If you grill for people other than yourself, it’s likely that you will need to adjust your cooking to suit different tastes. This is sometimes an arduous process, involving cutting marks into what you’re grilling, trying to cook different sizes and cuts at the same time, or even the dreaded “try to remember which ones are medium and which are medium well” that I frequently employ.
But now there’s a better way! Charmed Life Products, LLC sent me a review pack of Grill Charms (Available at http://www.grillcharms.com/).
Grill Charms – Product Description
The review unit I received was the “Steak Collection” and came with six charms (2 x Rare, 2 x Medium Rare, 1 x Medium Well, and 1 x Medium). Personally, I would have enjoyed having a different set of charms in the pack, maybe 1 x Rare, 2 x Medium Rare, 2 x Medium Well, and 1 x Medium, but that’s just personal preference in how I cook. There are individual units for sale on their website, so you can customize your charms for how you cook.
The charms themselves are light but sturdy, and have notches in them in order to stay planted in the meat as you move it around as during grilling.
Using the Grill Charms
I received the charms in the mail, right in the middle of one of the rainiest spells of the year here in NW Oklahoma. I tried to wait it out, but finally had to suck it up and grill under the protection of the garage. (Warning! Don’t grill in enclosed spaces. I placed my grill right inside the garage door and had proper ventilation and a fire extinguisher close by.)
Using the charms themselves was an easy process. Pick which ones you want to use and push them down into the meat. They stayed in place well as I cooked, but I did have one charm fall out as I was flipping one of the steaks. More would have fallen out if I hadn’t used my grill tongs to press them back into the meat as I was cooking.
Cleaning the charms was easy. A quick soak in some soapy water and they came out looking just as good as they did before I started.
Final Thoughts on Grill Charms
These charms aren’t exactly a life-altering grilling accessory, but they are very nice. From the manufacturer’s website, you can order many different styles, ranging from the no-nonsense labels to shoes and martini glasses. When cooking for a large group with varied tastes, these would be an excellent way to make sure everyone got their meal cooked like they enjoy it. For a smaller feast, these really aren’t essential, but they do have a very nice look and are simple and easy to use.
Pros
- Great looking
- Easy to use
- Stain resistant
- Great for organizing different levels of doneness
Cons
- The Charms Packs aren’t easily tailored to individual tastes
- The Charms can fall out of the food easily if you’re not careful
All in all, I think these are a great gift idea. I would encourage anyone that gets these for the SG in their lives (Significant Griller) to pick and choose the ones that they will find the most useful.
Happy Grilling!
