gas, 20 pound liquid propane tanks or bulk liquid propane supplies. Each requires its own unique configuration, so please specify what you need, and if you don't know, just ask us.

NEMA 4 Enclosure
The National Electrical Manufacturer's Association standard for outdoor enclosures for electrical equipment up to 1,000 volts. Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet engineers and builds our outdoor kitchen modules to this standard for dust and water resistance. See also Modular Outdoor Kitchen System.

Outdoor Kitchens
Outdoor kitchens are becoming very popular as people look to enhance their lifestyle with outdoor living spaces. Outdoor kitchens can be designed to have all the capabilities of your indoor kitchen, or they can extend the kitchen outdoors. Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet built-in grills can be used in almost any outdoor kitchen design, or you can develop a kitchen entirely from our Custom Outdoor Kitchen modules.
Learn more about our Custom Outdoor Kitchens.
See also Modular Outdoor Kitchen System.

Rotisserie
Rotisserie cooking involves rotating food on a spit over or next to the heat source. Rotisserie cooking can cause meats to self-baste in their own juices. All Kalamazoo 450 and 900 Series Grills include a rotisserie system with infrared burners and AC-powered electric motors.

Sculpture
According to Merriam-Webster: "A three-dimensional work of art."
According to Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet: "A functional three-dimensional work of art, with the room to grill 20 chicken breasts.
Learn more about the Sculpture Series.

Searing
Using very high heat, over 800 degrees, to lock in the juices on a variety of meats on the grill. Searing can be done for just a short time on each side of the meat, with the rest of the cooking done at lower temperatures, or the entire cooking process can be done with the high heat. Searing is normally done with the hood open.

Learn more about searing in our techniques section.

Side-Mounted Smoker Box
Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet's traditional, side-mounted smoker box is an "offset" smoker and grill. A stainless steel box is mounted to the side of the grill, with two "chimneys." One chimney flows into the main grill chamber, and the other vents to the back of the grill. There are baffles on each chimney to control the amount of smoke entering the grill chamber. By closing both baffles, the fire in the smoker box is snuffed, creating more smoke than a burning fire.

Learn more about using our smoker.

Learn more about smoking techniques.

Smoker Box
See Side-Mounted Smoker Box

Smoking
Smoking techniques can be used to impart flavor and/or cook foods on the grill. The smoke can be purely a flavor enhancer, with another heat source used to cook the food, or you can cook the foods with the smoking fire as the primary heat source. Smoking can be done with our traditional, side-mounted smoker box or with a smoking tray.

Learn more about smoking in our techniques section.

Smoking Drawer or Smoking Tray
A small drawer above one of the main burners in a number of our grills is used for adding smoke flavor to gas grilling. Wet and/or dry wood chips are put in the drawer. Not to be confused with our Dual-Fuel Gourmet Grilling Drawer System.

Techniques & Glossary

Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet Glossary