Check out the back of a Kingsford Charcoal bag sometime. The Ford in Kingsford is Henry. Seems he had all these little scraps of wood left over from the Model T manufacturing process and nothing profitable to do with them…
I’m a charcoal believer. If you’re in that big a hurry that you can’t wait the 20 minutes or so for the coals to get ready, nuke something. To me, the charcoal flavor is the whole point of grilling – without it, why not just use the broiler?
I’m a propane girl, all the way. I don’t taste any difference between charcoal and gas (especially for stuff that cooks five minutes or so), and gas is faster, easier, and neater. Open the cover, flick the switch, close the cover, wait five minutes, throw the food on, and when it’s done, turn it off is far more appealing to me than fill the grill, spray the stinky lighter fluid, drop the match, watch, cuss, drop another match, spray more lighter fluid, cuss some more, drop another match, wait 20 minutes to an hour, put the food on, wait three hours for the charcoal to cool off, empty the grill, then scrub my hands.
Odin, if your chicken is drying out, you’re not grilling with a high enough heat. You gotta cook it hot and fast to keep it juicy.
Charcoal all the way. C’mon, for $20 you can buy a nice little Weber. Light some charcoal, either with fluid or the preferable “lighter towers”. Let it sit until the coals get nice and smoldering, then simply put your stuff on. No worrying about adjusting the flame, the food gets that charcoal flavor, and its just simple and pure. Plus, you can sit around the glowing coals afterwards, something that wouldn’t really work for a gas grill.
Take the grill grate off. When the charcoals are smouldering, take a hair dryer and blow out all of the ash. Then apply meat directly to the coals. Takes little time and the flavor is great.
If you insist on using the grill grate, dump a small bit of water on the coals and quickly cover it for a nice steam bath every now and then. Dropping a chunk of butter on the coals works even better. And for goodness sake DO NOT WRAP THE GRILL GRATE IN FOIL!
If your chicken is getting to dry, try taking it off of the grill mid-cook. From the side, bore a small pocket to the center with a thin knife. Cram some butter in. Then seal the hole with a few toothpicks. Works great for me. Or you can try putting a small cast iron skillet with some water in it directly in the coals to one side and cover. Never tried this myself, but a chef buddy swears by it.