Best Jumbuck Electric BBQs

Good electric BBQ for the price – Bought the Jumbuck Pulsar to replace an 4 burner gas BBQ that was overkill for a small family. Had previously tried a oval cast aluminium BBQ but it… Read more

just never got and stayed hot enough to complete the Maillard reaction.

The Pulsar instead has a shaped heating element that sits underneath, but separate from the hotplates. Even better, when it is turned up to maximum, it keeps pumping out the heat so you food stays on the sizzle. The cooking area is divided in two with an enamel hotplate and a pressed steel grill. Whilst the hotplate is able to heat up and stay hot, the steel grill seems to thin to capture enough heat to be effective. The only time it seems to be effective is when you are cooking fatty lamb chops and the fat drips onto the heating element to provide a bit of flame grilling action. I am considering ordering another enamel hotplate from the manufacturer to increase the cooking capacity in normal circumstances. Another oddity is that the way the element is shaped causes the back of the cooking area to get much hotter than the front. Useful if you need a 'keep warm' zone, but not much good if you are expecting to use the whole cooking area to actually cook. Cleanup after cooking is easy with the hotplate/grill being small enough to fit in a dishwasher.

The BBQ comes flat packed with a stand cabinet and side wings made out of black (power coated?) mild steel. The main cooker body and kettle lid is brushed stainless. It all feels a bit flimsy when putting it together, but once assembled it is sturdy enough and has a nice look about it.

The convenience of being electric means that you will never run out of gas half way through your BBQ, but be aware there is only so much heat that can come from a 2 kilowatt heating element (interestingly, when I put a metre on it, the consumption only ever just exceeded 1.8 kilowatt). Make sure you follow the directions and pre-heat on maximum for at least 10 minutes. Good for a 3 person family, but might struggle with more people to cook for or even when junior grows up into a hungry teenager.

The good: - Convenience of electricity - Easy to clean grill/hotplate in dishwasher - Looks good

The bad: - Steel grill is not effective in retaining heat