I was a big fan of charcoal, and there is a taste difference.
But due to time and space issues, and the fact that I got it for free, I am using a propane grill. It’s not great, and in fact I will be replacing it within the next year or so, but I don’t mind so much.
If I had more yard, I might add a charcoal grill as well, but until then… propane all the way.
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I think that would be how I would feel. I am a charcoal devotee; there’s definitely a taste difference, but I would love the convenience of a nice gas grill, and I must admit, albeit a bit shamefully, that I have been looking at gas grills with lust in my heart…there; I’ve said it!
Rick already said what I was going to say about cooking with hydrocarbons vs carbon and the moisture content of propane heat.
I’ve got one of each on the patio - a Weber charcoal kettle and a propane grill.
I still covet a Big Green Egg, but anything that costs that much needs wheels, an engine or digital electronics. Or all three. The Eggs are amazing, but when you get down to it, it’s a very expensive ceramic pot.
Yes, the propane grill is ready to go with just a couple twists of the valve, but it doesn’t get anywhere near as hot as the charcoal, and a while back, I cooked up a mess of chicken - too much for one grill, so half was on propane and half was on charcoal. Not knowing which was which when I set the platters out on the table, our guests liked the propane chicken, but raved about the charcoal chicken.
I used to use a Weber charcoal unit and found that while it always did a good job it took a little too much time. After all, you don’t want to handle charcoal, lumps only please, in good work clothes. Come home from work, change clothes, then go work with the grill. Then wait for it to get hot. With propane I can come home and hit the igniter on the way into the house. By the time I get changed it’s ready to go.
But as Rick says, the foods at least partly steamed, which I never realized until an episode of Good Eats a while back. I’m pretty certain charcoal burns hotter too.
And if I were buying another propane grill, the infrared is the way to go!
I’m on the Propane side of the fence, and have gotten into an argument around here many times before, so I’ll just put in the highlights.
I like steak rare. It’s only on the grill for 5 minutes anyway, and not much smoky flavor is going into it in that time anyway. In addition by the tuna can method I can creat as much smoky as charcoal anyway.(And the smoky flavor is probably more from the rapid combusting fat that drips on the bottom anyway)
Much less preperation time to start cooking.
I don’t have to use calculus to create a cooking rotation to account for hotter and colder areas over the fire as the charcoal burns.
My grill gets plenty hot, plenty fast(650 on the lid). Perhaps I could get hotter with charcoal, but I’m searing a steak, not casting bronze.
Most importantly I have near instantaneous temp control. After the sear is done, I can drop heat and let it warm over low flame for 4 minutes. That’s hard to do with charcoal, it still likes to burn hot for a while even after the oxygen is cut off(if you can even manage to cut off the oxygen). For example. Put Potatoes and corn in grill on low heat for 40 minutes, crank up to sear steak, kick down to cook steak rare. A full meal with minimum of fuss.
They only drawback is the steam factor, but Propane wins for me.
If there’s one thing I do like about propane (and I use it when I’m at the folks’), it’s that it requires a lot less babysitting than charcoal. Then again, I do kind of like the skill involved in charcoal cooking, where you rely on your senses, intuition, and experience, to tell how to move the meat, when to turn, when it’s done.
I use charcoal, or wood pretty much twice a week.
The wait with a beer or a glas or two of wine is part of the whole deal. That said I tend to cook meat which is probably a lttle fattier than the super lean steaks which may be more typical up north (yeah I know sweeping generalisations). To this end the slower cooking over a lower heat rends down some of the fat into juicy cholesterol loaded goodness. Cooking just lomo or leaner cuts that taste best when just seared, well it is a real pain to fire up for those as they are only on for a few minutes so I tend to use a heavy base iron pan over a gas ring.
If cooking a mix of say lomo and vacio or asado, I woudl do it over charcoal. Lower down the rack and sear the outside of teh slower cooked meats and cook the lomo, serve lomo to keep the ravenous masses at bay, and raise the rack to allow the vacio to cook more slowly.
So gas or charcoal, depends what you are cooking.
Or, if ya got fifteen grand to blow, you could get a hybrid from Kalamazoo:
http://www.kalamazoogourmet.com/k900hs.php
http://www.rickbayless.com/about/notebook/outdoor_grill.html
What, no Hank Hill jokes, about “Taste the meat, not the heat?”
WELL DONE!!!
I have charcoal. I don’t mind getting it going because no matter how many hundreds of times I do it, I still feel like Tom Hanks in Cast Away. Sometimes I even beat my chest and say “Man Make Fire”, especially when we have guests.
As counter-intuitive as it sounds. . .I can control the heat better with charcoal. I know EXACTLY where the heat is. . .a huge pile over here, 2 inches under the grate, a small pile over here, to finish something. I love cooking with the “indirect” method.
I used to argue that I could get a charcoal grill hotter than any gas grill. That used to be totally true. . .it’s still mostly true. I have a cast-iron grate and with a big pile of coals (sometimes I use two weber chimneys) I can get that thing insanely hot.
The LAST thing I would argue is taste. If charcoal is imparting “flavor” to food, you’re doing something wrong.
I like gas. And, I really like ones that hook up to a house’s gas line. But, I still prefer charcoal.