Grilling season doesn't end when summer does. At our house, the grill stays busy right through the crisp fall evenings, when the light goes early, the leaves crunch underfoot, and the whole yard smells like sizzling burgers and someone's fire pit two doors down (yes, we are still THAT neighbor in October! And, to be honest, even in a blizzard in January).
So when Monument Grills read our article on turning any grill into a smoker and reached out about reviewing their flagship Eminence 605 gas grill, we said yes faster than you can say "who's bringing the buns?"
This grill is INCREDIBLE.
We've grilled on it twice so far, and it has already changed how we think about a weeknight cookout. It heats up fast, it holds its temperature like a champ, and it has a few clever features that solve problems every griller knows too well (running out of propane mid-burger, anyone? The plight of any propane griller, anywhere, anytime. Except me, now. YAHOO!).
First cook on the Eminence 605 (aka, let's see what this thing can do): burgers and grilled romaine. Second cook: homemade sausages and a whole slew of veggies. Both: YUM.
Meet our new favorite grill!
Here's our review, interspersed with photos of everything we've grilled so far.
Fast heat, and a gas grill that holds its temperature (even with the lid open!)
The Eminence 605 runs on six main burners putting out 66,000 BTUs, plus a rear infrared burner for the rotisserie and a separate infrared sear station on the side. Monument says it reaches 800°F in about ten minutes with the lid closed (that's their laboratory number, and they're upfront that real-world results vary with conditions).
Our real-world result? It heats up VERY fast. I was surprised at first, and now take it for granted: The grill was at temp within 3-5 minutes!!. This counts for your prep time - I'm used to starting the grill, and then going to get the items ready. My new tip for this super fast grill heating: get all your ingredients ready beforehand! You'll thank me.
The grill holds its temperature when you open the lid, and that made us both stop and stare. Anyone who has lifted a lid to flip burgers and watched the temp drop knows the drill: you flip, you close, you wait for the heat to climb back. On the Eminence, we opened it, flipped, looked at the digital display, and the temperature barely budged. That's amazing! It means more even cooking and a lot less standing around with a spatula, waiting.
The main cooking grates are thick 7mm stainless steel, and they leave beautiful, deep grill marks. There's a generous 640 square inches of primary cooking space, plus a 220-square-inch warming rack above (Monument says you can fit 35 burgers at once, which is a LOT of burgers).
Those grill marks, though!
The smart features: lighted knobs, a propane scale, and a screen you can actually read
The lighted knobs are SO much fun. In temperature mode, each knob glows a different color as the grill heats, from blue below 200°F up through cyan, green, yellow and orange, to red above 600°F. Monument calls orange (500 to 600°F) the sweet spot for grilling, so you can glance over from the patio table and know exactly where things stand. Tap the light button again and the knobs cycle through one color; tap a third time and they dance through more than ten colors in rainbow mode (our grill has never been so festive!).
On a fall evening, when it's dark by dinnertime, those glowing knobs are genuinely useful. You can see what you're doing without a flashlight clamped between your teeth. And, you can have an impromptu dance party with your grill as lightshow.
Disco grill!
The propane tank scale might be my favorite feature of all. A built-in weight sensor shows how much propane is left, right on the screen. How many times have we run out of propane halfway through dinner, with half-cooked chicken and a cranky, hungry family? Too many to count. No more guessing, no more tank-shaking, no more emergency runs to the hardware store.
The LED touch display shows the grill temperature, the probe temperatures, a timer, the lighting modes, and the tank level, and it's easy to read even in bright daylight. The digital touchscreen allows you to have maximum control over the temperature, down to the very last degree. Keep in mind what you'd like your highest temp to be at, and adjust the knobs accordingly.
We also really liked the two meat probes that come with the grill. Plug them in, and their readings show up right on the display. There's a Bluetooth app, too, which Monument says connects from up to 65 feet away, so you can check your temperatures from the kitchen (this is especially useful in the depths of winter). We have never had such beautifully cooked burgers as the ones we made the second time we grilled burgers on the Eminence 605 - those probes make guessing an archaic task.
One thing nobody told us: plug it in!
I hadn't read anywhere that the Eminence 605 needs to be plugged in, but it does. The grill comes with a power adapter, and that power runs the digital screen, the temperature readings, the rotisserie, the propane tank scale, and the lights.
So before you choose where your grill will be located, plan for an outdoor outlet nearby, or pick up an outdoor-rated extension cord. This is a small thing, but it's the kind of small thing you want to know before you've wheeled a 175-pound grill into the perfect corner of the patio.
Love smoking your meat?
Create a small foil boat (or use a stainless pellet box) and put your wood pellets in, to make a temporary smoker out of this grill (see our tips here!). Place it atop the grates. Keep the lid closed, of course.
What we grilled on the Eminence 605
Burgers and romaine came first, because if a grill can't make a great burger, what are we even doing here? The burgers came off juicy and beautifully charred. What you don't see in this pic? That we were so impressed, we took a break and then grilled another because they were THAT GOOD and there's nothing Ed loves more than a burger. Add lettuce, pickles, onions, tomatoes, mayo, mustard, and ketchup for Ed, and we were so satisfied.
If you've never grilled romaine, please try it this fall. Halve the heads lengthwise, brush the cut sides with a little olive oil, and give them a minute or two over high heat. The edges go smoky and wilted while the heart stays crisp and cool. I love to dress it with Caesar and parmesan, or ranch and sunflower seeds. Let your creativity go wild!
Salad, but make it smoky
Round two was homemade hot sausages, a few grillers for those of us that are zero-flame people, and a slew of veggies. We'd just gotten buttercup squash, purple cauliflower, and zucchini at a local farmstand, with this meal in mind. With six burners and all that grate space, there was room for everything at once, so dinner arrived on the table hot, all together, with nobody waiting on a second batch (hooray!).
So. Many. Veggies.
Those burgers, though, made a MESS (my brother would have something to say about that).
Grilled squash, which does NOT make a mess
Gas grill maintenance and safety tips from my firefighter brother
My brother is a firefighter, and he has strong opinions about grease (with good reason). He shared two tips that made cleanup so much easier and a truly important safety tip:
Put the stainless grates in the dishwasher. Yes, really! This was a game changer for us. No more scrubbing burnt bits off the grates with a wire brush on the back step (see also: safety tip two paragraphs down). Let them cool, pop them in, and they come out shining. They are easy to remove, and fit into our dishwasher bottom rack easily.
Line the grease tray with foil. The grease tray slides out from the back of the fully enclosed cabinet. Line it with a sheet of aluminum foil before you cook, and when it's time to clean up, just lift out the foil, fold it over, and toss it. After those burgers, we were VERY glad we'd done this.
Tip: Empty or change the grease tray liner regularly. Built-up grease is a fire risk, and my brother would want me to tell you that.
You can see the burger mess. The sausages did not care.
Avoid grill brushes with metal bristles. They break off and can go right into your skin (I once had about a hundred in my hand from cleaning the grates with it, and it took months for them to work their way out. So, so painful!), and stray bristles can stick to the grates and end up in your food (my brother's colleague truly had a long-lasting medical emergency from accidentally ingesting those metal bristles).
There's also a built-in trash bin in the cabinet, which is handy for foil, paper towels, and the stray corn husk. Remember to keep those things cleared out after each use.
What we haven't tried yet
We haven't fired up the infrared side sear station or the included rotisserie yet. The sear station runs separately from the main burners, so you can sear steaks while the rest of dinner cooks, and the rotisserie has its own rear infrared burner for roasting. A rotisserie chicken on a chilly November evening sounds pretty perfect to me. Stay tuned!
What to cook on the Eminence 605 (and how to use it)
A quick guide, from our first few cooks and what we're planning next:
Burgers: main burners on high, knobs glowing orange. The temperature holds when you flip, so you'll get even cooking from edge to edge. Because the heat is so stable, quick add your cheese the minute you flip the burger. We didn't know, and my first cheeseburger did not feature truly melty cheese (alas).
Sausages: medium heat on the main burners, with a meat probe in the thickest one so you know exactly when they're done.
Romaine and other quick veggies: high heat, short time, cut side down. Use the upper warming rack to keep finished veggies hot while the rest cooks.
Big crowd: all six burners. That 640 square inches of grate space is made for feeding everybody at once. Reunion, anyone? Yes, please!
Steak: the infrared sear station (we'll report back!).
Whole chicken: the rotisserie and rear infrared burner, lid closed, probe in.
Our favorite discovery so far
The temperature hold is the feature we keep talking about. The lights are fun and the propane scale is a lifesaver, but a grill that stays hot when you open it is what makes the food better. We'll be grilling on this one all year long.
Dinner is served!
Monument Grills Eminence 605 details
Price: $1,349 for the grill with a free rotisserie kit and cover; $1,419 with the natural gas conversion kit; $1,667 for the Ultimate Bundle (cover, rotisserie, tool set, smoker box, cooking plate combo and rack).
Power: six main burners (66,000 BTUs), plus a rear infrared rotisserie burner and an infrared side sear station, for 89,000 BTUs in total.
Cooking space: 860 square inches (640 primary, 220 warming rack).
Fuel: propane, or natural gas with a conversion kit, sold separately.
Included: rotisserie kit, two meat probes, aluminum drip pan and grease tray.
Size and weight: 63.4 x 24.4 x 47.9 inches, 175 pounds.
Warranty: 10-year limited warranty.
Assembly: required. Monument offers professional assembly for $210 at checkout, and assembly videos and manuals are on their support page. I will be honest: Ed and I are not assembly geniuses. What we learned from Monument's included directions book and the assembly video on the website rings true: get every piece laid out in advance, and go step-by-step. It took us longer than we thought, but we are so proud of our new baby!
Learn more and shop at Monument Grills.
What's on your grill this fall?
More from Wandering Educators on grilling and outdoor cooking
Turn Any Grill Into a Smoker: Summer Grilling Tips
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Jessie Voigts, PhD, is the founder and publisher of Wandering Educators. She absolutely adores cooking outside, whether it's at home, up at the cottage, on a beach, over an open fire, or at far-flung locales with fresh, local food.
Note: We received the Monument Grills Eminence 605 for review purposes. All opinions are our own.
All photos courtesy and copyright Wandering Educators