Thursday, June 30, 2016

Camerons Open-Fire Pit Grill Review and Great Pit Grilling Tips for the 4th of July!



I received the Camerons Open-Fire Pit Grill free to facilitate this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.


10 Great Pit Grilling Tips...
  1. Check to make sure fire pits are permitted wherever you are before starting a fire.
  2. Make sure the fire is properly enclosed by rocks, bricks or other flame-resistant material.
  3. Use only dry, seasoned wood for cooking over a fire pit. Green wood will not burn well and produces too much smoke. Dead wood is better for a clean-burning, high-temperature fire. Using charcoal briquettes for your grill’s heat? Then light the coals about 30 minutes before cooking.
  4. Want a great grill that is portable to take with you camping, fishing, etc., get Camerons Open-Fire Pit Grill!
  5. Keep a bucket of water nearby in case you need to put out the fire. Have a spray bottle full of water nearby your grill in cause of flare-ups.
  6. Wash everything after handling raw meat, and don’t reuse the plate that you used for uncooked meat.
  7. Experiment with different types of marinades, seasonings and rubs to give your food extra flavor. Marinade meat overnight for best results.
  8. Use a spatula or tongs to move and flip your food. Keep high-heat resistant oven mitts or grilling gloves nearby to use if needed.
  9. Before, in between and after cooking keep your grill grate clean with a long handled stiff wire brush.
  10. Distinguish the fire when you are done with it. Use a small shovel to to stir/breakup the wood, coal and ash. Then sprinkle with water and continue to do this until no more steam rises and you hear no hissing steam. Let it sit for a good 10 minutes and "feel" (get close to the ash and coal, but not touching it) if there is any more heat coming from the fire with the back of your hand. If there is still some sprinkle with more water.

About the Camerons Open-Fire Pit Grill:
  • Great for camping, beach parties, fire pits, open fires, camp fires, outdoor activities, etc.
  • Extra-large 17 ¾” round non-stick grilling area with adjustable height. No tools required.
  • Nonstick Stainless Steel grilling surface.
  • Holds up to 12 lbs. of food and specially designed arm allows grate to stay firm when loaded.
  • Product can easily swing away from the fire to load or unload food.
  • Easy to clean, dishwasher safe.
  • Easy to store, portable, and comes with a convenient carrying bag.
  • MSRP: $39.99

Camerons Open-Fire Pit Grill used with a fire pit.

My Thoughts:
The Camerons Open-Fire Pit Grill is a very handy lightweight, portable grill. I love that it has a bag to carry it with the gear to a campsite and since it doesn't weigh much it is perfect for taking backpacking. The assemblage of the whole thing is very straightforward. The post/pole comes in two pieces and screws together. I love that is is so adjustable and swings away from the fire so you can build the fire or load and unload food easier.

We noticed a few different things when using the Camerons Open-Fire Pit Grill. It is made in China. We found that you will need a set of high-heat resistant oven mitts or grilling gloves to use because the screw mechanism to adjust it gets super hot sitting over the fire and you might need to adjust it more than once. You will also need some for swinging it away from the fire. Tongs also work great for this. The grill's post that is used to secure it in the ground will need pounded into the ground pointy end down by a good size rock or mallet. This post had a black coating that was flaking off when we received it. The grate does warp and get blackened a little while over the fire holding the food. The blackening is just smoke and will come off with a good washing. Since it does have only one post on one side of the grate, it does tend to shift and is not level when loaded with food to grill. Foods like corn on the cob or potatoes like to roll off if not positioned well on the grill surface.

I decided that I wanted to first use this on our farm over my fire pit to see how it performed before we took it camping. We made corn on the cob, bratwursts, and toast on it. If you have aluminum foil on hand you can also bake potatoes and fish, make S'mores, etc. It is super simple to clean even without a dishwasher and the nonstick grilling surface makes it wonderful to grill with without having food stuck to the grate; however we did try to grill a S'more straight on the grilling surface and it wouldn't come off until scraped with our grill brush, so better to use foil for some things, I guess. It did very well with most everything we grilled on it though and the smokey flavor was a wonderful departure from our traditional propane powered grill. 

BUY IT
This is an awesome portable grill for the 4th of July!



DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I received these products for free to facilitate this review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

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