Expert: John Langenfelder - 4/10/2010

Question
I am going to order a custom grill/smoker and I was asked if I would like a wire woven mesh material for the grate or expanded metal. My main concern is what is better and easier to cook on? The woven metal is very fancy looking, but is it ideal to cook on? Hope you can help, thanks James.

Answer
james,

Can you tell if the mesh is about the same weight as the expanded?  My concern is that the mesh might be lighter weight than the expanded. Depending on how much food and how much the food weighs that you will be cooking might be a concern. Mesh would be good for cooking a lot of small things like shrimp and veggies, less chance they would fall through than with expanded.  I would think that the mesh might be harder to clean than expanded. That is all I can think of.  If the mesh and expanded are the same weight, then I would probably just be concerned about how difficult the mesh would be to keep clean.