New Weber broken in

Bought a new Weber today.

Bought my first one, the "one-touch" kind whose only technological advancement on the original Weber kettle was a thing for sweeping out the ashes, when I first moved here some 18 years ago. Soon after I was actually working on the Weber account at an ad agency, where I learned that Weber nearly went bankrupt a few years earlier because they reached a point where everyone had one and since if you take good care of them they last 20+ years and and even if you don't, like me, they last 19 years, they suddenly stopped having anyone to sell to. Only a quick move into fancy schmancy gas grills (where you could add new features every year and keep jacking up the prices, like Detroit in the 50s) saved them.

So, anyway, 18 years passed, it went from black to gray, the wooden handles rotted off from snow and rain, one of the legs got kind of rickety and you were advised not to pick it up, but as far as cooking goes it kept plugging away just fine. Still, they were $89 at Home Depot for the mega 22-inch one, and so I thought, what the hell, every other decade I should treat myself to a new Weber and help keep them in business. I deserve it; so do they, for one of the great intuitive American inventions, right up there with the paper clip and the flyswatter (invented by Dr. Samuel Crumbine of the Kansas Board of Health, by the way). Sum total of the design differences between my old one and my new one, apart from the extra 4": weatherproof plastic handles.

And a great American invention deserves a great American meal to inaugurate it. Ribeye, on special at Whole Foods (Paulina being closed by the time I got around to thinking about this); prosciutto-wrapped asparagus; creamed spinach (not cooked on the grill); hickory smoke, likewise from a Weber-branded bag of wood chunks; and Beringer Knights Valley cabernet, 1999:



Thank you, Mr. George Stephen, formerly of the Weber-Stephen company, now at the great cookout in the sky.

Congrats on the new grill. The inaugural meal looks good.

I'm a long-time Weber-phile having grown up with a kettle.

I currently have a Genesis 2000 (similar to Silver B), a 22-inch One-Touch Gold kettle, a Smokey Joe, and 2 WSMs. Now to just make sure I plan the new patio with enough space for them all.

You're right, they're built to last a long time, even if left out in the elements year-round. Now that they've replaced the wood handles and tables with plastic, those parts should last even longer.

Mike G wrote:Bought a new Weber today.

Mazel tov.

Nice looking inaugural meal, the prosciutto-wrapped asparagus look especially tasty and may make it on to my dinner table this evening.

19 years is a nice run for a Weber kettle, I only got 15, leaving it outside, on my last one.

Enjoy,
Gary