outdoor grill: gas or charcoal?

[Bodhisattva]

I'll be buying a new grill in the next couple of weeks. How do gas grills and charcoal grills stack up on the convenience/cleanliness/taste enhancement scale? Thanks.

 

[BamaLuver]

Our gas grill is MUCH more convenient and easier to maintain. However, I'd take the flavor provided by a charcoal grill any day!

 

[Bodhisattva]

Our gas grill is MUCH more convenient and easier to maintain. However, I'd take the flavor provided by a charcoal grill any day!

Yep, that's the problem. I guess grills, like much of life, involve a trade-off. I'm just not sure which way to go yet, although I'm leaning toward the charcoal option.

 

[tidehawk]

I would not trade any grill for my Weber kettle grill. There is no way to imitate the charcoal taste.

 

[bayoutider]

I have had gas, charcoal and wood. Dry and water smokers. Each one is different and has its tradeoffs. It really depends on what kind of outdoor cook you are. If you mainly cook burgers and steaks, a charcoal grill will do you fine. The Webber Kettle grill is a classic and you can also do chicken, pork shoulders and brisket if you are adept.

Wood smokers are the cadillacs, take a lot of learning and work before you get the hang of them, but once you do you can cook awsome ribs, chickens, brisket, roasts and other things that benefit from slow and low heat.

A good gas grill is hard to beat nowdays. The design has come a long way from a gas burner covered with lava rock. Most now have grease deflectors and flavor trays. If you aren't getting good BBQ flavor from your gas grill, you are doing it all wrong. Add wood chips or put pans of flavored liquid under your grill offering and you should increase your gas grill flavor ten fold. Once a gas grill is properly seasoned it should cook quite well. There are too many really good gas grills on the market to list. If you need a list I will type one out for you.

If you decide on charcoal, look at Webber, New Braunfels, Brinkman and Artic.

If you want to make a real investment take a close look at a Klose grill they are all hand made in Houston. David Klose was a welder by trade and began making bbq pits. His pits are now legend. They are heavy, built right and will last a lifetime. You will probably have to pick it up in Houston or pick the pit up at your local freight line. I have a Klose Backyard Chef that is probably the most versitile grill offered. I paid around $1500 for it a few years ago and picked it up myself. Took the whole neighborhood to get it unloaded from my truck.

My last comment on BBQ grills is that there is really nothing magic about any grill. A great grill will not make a bad cook great or even good. Learning to cook on a grill is what makes a cook good. I have had good bbq from a 55 gallon drum and have had bad bbq from a $50000 Stainless Steel Viking.

 

[Bodhisattva]

Thanks for the wealth of information, Bayou. You are truly a culinary Jedi!

 

[bayoutider]

You can buy gas grills with all the bells and whistles like side burnere, warming trays, storage comparments, etc. Some will set you back the price of a small automobile. A cool alternative to all that is a reasonable size grill and build a nice outdoor kitchen counter. Cover it with tile, add a couple of drawers to keep tools and stuff in, cabinet doors in the bottom for more storage, and make it big enough for an inexpensive but really useful burner you can pick up at a hardware store for around a hundred bucks or more for a two or three burner. They make single burners but I would get at least a two burner, they are also great for outdoor fish fries. You can get them with legs or without legs, suit yourself.

If you really want to get fancy, build an island kitchen complete with sink and running water, electricity for a small under counter refrigerator, add a snack counter to eat at and you are set for an outdoor party.

This is the famous Klose backyard chef. Looks like the price has gone up since I bought mine. It's now $1825 + options. I don't remember having many options when I got mine.

Klose backyard chef

I should add, if you pick one of these up in Houston, either bring a heavy duty trailer or something bigger than a half ton pickup. This thing is serious heavy. It does have caster wheels so you can move it on concrete. It will not roll around in the yard, don't even try.

 

[bamapeppy]

I feel like I just went to BBQ school. It's true what bayou said that a great grill doesn't make a great cook. There is a saying that a craftsman doesn't blame his tools. I mostly use my gas grill but I also have a little Lodge Hibachi I like to cook steaks on.

 

[ddsmit]

I have a gas grill and use a two compartment smoker box made of cast iron, wood chips in one side and water in the other. Set the box on the burners to get a smoked flavor. Walmart also sells smoker boxes already filled with wood chips.

 

[bayoutider]

I have a gas grill and use a two compartment smoker box made of cast iron, wood chips in one side and water in the other. Set the box on the burners to get a smoked flavor. Walmart also sells smoker boxes already filled with wood chips.

I saw Alton Brown make a smoker from a cardboard box, an electric burner, tin pie pan, a little battery powered fan and a wooden dowel. Quite impressive.

I have a friend who made a smoker out of an old refrigerator. That one is easy.

 

[bayoutider]

 

[FitToBeTide]

In the light of the glorious picture above, I reluctantly ask this: does anyone have an outdoor electric grill?

:biga2:

 

[ValuJet]

Sum'n told me that Bayou would have some advice here.....

I'm on my second gas grill. Even though I like the convenience and savings of not having to buy charcoal and lighter fluid, then waiting for the charcoal to get "just right" before cooking, some of my best steaks came off a cheap $39 MECO grill from Wal-Mart or some place like that. When you look at those coals and they're white hot and the flame is low and intense, there's nothing better.

Or maybe it was the beer......

 

[Bamanet]

Have had two kinds

My first gas grill was made of cast iron--just burn the mess off. I loved it. Thought I'd get fancy on the second one--and I hate it. It is a total pain in the booty to clean. Can't just burn the mess off. Lots of scrubbing involved so I don't use it half as much as I did the first one.

 

[bayoutider]

My first gas grill was made of cast iron--just burn the mess off. I loved it. Thought I'd get fancy on the second one--and I hate it. It is a total pain in the booty to clean. Can't just burn the mess off. Lots of scrubbing involved so I don't use it half as much as I did the first one.

Man, hate to hear that. What kind of grill did you buy? Most of the new grills have porcelain coatings on the grilling surfaces. You should be able to use a sponge on a stick to rub off the surface then wipe it with a couple of paper towels with some cooking oil on them. Stainless griddles you use a copper wire brush then wipe them down with some oil. Do all this while the grill is hot and it's easier.

 

[bayoutider]

Sum'n told me that Bayou would have some advice here.....

I'm on my second gas grill. Even though I like the convenience and savings of not having to buy charcoal and lighter fluid, then waiting for the charcoal to get "just right" before cooking, some of my best steaks came off a cheap $39 MECO grill from Wal-Mart or some place like that. When you look at those coals and they're white hot and the flame is low and intense, there's nothing better.

Or maybe it was the beer......

I hear that. A great grill doesn't make great food, it's the cook. ]

Best BBQ chicken I have had was cooked on a 55 gal oil drum smoker. That guy could cook.

 

[Bamanet]

New gas grill

It's a Coleman 5310 and yes, it has the porcelian grate and underplates. Soooo hard to clean. I've tried coating it with Pam and oil, but it just sticks.

 

[bayoutider]

It's a Coleman 5310 and yes, it has the porcelian grate and underplates. Soooo hard to clean. I've tried coating it with Pam and oil, but it just sticks.

Do this little test. Fire up your grill and put a piece of meat on. Anything will do, hamburger patty, porkchop, chicken breast. Something you don't really mind if it gets ruined. Leave it on the grill and nudge the meat with your tongs or fork after a couple of minutes to see if it moves on the grill. Try this for up to about four minutes. If it doesn't move after 4 minutes and is still stuck to the grill remove from the grill, turn the heat down and try again using the other side of the meat. You might even be able to do this with an onion cut in half.

Meat should naturally release from a grill after is sears. Turning it too often or too early might be the problem. If that doesn't work, I'm stumped.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

It depends on if you want to take the time to learn how to cook with charcoal. Many people in today's fast pace society simply don't won't to take the time to learn the in's and out's of cooking with charcoal/wood grills.

I've got an Aussie propane grill that I haven't used in three years since I've learned how to cook with charcoal/wood. No propane grill in the world can match the flavor of cooking with charcoal or some type of wood such as hickory, pecan, mesquite etc. I don't care what kind of contraption the propane grills come with now days. My wife's grandparents bought a Jen-air grill for about $700 with all kinds of bells and whistles and I cooked on it (with a small water pan of hickory shavings) and it didn't even come close to putting the flavor in meat that my $119 Char Griller charcoal grill does.

I suggest taking the time to learn how to cook with charcoal/wood (if you don't already). It is well worth it. Not many people in today's society know how. And like Bayou said when you get profecient at it try your hand at smoking meat at low temps and you can't beat the flavor or the taste.


Buy the charcoal grill DUDE!!!!!! You'll love it.

 

[Bodhisattva]

Buy the charcoal grill DUDE!!!!!! You'll love it.

I went with charcoal. Last weekend I broke it in (within minutes of assembly) with some steaks, burgers, chicken, sausage. I actually looked fairly competent (so don't tell anybody ). It's going to be a weekend routine, that's for sure.