Gas or Charcoal

[Dave Lehnert]

Spring is here. (or almost)

When cooking out, what do you use?

[Alan Bienlein]

Most of the time gas as the wife starts cooking before I get home from work but on the weekend if I'm gonna cook ribs or a brisket I'll light the smoker.

[Fred Maiman]

I never have enough time for charcoal, so it is gas for us.

[Chris Kennedy]

I have a Weber performa, which has a small propane burner that you use to light the charcoal. When used with a chimney, the coals are ready in about ten minutes -- fifteen at the outside. I love it.

Chris

[Matt Marsh]

Gas. Our Weber Genesis gets a workout all except for a couple of the coldest winter months. The Webers are great!

[Stephen Cherry]

Usually wood, sometimes charcoal. With one of the chimney starters, it's super easy to get it going.

[Brian Elfert]

I have two gas grills, one for home and one for my motorhome. The last time I tried charcoal last fall the stuff wouldn't even stay lit. I think the charcoal had absorbed moisture as the open bag had been in the bay of my motorhome for two or three years. After an hour or two, the coals were finally ready, but we had long given up and used the gas grill instead.

[Gary Hodgin]

Charcoal for grilling. Charcoal and chunks of wood for bbqing. Weber cubes and chimney starter to get things going.

[Shawn Pixley]

Charcoal always. I think it tastes better. A little more work, but...

[Pat Barry]

I'm cooking with gas baby!

[Matt Meiser]

Gas at home. When we had our camper we used charcoal. We'd buy the smallest bags for exactly the reason Brian mentioned. Or, I'd take a huge box of cutoffs and we'd use those for campfires. Maybe it was wishful thinking but I'd burn a bunch of cherry, maple, or oak and build bed of coals and cook over that and thought that was better yet.

[Cyrus Brewster 7]

Usually wood, sometimes charcoal. With one of the chimney starters, it's super easy to get it going.

That's it! I use both. Gas exclusively in the winter and a mixture of both in warmer weather. With a chimney starter it is not any more work with charcoal. Fill with coals, light, have two beers and slap the steaks on. Who am I kidding - it is a touch more work but the results are worth it. I think the main pain is waiting for the coals to burn out.

I cannot wait to smoke some ribs. I can get 6 racks on my Webber. 6 - 8 hours and heaven. I am actually thinking about making my Webber kettle temperature controled. It costs ~$100 but a couple of (semi) uninterrupted games of cornhole are worth it. I cannot wait (did I say that already?).

[Erik Loza]

Gas, because of speed.

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Larry Whitlow]

Gas, because of speed.

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

Same here - convenience.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Nothing beats charcoal for flavor.
Gas simply doesn't get hot enough w/good even heat.

Having said that......I use gas nearly all the time.
It's more convienient..

[Jay Jolliffe]

Charcoal it's less convenient...:D

[charlie knighton]

charcoal, use the weber smokey joe, on my 2nd grille that the charcoal sits on same grill, my brother used gas, so if time was a factor, that was deciding factor on who was grilling

[Curt Harms]

Charcoal, specifically lump charcoal. I think it starts quicker than briquets and if the grill is reasonably airtight, I can reuse what isn't ash. I usually soak the lump with starter fluid and let it burn down. Then if it isn't well started, I help it along with a propane torch. Usually ready in about 10-15 minutes.

[Tom Fischer]

Gas grills can burn propane or natural gas. Most folks use the propane tanks.
A by-product of propane combustion is steam. That's why propane furnaces don't last very long. :eek:
But propane combustion is great for stuff that cooks well with some steam, such a chicken and white pork (pork chops)
I have a Weber three burner Genesis, use it all the time, year round for that stuff, and frozen pizza is great on the gas grill too. Crust gets crispy, like a pizza oven.

Have a 22" charcoal weber as well. Great for any kind of beef,
use it to smoke babyback ribs as well. Just put the Weber gas grill thermometer in one of the vent holes, keep the fire at 240 degrees
Five hours for 6 racks of babybacks, fuel is 2/3 charcoal, 1/3 applewood chunks.
Refresh the fire half way through.

7:00 am July 4th.

259888

If you have never called Weber cust service, they are really great, helpful always.

[Eduard Nemirovsky]

I have Big Green Egg for a 8-9 month. Before that - one of the best Weber grill with gas. Gas grill used one - two times per year, mediocre result and did not like it, especially taste and smell of food.
After bying BGE I become aficionado of grilling. I am cooking ones-twice per week and I love it. Even my wife start asking to grill/smoke something. Yes it is expensive toy/grill/smoker, but I have consistent result every time I cook.
Answering your question - doesn't matter what kind of grill - use charcoal and you will enjoy the food you making.
Ed.

[Larry Frank]

I use gas on the back deck just outside the sliding door. I agree that charcoal taste better but can not do that on a wooden deck. I grill all year around and a lot in the summer partially to avoid turning on the oven.

[Bill Bukovec]

For me it's charcoal.

Great for smoking ribs, grilling a whole turkey and everything else.

When I trim our apple tree, I save the wood for smoking or to add flavor during grilling.

Today was 32 degrees and raining but I still grilled.

Tasted even better on such a crappy day.

Good luck,

Bill

[Charlie Glover]

I have a gas grill and a charcoal smoker, both are used very often year round. I'm going to add a charcoal grill soon, the taste is so much better and with lump charcoal and a chimney its not much slower.

[Curt Harms]

An observation about lump charcoal. We've used Cowboy brand - it seems to be the easiest to find. When we first started using it, the wood source was obvious; little chunks of hardwood flooring, baluster cutoffs, waste from flooring and furniture manufacturing. The last couple years either demand has picked up or raw materials have become more scare. We're finding chunks of limb and not small ones. I've had to keep a beater chisel handy to make the chunks smaller so they'd start reasonably quick. We bought a bag of another brand which seems better.

[Jason Roehl]

Hardwood lump charcoal (never briquettes), in a chimney starter (using alcohol in a little tin underneath the chimney to light it), NEVER lighter fluid, on cast iron grates in a CharGriller charcoal grill with the side fire box (for occasional smoking), on a wood deck (never been close to having a problem). For smoking, I'll use mostly the hardwood charcoal to maintain the fire temperature, but I'll add some limbs of apple, cherry, hickory or whatever else I have on hand for more flavor.

Meat cooked over gas just doesn't have much flavor to me anymore. Plus the extra time involved with charcoal gives you more time to drink beer and shoot the breeze with any buddies that you're entertaining--out of earshot of the ladies. :D

[David Weaver]

Only gas here. Don't care for the dirt, wait or stink of the charcoal. Not into the snobby grilling scene, it's just dollars down the toilet and I have plenty of ways to take care of that already. Bad air here, anyway, because we're in a valley, and charcoal doesn't help it.

(Can use the propane tank with a torch for heat treating, too, that's a nice side benefit.)

[Brian Elfert]

I would absolutely recommend against using charcoal on a wood deck. My parent's deck started on fire from charcoal when I was a kid. Luckily, one of us kids spotted the fire before it got too big. Another few minutes and the fire dept would have been involved. There was a good sized hole in the deck. My parents went out and bought a gas grill after that incident.

[John Lohmann]

Lump & a Big Green Egg

[Jim Becker]

I use gas, but am getting an accessory that allows me to add wood chips or charcoal to the mix for my Webber Genesis grill. This is a brand new Genesis E330 that just replaced the Genesis Silver I've had for many years. The stainless steel triangular boxes slip between the "flavorizers" to do this trick on the "sear" side of the grill.

My neighbor is a trained pro chef and he has a very nice large grill that has both a gas side and a charcoal side for max flexibility. He greatly prefers charcoal, but acknowledges that sometimes the gas is very handy to have.

[Harry Hagan]

Wood pellets

[Peter Kelly]

Hardwood charcoal on a Weber when I'm at my parent's place outside of town. Wouldn't be able to do any of these with gas.

http://peterakelly.com/media/chiggen.JPG

http://peterakelly.com/media/pork_2.JPG

http://peterakelly.com/media/pork_1.JPG

http://peterakelly.com/media/paella.JPG

[Eric Sayre]

Charcoal. I owned a gas grill for about 3 years, but it just wasn't the same. When I went back to charcoal I realized the extra work was worth it.