At the Architectural Digest Home Design Show Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet introduced its new Gaucho Grill. Making authentic Argentinian/Santa Maria-style outdoor cooking easier, the grill features a gas-powered starter burner to light a wood or charcoal fire. Its cooking-surface cradle carries interchangeable grills grates cut specifically for meat, fish or vegetables. The cradle also houses a rotisserie. And a Deep Hopper funnel under the burner moves away ash and creates a chimney effect for better heat flow.
Combined, these features turn the Argentinian/Santa Maria grilling on its head. Argentinian- or Santa Maria-style grilling is a traditional and pure way to cook outdoors. It regulates temperatures by raising or lowering a cooking surface over the flames of wood or charcoal fire. "It's almost as if we can't help ourselves. We see a perfectly good grill style and we are compelled to make changes to it," says Russ Faulk, vice president of design for Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet. "It's just in our DNA to question everything and then make something that works better than the original design. We think we accomplished that with the Gaucho Grill."
Kalamazoo's Gaucho burner makes starting a cooking fire easier. Just pile wood or charcoal onto the fuel grates, light the burner and come back as the fire is roaring. There's no longer a need to use kindling or chimney starters.
The Gaucho breaks another design rule. Its Deep Hopper funnel under the fuel grates and burner eliminates the need to shovel ash out of a traditional fire pan. As wood or charcoal burns, its debris falls through the grates, past the burner, down the funnel and into a sturdy clean-out bin. Shielding over the burner prevents clogging from falling ash.
The most noticeable feature of the Gaucho is its massive 36-inch spoked stainless steel wheel. Supported on a 30-inch-tall bridge, the wheel raises and lowers the cooking-surface cradle. For high temperature searing, place the cooking surfaces level with the grill frame. Raise the cradle up to 18 inches above the fire for slow, low-temperature cooking. Converting the Gaucho to rotisserie cooking is easy. Just remove the cooking surfaces and insert the roasting spit into a built-in motor. The grill's interchangeable cooking surfaces are laser cut from quarter-inch thick slabs of stainless steel. The vegetable grate has openings small enough to prevent green beans from falling through and into the fire. The fish surface, with thin half-moon openings, is designed to prevent drying out, breaking up and flaking.
Hand built at the time of order in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the Gaucho Grill is available in two freestanding models and a built-in version. Pricing ranges from $17,495 to $21,195. The grill will be available to order in late May. It can be purchased through kalamazoogourmet.com, select dealerships and certified design professionals.
