Weber BBQs are king of the Kiwi sausage sizzle

Weber has taken the honours in a survey of Kiwis favourite barbecues.

Weber has taken top spot in a good old Kiwi barbie survey - a result backed up by Consumer magazine which found Weber smokes the competition.

A survey of 688 New Zealanders who have purchased a BBQ in the past three years gave Weber barbecues five stars for cooking performance, durability, ease of cleaning, reliability, design and overall satisfaction.

Broil King and Masport scored four stars for overall satisfaction, followed by Gasmate and Jumbuck with three stars each.

The survey was conducted by Canstar Blue, a customer satisfaction and ratings business.

According to Canstar Blue, the survey found that 94 per cent of New Zealanders believe the summer sausage sizzle is a real piece of Kiwi culture.

"It really is an institution," said Canstar Blue's Emma Quantrill, "it's just something we love to do and for four out of five New Zealanders, a BBQ is an essential home appliance".

Consumer Magazine has also rated the American Weber barbecues four stars out of five in a recent survey, saying they cook well, are easy to use and easy to clean.

Other brands to do well in the Consumer survey include Everdure, Char-Boil, Matador and Beefeater.

In a Consumer gas versus charcoal BBQ taste test last November, Weber was praised for making "exceptional cooking systems" that cook things easily and evenly with its popular Q-series barbecues small enough to fit on an apartment balcony.

For Consumer technology writer Haydn Green, the Broil King Keg was the pick among the Weber and a basic four-burner with a smoker box on the grill for smoking meat or long, slowing cooking, but not good for simple barbecuing.

"The Weber may be 'boring' but it performs exceptionally well," Green said.

One of the judges, chef Aaron Wagstaff, said the judges did have a laugh over the official recipes online for things like hot cross buns.

Their advice? "Just use an oven."