Charcoal or Gas? | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Charcoal or Gas?

Simple question, what tastes better? Food cooked on a gas grill or a charcoal grill.

  • Total voters
    61
HuskyHawk said:
This is a sensible response. I've got a propane weber, a kettle weber and a drum smoker. I confess that I'm not good with the Kettle, I'm just not. Haven't practiced enough. I also think the minute amount of charcoal flavor imparted in a quick burger cook is (a) not noticeable and (b) not worth the additional prep, which probably triples total cooking time. By the time charcoal is ready, my burgers are done on the genesis. A big thick, slower cooking steak, ok, now you may have an argument for charcoal. Same with 20 burgers for a big crowd. For veggies, I've got them on foil anyway, so charcoal vs gas is irrelevant.

If charcoal is that much better than gas, surely wood is that much better than charcoal. And I would choose gas over anything cooked with lighter fluid or matchlight charcoal any day, that stuff is gross.
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And with the burger on the genesis, don’t talk to me about the charcoal flavor. Montreal steak seasoning, a bun, onion, pickles, tomato, ketchup and mayo? I’m calling BS on that one.
 
Deepster said:
And with the burger on the genesis, don’t talk to me about the charcoal flavor. Montreal steak seasoning, a bun, onion, pickles, tomato, ketchup and mayo? I’m calling BS on that one.
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Anything you cook fairly hot and fast like a burger, the differences are not that varied between gas and charcoal. Like I said earlier, I use gas for burgers dogs and veggies all the time. I do slightly prefer a burger over charcoal, but when I’m cooking for only two which is most times these days, the diffence isn’t worth the effort to break out the charcoal chimney on a weeknight.

things that need more time at lower temps, are when you notice more differences . Even stuff like chicken breasts and especially thighs, I absolutely will mostly go to the trouble of charcoal ( if I’m not smoking, but that’s a separate thread)

and then to go back to hot and fast, I will make an addendum , yeah you don’t really tell a much of a difference on a burger, but if I want real hot and fast for a nice ribeye or other cut of tender steak , you can get charcoal hotter than even the best gas grills. Like 1000 degrees and up. And that’s what many ( but not all) great steakhouses cook at.

Anyway. There is no wrong. Just personal taste.
 
Deepster said:
And with the burger on the genesis, don’t talk to me about the charcoal flavor. Montreal steak seasoning, a bun, onion, pickles, tomato, ketchup and mayo? I’m calling BS on that one.
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No idea what you are saying. Burgers don’t cook long enough to get charcoal flavor. That’s my point.
 
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8893 said:
I don’t understand why everyone doesn’t just microwave everything.
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8893 said:
That’s why you need to wrap everything in tinfoil first.
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From Google:

"The electric fields in microwaves cause currents of electricity to flow through metal. However, thin pieces of metal, like aluminum foil, are overwhelmed by these currents and heat up very quickly. So quickly in fact, that they can cause a fire."

I have put sweet potatoes in a microwave and after 20 minutes, they cook and taste fine. Of course, I jab into them with a knife first.

I put scrod in a microwave and after 5 minutes, it was pretty good. Not as good as pan cooking in Cabernet wine seasoned on top with Paprika.
 
Improviser said:
From Google:

"The electric fields in microwaves cause currents of electricity to flow through metal. However, thin pieces of metal, like aluminum foil, are overwhelmed by these currents and heat up very quickly. So quickly in fact, that they can cause a fire."
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Middle daughter did precisely that, putting cake (with metal cake pan) from her Easy Bake Oven in the microwave when it wasn’t cooking fast enough.
 
8893 said:
Middle daughter did precisely that, putting cake (with metal cake pan) from her Easy Bake Oven in the microwave when it wasn’t cooking fast enough.
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The lightning storm is cool as heck.
 
August_West said:
The lightning storm is cool as heck.
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It actually melted the coating off the metal rack in the microwave and also caused one the plastic rack holders to melt and it stank every time we used it until I pulled it out with a pair of pliers. So…no more rack.
 
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8893 said:
It actually melted the coating off the metal rack in the microwave and also caused one the plastic rack holders to melt and it stank every time we used it until I pulled it out with a pair of pliers. So…no more rack.
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TIL: people have microwaves with racks.
 
8893 said:
Middle daughter did precisely that, putting cake (with metal cake pan) from her Easy Bake Oven in the microwave when it wasn’t cooking fast enough.
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Cartons of Chinese food with the metal handles can be a problem. I even recall the foil like paper on fast food burgers triggering it.
 
It's incredible how many people who can't stop talking about the better taste of charcoal have served me food that tastes like lighter fluid. The truth is that it doesn't matter if you don't know what you're doing.

Weeknights, I do most grilling with gas -- there just isn't time. When there is more time, then lump charcoal (not briquettes) in the Big Green Egg.
 
nomar said:
I don’t understand how you could possibly not understand that.
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It's not that complicated, I think gas grills kind of suck. If cooking outside I use charcoal. If it's about just being outside and all I had was a gas grill I guess I would take my cast iron outside and put it on the grill.
 
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superjohn said:
It's not that complicated, I think gas grills kind of suck. If cooking outside I use charcoal. If it's about just being outside and all I had was a gas grill I guess I would take my cast iron outside and put it on the grill.
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You're right -- it's not complicated. You're being contrarian for the sake of it, because you enjoy that far more than cooking on charcoal.

Virtually everyone agrees that grilling a burger, or chicken, over a flame is preferable to pan cooking it. And even if you disagreed with that for some weird reason, it would be weird to smoke up your kitchen when you could easily cook outside.
 
Excalibur said:
Speaking of people who take themselves too seriously . . .
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Take myself too seriously because of cooking preference?

That would be like me thinking you're a major for having a Big Green Egg.
 
nomar said:
You're right -- it's not complicated. You're being contrarian for the sake of it, because you enjoy that far more than cooking on charcoal.

Virtually everyone agrees that grilling a burger, or chicken, over a flame is preferable to pan cooking it. And even if you disagreed with that for some weird reason, it would be weird to smoke up your kitchen when you could easily cook outside.
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Steak and burgers are far better on the gas range on a cast iron than an outdoor gas grill IMO and that's mostly what I like to cook for grilling type fare.
 
superjohn said:
Steak and burgers are far better on the gas range on a cast iron than an outdoor gas grill IMO and that's mostly what I like to cook for grilling type fare.
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Well that was kind of my whole point
 
nomar said:
Well that was kind of my whole point
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All this stuff is opinion, I don't understand why people reheat their pizza in an oven or worse yet a microwave but most people seem to do it this way instead of in a pan when a pan is way better IMO.
 
superjohn said:
All this stuff is opinion, I don't understand why people reheat their pizza in an oven or worse yet a microwave but most people seem to do it this way instead of in a pan when a pan is way better IMO.
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So it's just semantics. You understand why someone who wants to reheat their pizza in less than a minute would use a microwave, even if you think it's lazy.

Likewise, if I tell you I like to cook burgers on the grill, with a copper mat, because I like the effect of the flames plus the ability to cook the burgers in their juices, while being able to simultaneously grill on the same surface corn or peppers or shishitos or whatever, and also I like to avoid smoking up my kitchen (which even my professional grade hood/exhaust system can't prevent), you surely understand my position -- even if you prefer your way.
 
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Charcoal for taste, but more often use convenient gas grill (especially with fish to keep taste a la Hey Adrien's wicked smaht input).

Tangent: How long must apple, pear, peach tree wood typically need to age/dry out before using for BBQing? A few way overgrown, old fruit trees were cut down recently as they weren't producing much fruit for anyone other than deer, but kept some non-rotted trunks/branches and hope to use them for fall BBQing. Thanks for any helpful input.
 
I’m a charcoal fan myself, but I’ll be dammed if there aren’t days I defer grilling all together because I just don’t feel like going through the motions. Considering adding a gas grill to the stable for those lazier nights.
 
Da_Aisijimo_Gou said:
Tangent: How long must apple, pear, peach tree wood typically need to age/dry out before using for BBQing? A few way overgrown, old fruit trees were cut down recently as they weren't producing much fruit for anyone other than deer, but kept some non-rotted trunks/branches and hope to use them for fall BBQing. Thanks for any helpful input.
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20 minutes.

And btw people are making great hard cider out of fruit like that.
 
Last edited:
Da_Aisijimo_Gou said:
Charcoal for taste, but more often use convenient gas grill (especially with fish to keep taste a la Hey Adrien's wicked smaht input).

Tangent: How long must apple, pear, peach tree wood typically need to age/dry out before using for BBQing? A few way overgrown, old fruit trees were cut down recently as they weren't producing much fruit for anyone other than deer, but kept some non-rotted trunks/branches and hope to use them for fall BBQing. Thanks for any helpful input.
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Simple. Until dry and burnable. No different than “ seasoning” wood for a fireplace.
 
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