Charcoal Companion Ultimate Rectangular-Shaped Nonstick Grilling Basket

I wish I could give this a better review but whomever designed this is an idiot. The wires go in different directions from one side to the other. So example: If you are grilling asparagus and you attempt to flip the basket over the asparagus falls out between the wires when you flip it. Also it gets very hot which is understandable. But trying to place the handle into the small X on the basket is nearly impossible while trying not to burn the hell out of yourself over a grill. Then once your food is grilled, assuming it didn't fall through the wires, you now have the pleasure of trying to open said basket.This becomes challenging when hot, and also, when you do get basket to open it springs so hard that whatever you cooked WAS in the basket as it now just flew across the room and on the floor where the dog just grabbed it, because you were too busy running cold water on your fingers that are now blistering from trying to open the hot basket. I have used this basket three times. All three times the food in the basket either fell through the basket onto the grill or slid inside the basket since it is over an inch high. Did I also mention that this basket takes up almost half the grill. Very clunky and handle is hard to engage into slots to flip. Basket wires not the same direction on each side. I am disappointed in this purchase.

There are plusses and minuses to this design. The separate handle is excellent! It works well to flip the basket (middle--vertical slots) and can be easily used to carry the basket with the "top" angled slots--regardless of which side is up. The non-stick is still good after a few uses, though these tend to wear off quickly on other wire baskets. However, the basket design is where the tradeoffs come in. Certainly, this basket is not going to accidentally snap open as it shuts with a very positive click and is thin enough to hold a typical fish fillet without sliding. However, it only opens 90 degrees which makes loading tough even with two hands and trying to open and empty the basket while the food is still hot requires at least three hands and asbestos fingers, as the snap closure is hard to open with oven mitts and won't stay open without being held. This is a shame as with a little testing the design could be changed to open flat (180 degrees) and the closure could have had a larger handle to open more easily with standard oven mitts or pot holders. I would not buy this model again.

I use this basket almost exclusively for grilling fish on my Weber, and having a removable handle is a great feature, since it allows the lid to be fully closed while cooking (and the handle stays cool). The space between the surfaces is about 1 1/4 inches when closed, so it is not suitable for thicker pieces. It has been my experience, however, that cuts thicker than this do not require a basket, so I do not consider this a negative.But be aware that it is not non-stick. You must spray it liberally with oil or fish will stick, and cleaning is a real chore because of the wire construction.A more serious problem is the construction of the latch. After several months of use, it began to lose tension, and would spring open when the basket was flipped or carried by the handle. I was able to temporarily fix this by pushing the latching back to create more tension, but after about a year of use, it broke completely.It has flaws, but because of the convenience of use, I consider it worth the $20 cost, and have ordered another one. Maybe this one will last a little longer.

Hard to tell how something is made and works by seeing a small photo. I wanted something to grill small items like cut vegetables where I could close the grill top for more even cooking and smoke flavor and flip everything at once. Well, there seems to be 2 major problems. First, the wires do not form a tight grid for keeping smaller pieces from falling through, although that is what it looks like in the photo. Instead, they are pretty far apart (about 3/8 to 1/2 inch) and parallel--they only have 2 wires running crosswise at 90 degrees on each side. The grid look in the photo comes from the wires on the top and bottom running at 90 degrees to each other. SO LOTS OF STUFF FALLS THROUGH. Second, the handle requires a good grip and is in bad need of a locking device so you don't have to maintain the heavy grip on the basket when you flip and move it.This said, the basket would probably be good for hardy cuts of fish and thick burgers--(thin delicate fish might have an issue being flipped with the thickness (interior height) of the basket). For cut veggies, it is pretty useless. Forget asparagus, cut peppers, cut onions, etc.I returned it.

Chicken wings done over a two-level charcoal grill are the greatest but a big hassle flipping every wing individually. This basket will accept 20 large split wings. Start on the indirect grill side to render the fat then transfer to direct caramelize and set the next basket full of wings over the indirect. Two of these baskets fit perfect on a Primo XL Oval. After experimenting with two baskets I bought a third one to load while the two are grilling. Allows you to keep the grill lid closed so everything cooks quicker. With three baskets you can fix a pile of wings pretty quickly assembly line fashion. The handles should have be made of spring steel because the grip ends deform easily. Fixed that by using a pair of oven gloves instead of the handles. Would also be easier to unload if the basket halves opened 180-degrees instead of just past 90.

Not much use. Much too bulky. When closed the basket is too big. It doesnt grip the food. Flops all over the place when rotating.

Well made item. Works very well

Good size, easy to use, just waiting on the sun now to get BBQing!

The reason I bought this was I really liked the fact that you can detach the handle.The reason I returned this as soon as it arrived is that It is not practical. The depth of the basket is (by memory) approximately 1" to 1.5" and is not adjustable.So unless you want to grill something that is that thick, the item to grill will flop around when you flip the basket.

"Nonstick coating" is simple and very flammable paint; it has to burn off before use. Once burned, the steel rusts quickly. The lid will not stay open without flipping over the whole grill. Cheap as it goes.