Were Vintage Grills Better?

 

Short answer: No.

Long answer: 

 I recently purchased the Woodland Brazier.  It markets itself, "FOR THE BEST IN BARBECUING" and features an ADJUSTABLE 3 position GRATE

 

It cost me $30 at an antique store, which I thought was a pretty good deal considering it has obviously never been used and still has the original packaging.

Rest assured, this is a collector's item and I will not use it myself... at least, not without taking extreme care to ensure that the charcoal does not damage the paint job. 

It is VERY basic. One could accomplish the same with with a stainless steel cookie sheet over a campfire. Or a few coals in a Cast Iron Skillet they don't mind ruining the seasoning on. Or a stainless steel pan they don't mind warping.

If you watch videos of how to grill from the 1950s-1960s, the instructions explain that the griller has to constantly baste the meat. Because if they don't, it will burn, being so close to the coals.

Probably the neatest, most "advanced" feature on the Brazier is the 3-position grate system. This allows for cooking over the coals in roughly 1" increments, allowing for close direct heat, medium direct heat, and far direct heat. (I'll be doing a post later on as for why controlling direct heat is important.) But aside from that, the Brazier has almost no features of convenience.

 

There is no charcoal rack, which would allow for better airflow under the charcoal. 

There are no vents, which allows for better airflow into the charcoal and over the food, and ideally out a lid vent.

But this has no lid, which would allow for smoking and indirect cooking. 

I have an $8 clearance grill from Target that has all of these things. 

 It also has a carrying handle, foldable legs, and a sturdier grate. 

The grate on the Woodland Brazier is a single coiled piece of metal spot-welded to a second, bent piece of metal. 

In nearly every respect the $8 Grill Smith [MADE IN CHINA] is a superior grill. 

But there's something about the Woodland Brazier that harkens back to a simpler, happier, more optimistic time. It was made in New Rochelle, a suburb of New York City. Its bright colors show an optimistic post-war mentality. The future was bright and fun. 

From a historical, I find this grill interesting. For literally millions of years, people have been cooking over fire. People have been cooking over fire since before they were people. Pre-human proto-hominids were cooking before Homo Sapiens even evolved. At every point in history, people were cooking over fire, all over the world, in every civilization, daily. Ancient Egyptions, Ancient Romans, Ancient Mesopotamians, Ancient Native Americans, Ancient Chinese, Medieveal Peasants, during the Renaissance, and before the Industrial Revolution, people were cooking over fire everywhere all the time. Grilling and smoking wasn't special, it was just "cooking." It wasn't until the Industrial Revolution and the invention of the gas oven and the electric oven that people forgot how to cook with fire. It wasn't until around 1900 that, suddenly, Grilling and Smoking became primitive and old-fashioned. It wasn't for another 40-50 years that it was then re-discovered as a unique, special outdoor thing practiced by only enthusiasts. And what did these enthusiasts, these consumers, these New York City dwellers do? They had to buy a product to cook over fire, they had to buy a product to do what humans had been doing for nearly a million years. 

And the Woodland Brazier wasn't unique, there are a lot of "grills" that are extremely basic and do little more than hold a grate over some coals. The most advanced ones included a rotisserie. 

But the best grills in the 1950s had lids, vents, and allowed for precise temperature control. Those better products still survive to today, those brands like Weber and PK Grills, mostly unchanged from the original.