Grilling: Charcoal vs Gas

Mike121

Mike121

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North Texas
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gridironblitz.com
If you could only have 1, which one would it be, between a charcoal grill and a gas grill?

For me, personally, it's got to be charcoal. The main reason being that I cook a lot of steak at my house and it was next to impossible to get the gas grill as hot as I like for cooking steaks. Don't get me wrong, the heat in the grill is a lot easier to control so cooking low and slow did seem to be a lot easier on gas, but the lack of a "higher" nob was enough to make me want to get rid of that thing. Hey, when I want to cook low and slow I usually use my smoker anyways, but we'll save that conversation for another thread.

Also, the flareups in the gas grill, especially when cooking burgers, were just downright ridiculous. I know they make gas grills with the grill rocks over the top to help catch the grease, but without that it's tough to keep it under control (or at least it was for me). If you have any tips for controlling this, please let me know.

I also like that with the charcoal grill you have the option of using wood rather than charcoal. Since I live in north Texas, and we have an abundant supply of mesquite (which I love to cook on), that's just something that I "gotta" have. Sure, you can add a smoke "box" in your gas grill, but it's nowhere near the same. I had one. Not even a comparison there.

So, what about y'all? Charcoal? Gas? Remember, you gotta pick just one (for this conversation, at least).
 
I choose gas for my grilling now correct me if l'm wrong but doesn't charcoal give off poisionous fumes and l've never had a problem with gas:)
 
If I could only have one it'd be gas because it's simple and fast to use. Charcoal is great too but it does take some time which I don't always have.
 
I like to keep it simple and since I'm only grilling for me and occasionally for 2 or 3 more persons, I prefer to do it on an electric grill.

However if I would have to make a choice between charcoal and gas, I would definitely choose charcoal because gas is much like doing over the stove or the electric grill I use.

Besides the heating temperature, charcoal gives food a unique taste that can't be compared with any other method or food additive aimed to simulate the charcoal taste.

Some health-related concerns have raised when it comes to grilling with charcoal, but I believe that grilling on charcoal from time to time will not hurt anyone. Problem might come if you would be grilling on charcoal just about everything and on a daily basis.
 
MyDigitalpoint said:
Some health-related concerns have raised when it comes to grilling with charcoal, but I believe that grilling on charcoal from time to time will not hurt anyone. Problem might come if you would be grilling on charcoal just about everything and on a daily basis.
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But this is just how the world works nowadays. EVERYTHING is dangerous and bad for you, everything. Can't eat vegetables or fruits because they have chemicals, tap water is at the very least lethal, meat will kill you, charcoal will also kill you.

Yet... people have been grilling meat on charcoal and eating it with vegetables while drinking tap water for god knows how long and we are still here. :)
 
I would choose charcoal for grilling. In my family we have always used charcoal grills. I have used a gas grill before, but I like the taste of my meat on a charcoal grill better that gas. I know they say charcoal is dangerous to our health, but then again there are a lot of things that are dangerous, but people still do it.
 
I prefer gas just because I am a little leary of the chemicals from the charcoal. I love the charcoal taste, but have to worry about effects down the road.
 
I have been looking to the pros and cons about charcoal vs gas grilling. I still prefer charcoal. I guess it's because I am too use to charcoal and I don't think I can get ude to gas grilling.
 
I'm surprised that there isn't more talk about flavor here. Personally, I use gas for the convenience. But I've always heard people talk about how much more rich the flavor is by using charcoal. I've never heard anything about poisonous fumes with charcoal. Is there really anything to that?
 
themusicaldemocrat said:
I'm surprised that there isn't more talk about flavor here. Personally, I use gas for the convenience. But I've always heard people talk about how much more rich the flavor is by using charcoal. I've never heard anything about poisonous fumes with charcoal. Is there really anything to that?
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'Proper' charcoal should not contain anything other than carbon and a small amount of residue ash, it is after all wood (or bone) that has been 'cooked' in a low oxygen environment over the course of several days. I suspect that the poisonous fumes comes from briquets that have been impregnated with lighter fluid or similar to aid in starting a BBQ/grill. That is about the only thing that makes any sense to me at least.
 
I think you're spot on there @SatNavSaysStraightOn, which is why I usually always recommend people getting a chimney starter to start their charcoal (briquets or otherwise) rather than using lighter fluid. I do use it, on occasion, but I'd certainly rather use the chimney starter. Then again, there are probably people who will argue that the chimney starter will poison you, too, from the ink on the newspaper that you use to start the fire. :rolleyes:

I also never buy charcoal that is the "match light" variety. I don't use charcoal that already has lighter fluid on it. If I am going to use lighter fluid, I'd like to be the one to determine how much is going in.
 
Well, I suppose something's going to get us eventually isn't it? Ha! I wouldn't want to knowingly consume harmful poison, but if we get down to particles, there's probably something harmful in EVERYTHING! I still hold that my gas grill works fine for me. I'm not a purist in this area. :)
 
I agree that there is poison in a lot of things out there. You just can't keep from getting at least one thing that will eventually be harmful in the long run. I will stick with charcoal grills because that's what I'm use to.
 
I guess it depends on what I'm making. Some meat items taste better with charcoal - hot dogs/hamburgers... but others I'd much rather use gas, for steak or brauts. We only have a gas grill at home, however. So I rarely eat charcoal grilled foods anyway unless there's some at a family event or we go to a state park or something.
 
I like the flavor of cooking over charcoal (or wood), but I would not want to be lugging big bags of it home from the store on a regular basis. I can't stand carrying cases of pop in, let alone bags of charcoal too. I would probably only grill once in a while if I had a charcoal grill. The gas grills still make me a little nervous as well, I'm always worried about there being a leak or something and the canister exploding.
 
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