Char-broil Gas2coal SE 4

What’s the story?

Char-broil pretty much carved out the hybrid barbecue category. This new special edition, a John Lewis exclusive, has an extra sear burner on the left-hand side instead of a gas ring. It cooks at up to 900°C for top flavour and perfect griddle marks.

The whole main grill is convertible: there are four gas burners but you can swap in one or both stainless steel charcoal trays, letting you cook both ways at once. You can also pop a cast iron griddle over any one burner for more delicate cooking with no gaps.

Is it any good?

Assembly was slow but OK. The manual made sense with one exception: linking the gas to the sear burner was a real squeeze.

Versatility is key here, with the welcome option of using two gas and two charcoal burners at the same time. The instructions say to use 15mins of gas

(lid down) to light the coals, then turn off the gas and leave for another 5mins (lid up) until the coals go white. Be warned, this is nowhere near long enough.

Lighting the gas is tricky, because the push-button lighter is only present on the second-left burner.

So if you want to light, say, the fourth (without a match), you need to light two, which lights three, which lights four, and then turn two and three off. That’s daft.

The results on the main grill and griddle were good, though. Slow and steady, nothing was overcooked and the warming rack proved handy. Meanwhile the sear burner was great: hot and fast, so food was charred but still juicy.

The Char-broil quietly does a good job, and cleanup is a breeze: you could use this one regularly with minimal effort.

£780 / go.stuff.tv/g2c4

Key specs

● 4 gas burners, 1 gas sear burner ● 85x44cm main cooking area

● 155x117x61cm, 49.5kg

STUFF SAYS A straightforward BBQ that does the dual-fuel thing well ★★★★✩