Gas, Charcoal or both?

[sharky]

What are your thoughts?

I have a Gas setup in my outdoor kitchen. I love it... I use the smoker box a lot to infuse flavors.... but I do miss charcoal sometimes.

What do you think?

[Billy]

What are your thoughts?

I have a Gas setup in my outdoor kitchen. I love it... I use the smoker box a lot to infuse flavors.... but I do miss charcoal sometimes.

What do you think?


Both... its that simple : )

[sharky]

Well that was easy Billy!

Welcome to the forum BTW!

[luke]

I've always cooked on charcoal. Never messed with gas grills too much.

And yes, welcome to the board Billy. I must say, I've learned a few things from watching Billy cook!

[sharky]

Billy is good at what he does, he enjoys his Crawfish boils as much as I enjoy grilling!

I have been thinking about getting a charcoal grill set up to use in conjunction with my gas grill... I'm just not sure which model to go for. My gas grill is a built in, do they make built in charcoal grills?

[The Toad]

"My gas grill is a built in, do they make built in charcoal grills?"

Shark, I believe they have a model out now that will do both. My wife has been pushing for me to buy one. I'm old school though. We use charcoal or wood. Mainly mesquite or oak.

[sharky]

The Toad -

You live out in the stick though. Big yards allow for that.
I do enjoy charcoal, however the convenience of gas plays a BIG part for me. We have a Big screen room over our pool and porch. It keeps the bugs out, and allows me to grill when it rains!

I've seen the dual gas/charcoal grills, I'll have to see if it comes in a built-in.

[The Toad]

The Toad -

You live out in the stick though. Big yards allow for that.
I do enjoy charcoal, however the convenience of gas plays a BIG part for me. We have a Big screen room over our pool and porch. It keeps the bugs out, and allows me to grill when it rains!

I've seen the dual gas/charcoal grills, I'll have to see if it comes in a built-in.

Sounds like you may need to install a hood/vent over your grill to suck the smoke out.

[sharky]

Yeah, that's the next thing on the list. It costs about $1500 installed last I checked. I plan to have it installed before summer!

I dind't have one installed originally as we totally remodeled our screen room a few months after the grill was installed. I wanted to make sure that was done first.

[Ryan]

I use a gas grill but only because its so much cleaner.

I do like the taste from charcoal grills better.

I am looking to buy a smoker soon. The neighbor just got one recently and I'm jealous!

[sharky]

For the time being you can smoke with your grill.. did you know that?

Go buy some smoker wood chips and soak them in cold water for about an hour. drain the water and put the chips in tin foil. Tne easiest way to to make a little bag out of the foil. once they are in there, seal it up and poke a few holes on top.

Place them one one side of the grill, over a medium-high flame for about 5-10 minutes until you see some smoke coming out of the grill.

Turn the burner off on the other side of the grill and place your meat there. It works pretty good. It's also a good idea to keep a metal bowl full of water on the flame side of the grill. it will keep your meat moist:-)

[JW™]

I've actually never used charcoal. It's all my dad ever used (he had a propane bbq for a while but didn't use it as much as his old charcoal grill). I like gas just fine, and get similar results to what I remember from Dad's cooking.

[sharky]

All that matters is YOU like the tatse!
I can certainly taste the difference with charcoal, however it's too inconvenient for me at the moment.

[Deuce]

I have a smoker, gas grill and charcoal grill. They all serve their purposes.

Ribs, brisket, pork butt on the smoker.

chicken, steak, tenderloins on the charcoal.

Rotissing on the gas.

[sharky]

I have to get more into routisserie. I haven't tried it much on the grill. That will change soon!

[SeanB]

I have been cooking with gas for years, but have recently started playing with charcoal a little more. In fact I am out of gas right now, so I broke out a table top grill and fired up some coals to cook a few pork chops last night.

I have been seriously thinking about getting a Big Green Egg. I do pretty good at smoking on my gas grill, but something is missing and I am thinking the BGE might fill the void. Anybody have any thoughts on this type of grill?

[sharky]

From what I hear, the BigGreenEgg is great!

They sell them at the place I bought my grill, The Outdoor Kitchen Store here in Tampa. It's more of a smoker than a grill though

[gregtx]

at the ranch we use real oak... flavor is great.. lots of natural smoke and red hot coals...

Charcoal has a superior taste over gas... but its messy and sometimes inconvenient...

I use gas mostly.. just b/c of the convenience.. but you can buy some mesquite etc.. soak it and add to your gas grill for some nice smoke and flavor

[sharky]

I love the flavor/smell of Oak!

I use Misquite and Hickory smoker chips on the grill all the time, mainly for the smell! haha

[freightdog]

I got both right now and Im looking for a smoker for a turkey next Thanksgiving.

[sharky]

My wife just ordered me the "Ultimate Grilling Catalog." She said it came in the mail today. I can't wait to look at it. She said there is a 48" charcloal Kettle on the front... Now we're talking!