outdoor grill: gas or charcoal?

[BamaTodd]

Here's what you do. Get one of each. And use them for different reasons. I use my gas grill probably 2-3 times per week to cook dinner. Burgers, boneless chicken breasts, pork chops, and the occasional steak can be cooked quickly on the gas. I can fire it up and have the meat on the table in 20-30 minutes. You can't do that with charcoal.

I have a small Weber kettle charcoal grill, (bought it at a garage sale for $2.00, and it MAY have been used twice) and a Brinkman smoker. These things cook great, and give the food great flavor as everyone has mentioned, but they also take a lot of time, expecially the smoker. I save these for summer Saturdays with friends when we have several hours to cook and socialize.

And if you like a great burger, it is my opinion that they are better on the gas grill. They cook quicker and retain more of the juices. On charcoal, I have found that the burgers become dry. The flames licking up from the gas grill on my burgers really does wonders for them. And, I really don't want my burgers with a smokey-charcoal flavor. But that's just me...

 

[Bamabuzzard]

I can fire it up and have the meat on the table in 20-30 minutes. You can't do that with charcoal.

And if you like a great burger, it is my opinion that they are better on the gas grill. They cook quicker and retain more of the juices. On charcoal, I have found that the burgers become dry. The flames licking up from the gas grill on my burgers really does wonders for them. And, I really don't want my burgers with a smokey-charcoal flavor. But that's just me...

With stores now selling the chimney starters to start your charcoal in you can actually get the charcoal grill going pretty dang fast. Sure it is not quite as fast as the gas grill but the gap between the two has drastically narrowed due to chimney starters.

In regards to burgers retaining more juices and not becoming as dry with a gas grill compared to charcoal. From my experience with both, the thing that causes "dry burgers" (and it can happen just as easy on gas grills as to charcoal grills) is that most people press their burgers too much with the spatula. Everytime you do that it is letting the juices within the burger out and not leaving any in the meat. Cooking at too high of heat causes burgers to dry out.

I've cooked with charcoal for three years now exclusively and the above things have caused me to have dry burgers. When I stopped pressing my burgers every five minutes and didn't build quite as hot a fire I haven't had a "dry burger" since.

 

[bayoutider]

I've cooked with charcoal for three years now exclusively and the above things have caused me to have dry burgers. When I stopped pressing my burgers every five minutes and didn't build quite as hot a fire I haven't had a "dry burger" since.

Bingo! People need to quit sticking a fork in their meat also. And here's one that really makes my neck hair stand up, cut into the meat to see if it's done.

Now, I do agree with BamaTodd that you probably should have more than one grill. It's pretty hard for one grill to do it all. There is a difference between BBQ and Grilling. The exception is some people because of living arangements can't own gas, charcoal or wood burning pits. I presently live in a high rise co-op apartment building and they are a no no. TommyMac has the same problem in his condo. Electric grills or smokers are about the only option available unless your stove also has a grill built in.

I will say that I can't tell much difference in most food grilled on a gas or charcoal grill unless I can taste the damned starter fluid most people use. And speaking of that, anyone here who uses that matchless charcoal should be whipped with a dirty spatula. That is one charcoal that you can taste. Use the starter chimney please.

 

[Bamanet]

Cleaning the new gas grill

Okay, took me only 3 days (on and off) to finally get my gas-porcelian grated-grill completely cleaned. The first day, I cleaned the 4 grates and the 4 grate undercovers. This took about 3 hours which was quick compared to the last time I cleaned it. Two days before, I sprayed them with oven cleaner and put them in plastic garbage bags out in the sun to bake it off. This worked pretty well except I ran out of oven cleaner with the last one and wiped some off the others to put some on it. Then, using a Euro steam cleaner, I managed to clean them fairly easy--if that's possible. Next, I tackled the grill itself. Thought I could handle it with the steam cleaner, but after an hour of working on the underpart of the hood, I only managed to get a six inch stip cleaned. So, I gave up until I could get back to the store and get more oven cleaner. Found something for grills and ovens that really worked well. I just sprayed it on and waited about an hour and wiped it off. But, down in the "trenches", it took some scrubbing. THEN, my hubby had the notion that I could grill 2 hotdogs for supper last night and I told him to forget it--I wasn't messing up that grill for two little hot dog wieners. They got boiled. LOL!!! Anyway, I will try to spray them real good next time we grill chicken or steaks and see if that'll help with the sticking. I have done that before with no luck, but maybe with it being totally clean this time, it'll work better.

 

[bayoutider]

The new house has a Lynx 36" natural gas grill with rotisserie. I still have the old Klose Backyard Chef bought about 6 years ago. My son hated to part with it, he has had the use of it for the last 3 years but I am leaving him the Holland gas grill.

One last word on charcoal and charcoal flavor. You have to use good charcoal and build the fire right. If you use that match-light stuff or pour petrolium starters on the charcoal, your food will taste like a gas station smells. At least use a good brand like Kingsford or find an outlet that sells what is called lump charcoal which is real hardwood, not sawdust. Lump charcoal will cost more but burn hotter so you will use less. Don't use charcoal that says Mesquite flavor or real hickory flavor, it's a lie.

Now, telling charcoal users to buy a gas grill is about like telling a Harley rider he needs to jump on your Honda. Fact is, sometimes gas is the right choice. I live in a climate that has a rainy season. Ever try to cook outdoors in the rain? Do not attempt to bring the charcoal pit indoors and cook, that is a sure recipe to wind up in a grave. Those rainy days are when my gas grill makes a lot of sense to me. And to be honest, I'm not going to fire up my smoker to cook 2 burgers then do the clean up.

 

[Dartigan]

As for gas grills... I couldn't recommend anything better for the price than a grill made by Great Outdoors (http://stores.yahoo.com/epod2000/index.html). I've had one of these grills for 2.5 years and my dad has had one for around 5+ years. The thing is rock solid with cast aluminum construction and a cast brass burner. On my particular model, the burner and cast aluminum is under warranty for 75 years.

As for the hamburgers drying out, I find that some of that is caused by how you actually pat the burger out. My digital camera is broken, so I can't show you exactly what I mean... but most people flatten the patty too fast in a "squashing" motion. I've found it's best to mix the meat with your hands to the point of seeing no "wavy lines" at all. Then roll into a tennis ball sized ball. Now slowly apply pressure to the middle of the ball with your fingers and work your way out (like you would pizza dough). You should end up with a patty that has smooth edges and is nearly perfectly round. If you flatten the patty too quickly you'll have a lot of jagged "cracked" edges. That extra surface area from the cracks and the edges not being properly sealed allows for a lot of extra juice to escape. Using this method, you can even use ground sirloin and get juicy burgers. I've made burgers like this out of ground chuck before and they were so juicy they exploded on my face when I bit into it.