Time To Grill! Charcoal or Gas?

[Snareman]

Ok, the season is coming where cookin' outside will be commencing here shortly....

Steaks, hot dogs, chicken, ribs, hamburgers...mmm good!

I use flame... gas. It's convenient and tastes better than fried. I know some that only use charcoal because they don't have gas.. then know some who only use charcoat because they prefer the taste.

What do you prefer to cook with... gas or charcoal?

Snareman

[hunterdude58]

i use gas but would rather cook over a wood fire (hot coals) ;D

[BOWHUNTER]

I love the taste of a hot dog cooked over a charcoal grill.

[Seldom]

Charcoal here!
I use both the briquettes and hardwood lump depending on if I need long & slow or hot & quick. I actually just started tonight and I’ll be grilling every night that we eat at home until we close the pool in mid-September. Even if it’s raining I grill under an umbrella. Last year I used eleven 20# bags of briquettes and two of lump. I have one Weber kettle grill I use everyday and two rebuilt ones in reserve for when family or company shows up and I need rib & corn room!

I don’t use any lighter fluid, just the chimney/newspaper deal. I admit, it does help to be retired or at least semi-retired as I am when using charcoal. ;D There’s also another advantage with using charcoal over gas, it’s called “waiting for gray with liquid refreshment in-hand”, ;D this factor that has to be considered when weighting the advantages between the two!

[levesque]

depends on whats cookin ;D. I preffer charcoal but pull out the gas grill as I am always pushing things till the last minute. When camping however , always c-coal or wood.

[buckfreak]

Come on guys don't be fair weather grillers ;D. If you have a gas grill use it year round. At our house we do it. Get some funny looks when cars go by in January and your humped over the grill flipping meat. But man does it taste good. I think my dad is on his third set of burners in his Weber grill. He uses it about every day unless its a major downpour.

[levesque]

Oh Buckfreak , thanks for reminding me - mine are gone too . have to put in new ones. They are so bad I can't even recognize them .

[Snareman]

Mmmm. Just reading the posts I can hear the sizzling of the grill and the aroma of the food!

Be sure I'll be getting some charcoal briquettes for a flavor change!

Snareman

[blakcoyote]

I like charcal.And what I like to do is after,the coals are just about ready for grilling,I'll put a few chunks of either apple or cherrywood(green) on the coal until there flaming good.Then put the meat on,steak,pork steak,brats,burgers,whatever I'm cooking.Then shut everything down (vents) and let the smoke work on the meat for a little while,then turn the meat and let it set a little more.Then open the vents up about half way and finish grilling.I love my meat grilled this way,excellent flavor.

[Snareman]

I like the idea about not just being a fair weather griller! I thought that to myself this winter and cooked up a hotdog. Then I wanted to do it again and I was out of gas. Time flies by fast as it's the 3rd week fo May and I still not have refilled the tank. Bad.

My father was a very patient and good grill/charcoal cooker. He would grab his pop and western magazine and watch over the cooking beginning to end. Even pulled the grill under a porch if it rained.

I'll be cooking here soon though!

Snareman

[Nutoy]

Heres how I like to do it.




Theres 8 big fat turkeys on a rack above the sausage and 1/2 a pig on the grill in the pit. Nuttin' like red oak and hickory smoked meats. yummmmm

[Snareman]

Nutoy,

Now that's what I call cookin'! LOL!

OH, I just noticed where the smoke is coming from! At first glance, I thought that was a propane tank.

Snareman ;D

[Nutoy]

Robert,, your right. It WAS an old butane tank. When I bought this place there was 6 old 300 gal butane tanks sitting out back. I started to haul them off and I had a vision. LOL. The biggest pain was purging them out, filling with water and cutting. Then it had to be hot fired for 48 hrs to "burn-out" before useing.
The neighbors thought I had lost what few brain cells I have left untill I put it into action.
With a handful of that wood I can "throttle" it from 175 deg - 350 deg. I do my pigs at 210 deg for 14 - 16 hrs and you can pull every bone out with a pair of tweezers. Talk about melt in your mouth.
Now there are 6 just like it in service around here. ;D

[45/70]

For family meals I prefer charcoal.

If you'r cooking on a large grill for a lot of folks, charcoal is sometimes to expensive, and I'll
go to propane with damp wood chips or hickory nuts.

I have one cooker set-up for indirect heat. I use wood (usually pecan) in this grill exclusively, and prefer it above the others. However, it is a large grill for a lot of folks.

My son-in-law got a large, stand-up electric smoker last Christmas. He has done some really
fine cooking with it. Have any of ya'll used one of these rigs, and what do you think of them?

Seldom, where do you find lump charcoal? It hasn't been available here for many years. When
it first disappeared locally, I could always find it in East Tennessee or up on the Cumberland
Plateau when I went home. I haven't seen any in at least 10 years, and it is the best charcoal
there is IMO.

Thanks,
45/70,
RKBA !!!

[Snareman]

Lump charcoal? Never heard of that.

Nutoy, you're quite the thinker/tinkerer to utilize the propane tank. Yeah, reusing the tank like that was quite creative. However, I'll pass on the idea of using an outhouse for my smoker. LOL!

;D