Ñuke Delta Argentinian Style Grill Review

The Ñuke Delta Grill is an Argentine style grill that perfectly combines modern style and functionality with the centuries-old grilling techniques that hail from the Argentinian prairies.

If you are serious about your grilling and outdoor dining experiences then this is a grill that needs to be on your radar.

It is one of the market-leading grills that allow you to get really involved in your grilling and perfect your technique over time.

If you are interested in getting stuck in when you are cooking outside rather than simply placing your meat on a hot plate griddle like a chef, this is the grill for you.

In this article, we will be reviewing the Ñuke BBQ brand and Delta Grill in all its glory. Read on to find out why this grill is the answer to all of your outdoor living dreams.

A Closer Look At The Ñuke Delta Grill

Construction

One of the most impressive things about the Ñuke Delta grill is the quality of its construction.

The main frame of the grill is made from medium-gauge painted steel which is adequately tough and resilient enough to withstand even the harshest cooking treatment and highest temperatures.

The entirety of the fire pit area is lined with refractory bricks which are specifically designed to withstand extremely high temperatures while insulating the pit to keep the heat inside and directed to the food rather than heating your legs up while you cook.

Within the main compartment of the grill, there is also a firebox measuring 8” x 15”. The firebox also features a sliding cradle made from heavy-duty steel that can facilitate wood splits.

The cradle is constructed of thick, wide bars that are designed to assist the lighting process of wood logs.

The cradle is completely removable which makes it very easy to clean when necessary, removing the cradle also allows for lighting charcoal briquets.

There is an additional carbon steel griddle that is supplied that can be slid over the top of the cradle to allow users to sear vegetables and other ingredients.

You can also set a skillet or wok on top of the griddle to facilitate an even wider array of outdoor cooking.

Next to the firebox area of the grill, there are grill grates that are fully height-adjustable.

There are five different positions for you to choose from, ranging from 7-inches from the base of the firepit at its highest point to around 3.75-inches from the bottom at its lowest.

The height of the grate is easy to adjust, adopting a simple crank arm and thumb-lock system that is located on the left side of the grill.

While the 5 levels of the grate may not seem that different in terms of height, the difference that a couple of inches makes to how your food cooks is significant.

Assembly

The Ñuke Delta grill can be shipped across significant distances around the country and therefore, cannot be distributed ready-built. As a result of this, there is some assembly required when you receive your grill.

Despite the long distances that the grill travels to get to you, the company does a great job of packaging it to ensure that it arrives to you with very minimal transit damage, any marks from transit tend to be purely cosmetic and easily hidden if they occur.

The net weight of the grill with the cart is 265lbs which is hefty and therefore you will need to recruit a friend or family member to help you assemble this grill up to a certain point.

Once the grill has been successfully placed on the cart all you will need to finish assembling the appliance is a socket wrench, some pliers, and a file to just neaten up some edges and remove any sharp areas or splinters.

There are some aspects of the Ñuke Delta grill such as the thermometer and the ember protector may or may not come pre-installed.

If yours is delivered without these features installed, the instructions cover their easy installation which generally involves simply screwing them into place. If yours is delivered with these already installed, that is a bonus.

One of the downsides of this grill that you will notice during assembly is that the casters do not lock, therefore the grill can roll around easily.

It is important to either ensure that the grill is placed on an even surface, or that you find or create something to act as chocks for the wheels. It is also possible to purchase your own casters that are able to be locked.

Ignition And Fuel

The Ñuke Delta grill is designed to be used with wood logs, although, as mentioned above, it is also possible to use coal briquettes. Briquets are much harder to control in terms of adjusting the heat that they give off.

Lighting wood logs in the Ñuke Delta grill is much like lighting a fire in a fireplace or a firepit. Simply place your logs in the firebox cradle, along with some kindling and a firestarter at the bottom.

Light the firestarter that is in the bottom of the cradle and allow the fire to do its work. This is the most optimal way to burn the fuel quickly and allows you to start cooking on the grill as soon as possible.

The firebox is quite long and sometimes logs need to be adjusted to encourage them to burn properly and completely, for this you will need to invest in some long fire tongs or other fireplace tools to help keep the fire going.

Heat Control

Controlling the heat in the Ñuke Delta grill is easy and relies completely on the placement of the embers. Once your fire has been burning for a little while, embers will begin to drop down through the gaps in the cradle.

Once they do this, you can spread them across the base of the firepit in the grill. If you want low heat, you can spread them thinly across the base, for higher heat you can build them up by burning more fuel in the cradle.

To create an even temperature throughout the grill, you should make sure that you spread them as evenly as possible.

However, if you want different temperatures in different areas of the grill, you can build up a bank of embers that provides a higher level of heat near the grate and leave a thinner layer of embers that provides a lower level of heat over the rest of the grill.

The adjustable height of the grate plays a large role in heat control as well. If you don’t have a lot of embers to create a lot of heat with, you can simply lower the grate to increase the amount of heat that is reaching your food.

Because the grate is welded into a single piece of steel, it isn’t possible to do split-level cooking by adjusting the height alone, however, there are ways around this.

If you are cooking lots of different types of food such as steak, bone-in chicken, and vegetables at the same time, you will want to place them over different heats.

To do this with the Ñuke Delta grill, setting the grate to a middle height and arranging the embers underneath to provide different levels of heat is the best way to achieve this.

Ñuke Delta Features

There are so many features that the Ñuke Delta grill comes with that help to create the perfect outside cooking experience.

One of the main features of the Ñuke Delta grill is the way that it works, as detailed above, the fire and embers as heat for cooking are super simple and make the grill really user-friendly.

The heavy-duty, custom griddle is one of the standout features of this grill. Although it was briefly mentioned above, it deserves its own section.

The griddle allows users to increase their cooking range with the grill significantly, adding extra value for money to the entire grill.

With the presence of the griddle on the Ñuke Delta grill, you can cook almost anything that you would cook in your kitchen, on your grill.

This means that you can prepare an entire meal outside without creating more clean-up work inside your home as well. The Ñuke Delta grill is essentially an entire outdoor kitchen in a single cart.

The Ñuke Delta grill also features under-cabinet storage and a warming drawer. These are great features that also contribute to the outdoor kitchen feel of this grill.

The under-cabinet storage is a great place to store your firelighters and wood to keep them dry and to hand, you can also store other grilling tools such as tongs and aprons in the storage area.

This is also a great place to store any specific outdoor cutlery and crockery that you may have, keeping everything you need for grilling in one place for your convenience.

The warming drawer is enough to sell this grill on its own. One of the most difficult things about grilling for a large group of people or a large range of foods is keeping things that have been cooked warm.

It usually either involves a lot of tin foil being used or requires the oven to be on low inside the house to keep things from cooling down too much which uses unnecessary energy.

With the Ñuke Delta grill, that problem is eliminated with the handy warming drawer. Simply place the food that you have already cooked in there to keep it warm until you are ready to serve to your guests.

Alternatively, if you don’t need it for food, you could place your plates in the drawer so that they are warm to keep the food warm for longer while people eat.

An ember poker, a small shovel, a grill plate, and a cover that protects the grill from the elements when it isn’t in use are all included in the box when you order a Ñuke Delta grill.

How To Clean The Ñuke Delta

Cleaning the Ñuke Delta grill is a super easy task that mostly involves using the shovel that is included to remove the ashes from the base of the firepit.

There shouldn’t be any issues with grease having to be cleaned from the fire pit although you may see a few grease marks on the bricks over time.

One thing to note when cleaning the Ñuke Delta grill is that ash can sometimes fall down into the warming drawer below, so it may be necessary to check the drawer from time to time to clear out any ash that has accumulated over time.

Final Thoughts

The Ñuke Delta grill is a great option for your outdoor cooking space. More than a grill, this appliance is more like an entire outdoor kitchen with the warming drawer, storage, and the ability to place skillets and woks on the griddle plate.

This is a great investment piece if you want to get into grilling with a more traditional twist.