Abstract: A barbecue grill and cooking grid element including a shell-like housing having a bottom wall and an upstanding peripheral sidewall; a cover hingedly connected to the shell-like housing; a heat source mounted in the shell-like housing; and, a grid element mounted in the shell-like housing above the heat source. The grid element comprises at least one generally planar base element and a plurality of integral, upstanding, spaced apart, parallel elongated ribs integral with the base element, there being at least one opening and, preferably a plurality of openings, formed in the base element between each adjacent pair of upstanding ribs. The heat source may comprise any conventional heat source such, for example, as an electrical heating element or a gas-fired heating unit.