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Grills: Gas or Charcoal?  

Poll Results: Gas or Charcoal

 
  • 41% (18)
    Give me a gas grill....
  • 58% (25)
    Charcoal is the only way to go, gas grills are for wimps.
  • 0% (0)
    I never grill it is too hot for me.
43 Total Votes  
post #1 of 54
6/28/02 at 6:22am
Thread Starter 
I have a weber genesis gas grill which is nice but I miss the charcoal grill because I seemed to get a better smoky flavor with my grilled foods. Still I enjoy the gas better simply because it starts up so fast. So what is your preference and why?
post #2 of 54
6/28/02 at 8:06am
I have to agree with you. Although I feel that I get a better result with charcoal, most days I simply haven't the time to wait for a charcoal fire to burn down. With the gas, it's light and go.
post #3 of 54
6/28/02 at 8:17am
I have both a 22 inch weber kettle and a weber genisis gas grill,all my meats and any smoking I do I do on the kettle grill.

I love the convience of the gas grill as well :)
post #4 of 54
6/28/02 at 8:17am
for me it's the convenience, push the button and the flames are on and my side burner makes me very happy as i have an electric range in the house. ughh. just can't get the flames in the saute pan with electric or moderate the heat as well . i use my grill from march to nov.- dec. i don't know if that's more than most people or not.
kat
post #5 of 54
6/28/02 at 8:53am
Thread Starter 
Katablou,

In Chicago I have seen people grilling in the middle of January :D...
post #6 of 54
6/28/02 at 9:54am
I use a charcoal grill. To start my charcoal I use the chimney charcoal lighter by Weber. It's great since using it has eliminated the need for any sort of lighting fluid. Charcoal rules.
post #7 of 54
6/28/02 at 11:30am

Charcoal or wood, anyday.

Charcoal is the way I go. Lately I have been adding a little chunked hickory to my coals. A day or two ago I grilled peppers, eggplant and garlic for a grilled veggie sandwich for the restaurant. They turned out great.
I used to do a BBQ every Friday and Saturday night during the Summer for 5 years straight. My BBQ was a converted 55 gallon drum with some venting welded to the top half. To keep my costs down I would bring my leftover firewood from home (lodgepole pine) and use that instead of buying briquets. My tourist customers would rave about the flavor. I got a little sheepish when I had to tell them that my "bbqing wood" I bought for $90 a cord, and that was for "split and delivered"....
post #8 of 54
6/28/02 at 11:50am
nicko,
come what we call the jan. thaw- when the temp hits around 32, a heat wave-i've been known to fire the grill up. my kids think i'm a little nuts, but they enjoy the burgers! ;)
kat
post #9 of 54
6/28/02 at 5:10pm
You know, I've never really been able to resolve this quandry, so I covered all the bases...



OK, The traditionalist in me finally got it's way, meet blue...



Use Lump charcoal with hickory and oak sticks...
post #10 of 54
6/28/02 at 7:06pm
I use a gas grill right now for convience's sake. Just fire it up and go. Eventually, I want to build a big charcoal/BBQ pit with smoker, but that baby is going to cost me lots of dough. So, until then, I will continue to fire up the gas grill. And I too have been known to fire up the grill in just about every month and every type of weather.
post #11 of 54
6/29/02 at 3:16am
Charcoal - natural lump - all the way! To me, cooking on a gas grill is no different than using a grill pan on my stove! And I use the chimney charcoal lighter, too; it just becomes part of my 'mise en place' for dinner. Start the charcoal, chop the veggies!
post #12 of 54
6/29/02 at 5:42am
I grill year round here in Minnesota. My ex neighbours been known to be out there at 10 degrees. It's a sight to behold, we all have our weber grills out there and there's a patch right up to the grill but the sidewalk is under 4 feet of snow :)

Kuan
post #13 of 54
6/29/02 at 7:13am
I've always felt it made more sense to stand next to a blazing grill in January than in July, but I smoke and grill year round.
post #14 of 54
6/29/02 at 5:30pm
As the ultimate family grill gal I say: GIVE ME CHARCOAL! I hate gas grills. And who wouldn't want a chargrilled burger in Jan. :D Drooling neighbors beware.

Jodi
post #15 of 54
6/29/02 at 6:13pm
post #16 of 54
6/30/02 at 2:45pm
I'm a Gas Griller.

I like the ease of setup, prep and cleanup. It's tougher to get as hot as a charcoal fire, but doable. Gas is much more controllable.

For the speed things cook at the grill, the smokiness of charcoal is negligible. When I want to smoke, I have a smoker for that, or I sometimes do a hybrid with wood chips for smoke and indirect heat on the grill.

I agree, chimneys work well for starting charcoal for dutchovens and that sort of thing. At a cookout this weekend, a woman was using a stove to light charcoal. Put the charcoal in a steel basket with a long handle. Set over a burner and go. Pretty quick.

Phil
post #17 of 54
7/3/02 at 12:21pm
I would have liked to see an option that said, "I use a gas grill for the convenience but prefer charcoal." While it's wonderful to be a purist and have the time to dedicate to it, I like the fact that I can come home from work at 7:00 p.m., be grilling by 7:05 p.m. and finished at 7:25 p.m.

Besides, marinades, bastes and rubs impart a good deal of flavor to foods cooked on gas grills. I've never had anyone complain my food didn't taste BBQ'd enough because it was cooked on gas.
post #18 of 54
7/5/02 at 6:31pm
I think there is a very obvious ommission in the poll:bounce:... I failed to see the Wood option!! I grill, almost exclusively, over wood. Say what you will about the time involved, but nothing beats the taste and appearence of a well-brined turkey cooked over pine.
A purist would preach that pine is too sticky, leaving too much residue. That may be so, however, the flavor is unbelievable. Mesquite and hickory are so commonplace that they are nearly robbed of their character. I burn pecan shells, walnut shells and apple wood for added smoke. Pine is cheap, plentiful and throws an arsenal of fire!
I have a 550 cubic inch, iron-top grill with a reinforced steel plate to hold up to the immense heat that comes from the wood.
To control the fire, I use a combination of water-soaked logs and the dry stuff while manipulating the side-mounted baffle to control flare-ups.
Charcoal is a good second choice, especially for speed. But, when time is not a problem, burn a tree.
post #19 of 54
7/5/02 at 7:11pm
I'm a 12-month griller, shovelling a path through the snow onto the patio when necessary.

I'm old and lazy and bought a gas DuCane grill 20 years ago when I wasn't old, but already lazy. I liked the rotisserie with its own rear burner. I replaced the entire insides about 9 years ago. If you want parts at good prices for almost any grill, see

www.barbecuerenew.com

I was about to do it again, but walked by a really BIG gas grill at Sam's Club a few weeks ago, and was hooked. For $600, it's a 3-burner, 25" x 32", 54,000BTU unit, mostly stainless top and cabinet, with a rotiss and 10,000BTU infra-red rear burner, a side burner, cabinet below, four locking casters, spice holder on the right shelf, and full weather cover.

Couldn't resist. Gave the DuCane to my son.

Still learning to use the thing. I'm happy with soaked chips in a stainless pan for flavor.

One thing, though, this thing uses gas like crazy, although I think one burner at a time will be more economical.

MIke
post #20 of 54
5/4/05 at 4:44pm
I have both a gas and charcoal...but I just love cooking with my charcoal weber kettle. Just the other day I cooked up some wonderfully marbled ribeyes on the charcoal grill. Yumm...yumm...yumm :lips:

For smokin'...I like to use a convection smoker :bounce:


happy grillin'!
post #21 of 54
5/9/05 at 10:53am
i prefer my gas grill with a steel pot full of soaked wood chips-hickory or what have you-for smokiness. the better half uses briquettes on a tiny little 6.00 thing he bought at the grocery store. both of us grill outdoors in midwinter in the rain. only i stay drier!
post #22 of 54
5/10/05 at 5:42am
Charcoal for me, lump. I cook on a Big Green Egg. Often add chunks of Oak or Hickory.

Tony
post #23 of 54
10/12/08 at 5:55am
I have two grills. One charcoal and one propane. Like what was said in a previous post, I've never heard anyone say that the food didn't taste "barbecued enough" off the gas grill. My preference will always be convenience. The gas grill has that hands down.

When you are shopping for a gas grill, I would steer clear of those brands you've never heard of at places like Wal Mart, Costco etc. You might get lucky with them, but you also, may not be able to find replacement parts for them. Sure you can make anything work with the right tools, but might be more of a hassle than it's worth.
post #24 of 54
10/12/08 at 7:59am
There wasn't the correct option!!!!!!

Actually I have both. A Weber Kettle and a JennAir gas grill. The Weber Kettle is for steaks only. I gave up trying to cook a perfect Pittsburg Rare on the dang Jenn Air. Oh yeah it can be done but the flavor is just not there with the gas.

The goal is to oneday get the Ranch Kettle that webber makes for our BBQ's in May. The Jenn Air does work fine for chicken and fish as well as veggies and stuff plus we have the rotisserie attachment. That's nice too.
post #25 of 54
10/12/08 at 10:46am
I have a 22 inch weber kettle, a 4 burner gas grill, and the big BBQ pit. My preference is an all wood fire but the gas grill is okay for a quick burger or steak when I am short on time. A turkey cooked indirect on the Weber is one of my favorites. The skin gets nice and crispy and gets fought over :lol:
post #26 of 54
10/12/08 at 1:35pm
In a former neighborhood, the neighbor behind us charcoaled every Sat & Sun. You could set your watch by the precise time he fired up. The problem was that he used enough starter to torch the world's largest barbeque. He also did not move the grill out from under his patio cover to allow for the smoke and fumes to go upward, instead of planing outward once it reached the roof. At exactly 5pm every weekend evening, we would have to go around and close the windows on that side of the house to avoid being gassed. It was extremely unpleasant, to say the least. By all accounts, these were intelligent, well-educated and generally nice people. In the interest of good relations, we didn't mention this to them. Probably now, I wouldn't be so timid.
Well, anyway, it was somewhere in that time frame that I decided to avoid using charcoal because of the way it was produced then. Options for ecologically friendly alternatives were very limited, and not available at all in our area. So our gas was our choice, and still is. I like the convenience. If we want smokey flavor, we add in some wet wood chips. No one who eats here is a 'purist', and even if there were one..we don't care. They can eat at home. :rolleyes:
post #27 of 54
10/12/08 at 1:42pm
I've got a gas grill that I use year-round. Its home is in the garage, and that's where I fire it up too. I always open the garage door,tho.
post #28 of 54
10/13/08 at 6:43am
+1 for me too
post #29 of 54
10/13/08 at 2:38pm
The few times I actually use charcoal I light it with a standard propane torch. Get 3-4 coals going then pour unlit on top. Takes a bit longer to get going but no lighter fluid taste. I use the same torch to light the wood fire in the big BBQ pit. I grab a few of the leftover coals from the wood, add some kindling and get it going then add wood on top.
post #30 of 54
10/14/08 at 11:20am
I have a 4-burner + 1 side burner + rotisserie gas grill, but I use lava rock + a foil packet of wood chips to make it taste BBQ-ier. If I had unlimited amounts of time, I'd do charcoal, but I work full-time and dinner is usually around 7 or 8 as it is right now.
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