This compact portable gas grill makes TEC’s super moist, charbroil taste more affordable than ever! The new Cherokee FR is small and light enough to travel with you anywhere-on your next hunting or fishing trip, picnicking at the beach or tailgating with your family at the game. Now you can enjoy the same state-of-the-art infrared technology found in our full size residential and commercial grills in a high performance portable.
The Cherokee provides one-half the grilling surface of our full-size two burner models in a less expensive cabinet. Because it cooks with the speed of infrared energy and distributes heat evenly across the grilling surface you’ll find that this portable can cook more food than traditional convection style grills three and four times its size.
It is fueled with a 16.4 oz. disposable LP gas cylinder making it ideal for patio and balcony use in attached living areas where large gas tanks and charcoal are prohibited. However, the Cherokee can also be used with a 20 lb. LP gas tank (regulator sold separately) or converted to Natural Gas with a TEC Natural Gas conversion kit.
Technological Benefits of the Cherokee® FR
> 100% Infrared Grilling
TEC’s original ceramic infrared technology, introduced in the 1980’s, was a great improvement over conventional grilling. Conventional grills use convective burners that cook with hot air that dries out food. But TEC’s ceramic burners cooked with 50% infrared heat (and 50% hot air) so food retained more of its natural juices. This is because everything in nature, including food, has a moisture boundary that surrounds it, and infrared energy can penetrate food and cook it without disturbing this moisture boundary. Hot air cannot do this, and once it disturbs the moisture boundary, the food begins to dry out as it cooks. All other infrared grilling systems today use TEC’s original ceramic technology that cooks with 50% hot air, but TEC’s new FR Series grills employ patented 100% infrared cooking systems that cook food without using any hot air so food retains the maximum amount of moisture. As a result, moisture loss and food shrinkage are reduced by up to 30% – even well done meats remain tender and juicy.
> Uniform Distribution of Heat – No Hot or Cold Spots
Infrared heat is by nature non-uniform. TEC’s original ceramic burners, employed by other grill companies today, cannot distribute heat evenly and they produce a hot spot at the center of the burner. But TEC’s new all stainless burners have specially configured apertures that distribute heat evenly across the cooking grids. All other grills sold today, whether they are infrared or not, have hot and/or cold spots, but every square inch of cooking surface of the new TEC grills is available for grilling. You can cover the entire cooking grid area with steaks, chicken or hamburgers, and each piece will be cooked exactly the same.
> Enhanced Charbroil Flavor
An important part of TEC’s patented infrared technology is the radiant glass panels located between the burner and the cooking grids. These panels, like the glass designed for residential stovetops, are developed to withstand high temperatures. Although they keep the burners clean by protecting them from the debris and drippings associated with grilling, their major function is to produce an outdoor grilled flavor. The radiant glass works much like charcoal. When drippings from food touch the surface of the heated glass, they are incinerated, producing a smoky vapor that infuses food with a charbroil taste. Expensive marinades can be poured on food while grilling without wasting them because any excess that drips on the glass sizzles into steam that becomes part of the smoky vapor.
> Virtually Flare Proof
TEC’s FR (flame resistant) grills are virtually flare proof. The radiant glass panels are located above the burner flame, and the cooking grids rest directly on top of the glass panels. This close positioning eliminates the oxygen required for flare-ups. Normal amounts of grease that are produced from grilling the fatty, more flavorful parts of meat, as well as oils from marinades, do not cause flare-ups when they are incinerated by the glass panels because there is no oxygen to ignite a flame.
> Unprecedented Range of Cooking Intensity
Most people associate infrared grilling with high temperature searing. This is because TEC’s original ceramic burners have little turn down capability. They only run hot, and that’s a great thing. Other grill companies that use TEC’s original infrared ceramic technology typically build hybrid units – grills that employ ceramic burners on one side of the grill, usually called the “Sear Zone”, and convection style burners on the other side that cook at lower temperatures but use hot air that dries out food. TEC’s new grilling system is not only 100% infrared, it has an unprecedented range of cooking intensity that allows you to smoke a turkey on low fire (200 degrees F) and sear a steak on high (800 degrees F). It heats up quickly too – ready to be used within 7 minutes after lighting when the hood is closed.
> 100% Stainless Steel Burners
The ceramic burners used in other infrared grilling systems today are known to be fragile – susceptible to moisture damage and impact breakage. But TEC’s patented stainless steel infrared burners are ultra-tough and built to last. These burners have been cycled in laboratory testing for thousands of hours and have proven to be virtually indestructible.
> Fuel Efficient Green Grilling
TEC’s patent and patent pending burner systems are the most fuel-efficient burner systems ever developed for grilling. In fact, laboratory tests indicate that TEC’s grills are over 50% more energy efficient than traditional convection grills. And because the amount of harmful emissions produced by a burner is directly proportional to the amount of fuel the burner consumes, TEC grills also reduce emissions by 50% or more.
