Is grilling over gas better than charcoal?


 
I have Kettles, WSM, and Genesis Gold. Kettle with Royal Oak is my first choice most of the time. Wired can voice any opinion
that it likes, but I know what I like as well.
 
I love my gas grill. I'm sure if I used charcoal, I could get better flavor but I'm sure I wouldn't cook as much. Charcoal grilling is not as easy or fast as the gas grill. The fuel is bulkier and more trouble to store because of it's volume, the ash needs to be disposed of and lighting a fire in general is more time consuming. I'm sure a lot of guys here can get a fire going quickly but it's hard for me to believe that you can have your grill blistering hot as quickly as I can my Genesis. Don't forget to consider, the grill needs to get hot enough to burn off the last cooks remnants on the grate before you can scrape it clean and it also has to get a heavy set of cast iron or stainless steel grates hot enough to put some grill marks on it. You have to consider all the work that goes into a fire and then I think a gasser wins in terms of time and convenience.

I have a Weber kettle and I will agree that the charcoal fire imparts a nice flavor, however, for the convenience I'll boost the flavor with spices and sauces and use the gasser. As was already said, it's way better than not grilling at all. For those of you who are adamant about using charcoal, I sincerely respect that. You are indeed masters of a craft. Me - I just want to eat and I do so pretty well.
 
I think cooking over fire actually taste best. :p

I guess I really don't notice the difference. I will have to make some meals on both to really compare. A lot of it I think is how excited you are about what your making. My dad growing up thought every meal was the best he had. Steaks and chicken always dried out. He just loved grilling for the family and hanging out by the pool side.

I was in Rocky Mountain National Park couple years ago and had some local coffee while sitting out side looking at the mountains. It was the best coffee I have ever had. I ended up getting home and had to order some off the internet. Grinding it at home was just not the same thing. Moral of the story is that a lot of it has to do with the environment.

A walleye shore lunch while on a fishing trip in Canada taste better than frying it up at home....

Maybe it's just the way I see it
 
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I think I only used my gas grill twice last year: Memorial Day and Labor Day. We had a bunch of people over and I had something going in the WSM (butt or ribs), so my only other option to cook up the burgers was the gasser. Even this year, when I've added a kettle to the mix, I'll probably use the gas grill when cooking large quantities of burgers or dogs mainly because it's got more than twice the usable space of my OTG and I'm not too concerned with those things not having that charcoal flavor.
 
I like both and I use both consistently. Most proteins are cooked on the Performer while the sides and veggies are usually cooked on the Genesis. I love having both grills going at the same time. It gives me plenty of room and it gives me a chance to have my 10 year old son help with the cook without getting in each others way. As long as I'm cooking outside I'm happy.
 
This guy →
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will not be attending ANY grilling sessions in the →
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I do not care that he is also an avid home cook who has studied at a Culinary Institute...
Or, that he’s a co-author of a book with a three-star chef...
Or, that his feature story about scientist and cookbook author was anthologized in an edition of Best American Science and whatever....

He's not invited.
 
Back in my charcoal grilling days if I had known about starter chimneys and if bought a Weber kettle instead of the cheap charcoal grills I was going through every season I may have never switched to propane.
However once I moved to a propane grill (25 years ago) I have never seriously considered going back to charcoal and now that I have the Genesis (absolutely awesome grill BTW) it's like having an outdoor kitchen.
I love grilling on the Genesis and before I got the WSM I was using it to BBQ ribs, butts, and briskets too.
I have a BBQ brother at work who is a devout kettle cooker, he grills and BBQs everything in his performer.
We have never once argued/discussed charcoal/propane in the context of 'better' only in what we are cooking and the techniques we use to get to the end.
Since I have had the WSM my mind is more open towards (high quality only) charcoal grills than it has been for a very long time.
If I had bought the WSM first (instead of the Genesis) I think I would have opted for one of the Weber kettles for grilling.
That being said I used the Genesis as an extra oven at Thanksgiving and Christmas, not so sure a kettle could really pull off that trick.
 
I find it interesting that there are no comments and the discussion is closed.

I'll bet there originally were some, and things got a bit heated.;)
 
One more thing in Charcoal's favor I found tonight - I wanted to get dinner started but I had a few things to do around the house and wasn't ready to eat----firing up the grill gave me enough time to do my thing, run to the L store, come back & although the charcoal was ready earlier, it was ready when I was.
 
Clint said:
Tim I think Brad was referring the original article - nice observation Brad :)

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Click to expand...

OK, silly me, but I stand on my last comments, and if any one would like to debate that please feel free to PM me.
I believe in no harm no foul but I don't "get" being insulted.
Tim
 
I am up to 9 webers now, one of which is a Genesis gasser. I don't use the gasser as much as I used to but I still use it. For me it depends on the cook, if I want some smoke on the food it goes to a kettle. I use the gasser often when the weather is threatening a storm, I think I can get a gasser fired up, cook, cool off enough to cover must faster on a gasser than even on one of my performers. YMMV but at least we agree, go weber or go home ;)
 
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