To Charcoal or To Propane - I BBQ Therefore I Am

[Danny]

Hi, How Are Ya?
Long Time No Be Here
I'm Fine...How Have You Been?
Glad to hear that (Sorry To hear that..)

Deciding between a Charcoal grill or a Propane driven one..

Pros and Cons

Likes and Dislikes

Flavors and Distastes

No onions just opinions please...

Love to All - Danny (BBQ MAN Link)

 

[crazy connie]

I can afford it so I have one of each. When too hot (this is Phoenix) gas is great for quick grilling. Beer Butt Chicken and Pulled Pork or slow cooked ribs and we want the Weber. One or the other Nahhhhhhhhh reasonable enough for both!

 

[Danny]

I can afford it so I have one of each. When too hot (this is Phoenix) gas is great for quick grilling. Beer Butt Chicken and Pulled Pork or slow cooked ribs and we want the Weber. One or the other Nahhhhhhhhh reasonable enough for both!

Thanks Connie - what is beer butt chicken...

 

[crazy connie]

Thanks Connie - what is beer butt chicken...

Really easy & good recipe.

Pop a top and remove 1/2 the contents...

Place in center of grill with coals around the exterior edge

Put a seasoned (S&P and other favs) butt down over the 1/2 a beer

Cover and roast till golden (45 to 60 minutes here depending on the coals)

ENJOY

I usually do 2 (gotta love good leftovers) and serve with fav summer salads like a bowl of potato salad and a fresh marinated veggie bowl.

The beer can is a great rack and chicken gets crispy all around while the beer keeps it very moist. I have also done this with a can of Vernors Ginger Ale which was quite tasty as well.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Aka Beer Can Chicken!

I go with gas. Its easy, inexpensive, less messy, ready in minutes and can be used for both high and low heat cooking with the turn of a knob.

Although I have to say I was amused by Alton Browns tuna steak recipe where he got a load of coals going in a cylinder charcoal starter and then slapped a grill grate right over the top of the 'jet engine' and put a nice crust on the tuna @~900 degrees.

 

[Leonidas]

Gas, because I'm lazy. But I have the lava rock briquette looking things.


Can of beer
Whole chicken
Tony Chachere’s Seasoning
1/2 stick butter
Cayenne Pepper
Garlic (can be diced, or you can use something like Garlic Powder)
A little Worcestershire sauce.
Seasoned salt
Fresh ground pepper

Amounts of spices depend on how spicy you like the bird. Non-Texans may substitute paprika or some other wimpy spice for the Cayenne.

Wash the chicken and leave it damp. Liberally cover the bird's skin with Tony Cachere's.

Drink half of the beer.

Combine all other ingredients into saucepan let simmer for a few minutes and then pour into beer can. Place chicken on top of beer can so that the can is inside the chicken and the chicken sits upright on the can. Grill or bake at 250-300 degrees until chicken’s internal temperature reaches 180 degrees.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

BTW, you arent hard core unless you drink the rest of the can of beer after the chicken is done...

 

[Marquette]

Although I have to say I was amused by Alton Browns tuna steak recipe where he got a load of coals going in a cylinder charcoal starter and then slapped a grill grate right over the top of the 'jet engine' and put a nice crust on the tuna @~900 degrees.

That was a great episode!

 

[Leonidas]

BTW, you arent hard core unless you drink the rest of the can of beer after the chicken is done...

That will make you say nic-nic-nic!

YouTube - Jack Nicholson in Easy Rider

 

[W2R]

Propane because I can start it and be cooking in 10 seconds! I don't like spending much time cooking, even at the grill.

 

[youbet]

Both......

Gas is handy (especially located right outside the patio door in winter!), the fuel is less expensive and is really convenient for quick meals. We use the gas grill a lot.

Charcoal just seems to work better for a few of our long time favorites. BTW, our Weber kettle is 34 years old this summer and still looks and works fine! I use it probably 10% of the time.

 

[megacorp-firee]

Getting older and lazier ... also [dark humor on] you never know how much time you have left [dark humor off], so now I am using gas (grill is hooked up to my house gas supply line.
In my youth, I was a charcoal fanatic. Got really good at it ... smoking salmon, trout, chickens, ...etc. Even cooked pizza on the ole weber

 

[FIREd]

Definitely charcoal for me though I don't use store bought charcoal, I make my own. It's more labor intensive and it's harder to control the heat but I think you can't beat the taste! Plus the smell reminds of pleasant childhood memories...

 

[HFWR]

Prefer charcoal, but use gas for the convenience. Considering adding a charcoal grill for when time is not a consideration.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Gas. Its faster. I would prefer to use a smoker but you need to pay attention to that and its not feasible for me to use at the moment.Gas is pretty safe to use while your drinking Or at least "safer"

 

[TromboneAl]

Propane.

We've nursed our Weber (Spirit?) several seasons past the time it should have been freecycled, and I recently had an epiphany. What do you think of this idea:

We should get a small, tabletop gas grill, like this one:

​

We rarely use more than a small area of our current grill. With this one, we could easily put it in the shed after each use (where the bear can't get to it). It would take less time to clean, and we could get an attachment so that it could use the larger propane flask.

Is that a good idea or bad? Anyone have something like this?

 

[Notmuchlonger]

I have the Weber Q 220. Works great. Got the hose for the larger tank and cart. Easy to cart around and travel. Its fine for 2 people. Good enough for 4 people long as you do not have too many things going on. Anymore than that I would suggest a full sized grill.

 

[Ronstar]

Gas. Charcoal takes too long.

 

[Rambler]

I have 6 grills and smokers of various sorts. In Asia: a gas grill bought at Costco gets the most use, followed by the smoker (without a separate firebox), and of course a weber. In California, we have a propane grill with cast iron grates that I really like, a smoker with the firebox on the side, and an upright smoker.

Propane is used more times than charcoal, but the overall "amount of time" that charcoal is used is greater.

My favorite: smoked rib roast. Rub with seasoned salt, garlic power and black pepper (or Cholula chili and garlic power plus some kind of salt). Light the charcoal in either the firebox or on one end of the smoker, and soak some mesquite chunks. When the charcoal is ready, put the roast in the smoker on the opposite end from the charcoal and place a couple of chunks of mesquite on the coals. Try to keep the heat between 200-225F by adjusting the air. Prepare and add hot coals as necessary, and add a couple of mesquite chunks when the smoke stops pouring out (30-45 min) for the first 3 or so hours.

For a very tender melt in your mouth roast, cook at 200-225 for about 8 hours. For the folks out there who prefer that the roast slices easily or prefer rare meat, 3-5 hous will do, depending on how hot your smoker is. Hickory, cherry, apple, or almond chuncks also work well. I have heard old grape vine wood is fantastic, but haven't tried it. Never use pine or that type of evergreen...you'll have to throw out the roast...and the smoker!

Enjoy!

R

 

[Walt34]

Gas. Charcoal is too much bother and too much mess. We also have a $15 table top one for picnics and such.

When I did use charcoal, family still remembers me using a leaf blower on idle to get it going.

 

[Rustic23]

I have had both, I now have a Kingsford charcoal grill. I use a charcoal tower, I think made by Webber, to get the coals started. It takes two pieces of news paper to get a stack of coals going in 15 to 20 min. For me it is worth the wait.

 

[Khan]

I vaguely recall seeing an infomercial for a cooker that used newspaper.

 

[jazz4cash]

I have had both, I now have a Kingsford charcoal grill. I use a charcoal tower, I think made by Webber, to get the coals started. It takes two pieces of news paper to get a stack of coals going in 15 to 20 min. For me it is worth the wait.

I'd like to here about your Kingsford grill. Is it new? Is it the egg-shaped type with a hinged cooking grate? We have one that's over 20 yrs old and its great...much better design than the Webber, IMO. We semi-retired it last year and bought a honkin stainless thing that's a coal hog, so the Kingsford is getting spuced up and un-retired. We've never used gas for outdoor cooking.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Al - those little tabletop models are okay for portable cooking or small spaces, but they usually lack the BTU output to produce a good crust on a steak or to effectively overcome colder weather. My big stainless gas grill hits about 750 degrees at the cooking grate. Those little tabletop models might struggle to hit 450-500.

 

[Goonie]

....I use a charcoal tower, I think made by Webber, to get the coals started. It takes two pieces of news paper to get a stack of coals going in 15 to 20 min. For me it is worth the wait.

I only use charcoal.....I like the taste! I have a home-built grill that was made by a friend of mine while he was a welder on on a pipeline. It's made from a 30" length of 14" thick-wall steel pipe. And, like Rustic, I use a Webber charcoal tower to start the coals......while they're heating up, I get the meat (and veggies) ready, and gather up my tongs and spices. I stockpile Kingsford charcoal whenever I find it on sale.