Simple question - I've never (knowingly) tried food cooked on a gas BBQ
before - are they as good as using charcoal ?
Thinking of getting one which comes complete with "lava rocks" to improve
taste apparently.
Or should I just stick to the traditional method ?
Thanks

Stephen Judge wrote:
Simple question - I've never (knowingly) tried food cooked on a gas BBQ
before - are they as good as using charcoal ?
Thinking of getting one which comes complete with "lava rocks" to improve
taste apparently.
Or should I just stick to the traditional method ?
Thanks

In *MY* opinion, stick with lump charcoal.

I've used both, I prefer charcoal. Lava rocks soak up fat and grease, and it
really stinks when it becomes rancid. If the grill gets hot enough (not all do,
you didn't mention what you are looking at), you can burn off the grease after
you cook, before shutting it down.

You'll be happier if you just upgrade your charcoal cooker (again, you didn't
mention what you are using).

BOB

wrote:
"Stephen Judge" wrote:
Simple question - I've never (knowingly) tried food cooked on a gas
BBQ before - are they as good as using charcoal ?
Thinking of getting one which comes complete with "lava rocks" to
improve taste apparently.
Or should I just stick to the traditional method ?
Thanks

I had a Sunbeam gasser with lava rocks. They didn't seem to effect the
flavor, just distribute the heat. Ya can throw a packet of chips or
chunks on it ta get the smoke. I was glad when mine finally rotted
out and I had ta get a real charcoal/wood burner. I got the New
Braunfels, but the heavyweights here may have other opinions.

I weigh enough to be a heavyweight, but that's as far as that goes.
IMO, anything that burns charcoal or wood is gonna make *way* better food
than gas.

Jack Curry
-I've had 'em all and now have a Kamado-

In article , "Jack
Curry" Jack-Curry deletethis @cfl.rr.com wrote:

wrote:
"Stephen Judge" wrote:
Simple question - I've never (knowingly) tried food cooked on a gas
BBQ before - are they as good as using charcoal ?
Thinking of getting one which comes complete with "lava rocks" to
improve taste apparently.
Or should I just stick to the traditional method ?
Thanks

I had a Sunbeam gasser with lava rocks. They didn't seem to effect the
flavor, just distribute the heat. Ya can throw a packet of chips or
chunks on it ta get the smoke. I was glad when mine finally rotted
out and I had ta get a real charcoal/wood burner. I got the New
Braunfels, but the heavyweights here may have other opinions.

I weigh enough to be a heavyweight, but that's as far as that goes.
IMO, anything that burns charcoal or wood is gonna make *way* better food
than gas.

Jack Curry
-I've had 'em all and now have a Kamado-

Gassers have been touted as faster and easier but seems to me a
worthwhile one will cost you nearly a grand. You can have nearly 5 WSMs
or 2 Kamados for that outlay. There are, however, $20 tabletop
versions of gas grills and similar cheapie versions of charcoal grills
as well. For less than $50 you can answer the taste question with a
head-to-head Pepsi v. Coke style challenge. At 3am, when a bottle of
propane runs dry-you're hosed. At 3am if a bag of lump charcoal runs
out, there likely are still trees around to cut and burn.

monroe( DO checkitout - www.kamado.com)

Each has it's own advantages and drawbacks. When used properly for the
application a gasser (a good one) can turn out food as good as anything from
charcoal. May have a slightly different taste but I"ve done head to heads
with same foods charcoal to gas (good lump btw) and there is little
difference.
There is the satisfaction of building your own fire but there is some thing
satisfying too in turing a knob or pushing a button and getting good fire.
Bottom line I use both but 98% of the time I"m gassin' 'cause it's more
consistent and easier. YMMV
Larry
"Stephen Judge" wrote in message
...
Simple question - I've never (knowingly) tried food cooked on a gas BBQ
before - are they as good as using charcoal ?
Thinking of getting one which comes complete with "lava rocks" to improve
taste apparently.
Or should I just stick to the traditional method ?
Thanks

Jack Curry wrote:

I weigh enough to be a heavyweight, but that's as far as that goes.
IMO, anything that burns charcoal or wood is gonna make *way* better food
than gas.

A friend of mine bought a New Braunfels Silver Smoker several years
ago, and no one had told him that some wood wasn't suitable for cooking,
and that you probably want to season the wood and ash the wood over
before putting food on to cook.

So, he cooked a few times with the Silver, gathering downed wood
from his property, including pine and scrub. The food did not
taste good and his family insisted he go back to propane. So
his Silver has sat unused for a few years.

Recently, he came to visit and I showed him how to work a Silver.
He'd bought a batch of pork country ribs and wanted to grill 'em;
so I BBQed the ribs for a few hours with oak lump. One bite and he
said "*how* did you do that?".

So be careful about making a casual comparison of wood to charcoal
to gas; if someone isn't experienced in working with wood, especially,
it can be a disaster.

Dana

On 19-Apr-2004, Dana Myers wrote:
snip
Recently, he came to visit and I showed him how to work a Silver.
He'd bought a batch of pork country ribs and wanted to grill 'em;
so I BBQed the ribs for a few hours with oak lump. One bite and he
said "*how* did you do that?".

So be careful about making a casual comparison of wood to charcoal
to gas; if someone isn't experienced in working with wood, especially,
it can be a disaster.

Dana

Everything Dana said. I hadn't grilled in years and had never barbecued
when I bought my NB Silver in May of '03. I've cooked on it with charcoal,
lump and oak logs. I already had the charcoal, so I used it up. Took me
several months to get up to speed with low and slow. 3" oak logs were
the hardest. I ruined some ribs with creosote before I got it under control.
Royal Oak lump rules. I've slow cooked several chickens, but I only grill
them (spatchcocked) now. IMHO not everything is equally suited for BBQ.
Least of all chicken. It's too lean to benefit from low and slow. Ribs, both

beef and pork generally 'Q' up fine, but beware of very lean ribs. I'd say
that pork butts and picnics are good items to practice with. They're very
forgiving, economical and taste great. You can cook them at temperatures
anywhere from 200° to 350° with very little difference except cooking time.
I still have my bullet gasser complete with lava rock, but seldom use it
anymore. The NB is more fun. And if I use both the upper and lower grates
I can cook for a reunion. ((I bought extra grates so I can do that)
--
M&M ("When You're Over The Hill You Pick Up Speed")

Jack Curry wrote:

wrote:
"Stephen Judge" wrote:
Simple question - I've never (knowingly) tried food cooked on a gas
BBQ before - are they as good as using charcoal ?
Thinking of getting one which comes complete with "lava rocks" to
improve taste apparently.
Or should I just stick to the traditional method ?
Thanks

I had a Sunbeam gasser with lava rocks. They didn't seem to effect the
flavor, just distribute the heat. Ya can throw a packet of chips or
chunks on it ta get the smoke. I was glad when mine finally rotted
out and I had ta get a real charcoal/wood burner. I got the New
Braunfels, but the heavyweights here may have other opinions.

I weigh enough to be a heavyweight, but that's as far as that goes.
IMO, anything that burns charcoal or wood is gonna make *way* better food
than gas.

Well, there's a caveat that most of the people on this newsgroup are
aware of, but too many casual cookers are not: using lighter fluids or
the cheaper charcoal that has petroleum products mixed into the
briquettes will produce the most foul-tasting and smelling food ever.
I'm surrounded by neighbors who regularly douse their charcoal with that
stuff and the fumes, even those drifting from hundreds of feet away,
make me nauseous. I can't imagine how people can stand to cook and eat
food over the burning petrochemical dump they just ignited in their
grill.

I started using gas grills years ago because all the charcoal brands I
could find at that time had petroleum products incorporated, and I
simply can't stand the smell or taste of that on my food. At least gas
burns clean, and you do get a pretty good grilled flavor with it.

Now that we've got bbq stores selling quality products, I could switch
to charcoal, but I've become hooked on the convenience of my gas grill.
However I am strongly considering building a pit this summer for proper
barbecuing, and leave the grill for grilling. Years of practice has
taught me how to work with my gas grill to produce halfway decent 'cue,
but I really, really want a pit.

HellT

Technique technique technique

I've used both and it's all personal preference. Either one can turn out
a godawful wretched mess or some pretty fine eatin. There's a learning
curve to using either.

It sure is easy to fire up the gas grill and be cooking in 20 min. The
smoky taste comes from grease dripping on the hot lava rocks. It works
pretty well as long as it doesn't flare up on you.

The wood fired/charcoal/lump takes longer to get going and more fiddling
to keep the fire right. But in case of a flare up, just shut all the
vents and the fire goes out. And the smoky flavor is wood burning so it's
a little better. I like my offset fire-box LyfeTyme and prefer the
charcoal fire. But then it's all about what suits you.

muleherder


On Sun, 18 Apr 2004 23:44:21 +0000, Monroe, of course... wrote:

In article , "Jack
Curry" Jack-Curry deletethis @cfl.rr.com wrote:

wrote:
"Stephen Judge" wrote:
Simple question - I've never (knowingly) tried food cooked on a gas

muleherder wrote:
It sure is easy to fire up the gas grill and be cooking in 20 min.
The smoky taste comes from grease dripping on the hot lava rocks. It
works pretty well as long as it doesn't flare up on you.


What the HELL is up with this "smoky taste from greasy lava rocks, mmmm mmmm
good!" stuff?
Shit, had someone recently say they thought that burning grease was the
stuff BBQ flavor is made of. Mulerherder's not alone with this notion, seen
some others say the same shit. You guys storing those rocks in your
collective heads or something? You guys sniffin' that gas? They puttin'
something extra in that propane bottle for ya?

Smoky taste comes from one thing, wood. Burnin' grease tastes like burnt
grease, ask any woodpecker, they're different.

You like grease fire smoke so much? I oughta charge you guys to cook on my
side cooker when I burn the drippings out. That's a freakin' grease fire,
and it smells like it too.

Smoky taste from lava rocks my ass, smoky grease taste is what that is.


D
--

On Wed, 21 Apr 2004 19:12:34 -0700, Duwop wrote:

muleherder wrote:
It sure is easy to fire up the gas grill and be cooking in 20 min.
The smoky taste comes from grease dripping on the hot lava rocks. It
works pretty well as long as it doesn't flare up on you.


What the HELL is up with this "smoky taste from greasy lava rocks, mmmm mmmm
good!" stuff?
Shit, had someone recently say they thought that burning grease was the
stuff BBQ flavor is made of. Mulerherder's not alone with this notion, seen
some others say the same shit. You guys storing those rocks in your
collective heads or something? You guys sniffin' that gas? They puttin'
something extra in that propane bottle for ya?

Smoky taste comes from one thing, wood. Burnin' grease tastes like burnt
grease, ask any woodpecker, they're different.

You like grease fire smoke so much? I oughta charge you guys to cook on my
side cooker when I burn the drippings out. That's a freakin' grease fire,
and it smells like it too.

Smoky taste from lava rocks my ass, smoky grease taste is what that is.


D


My my Tutall gittin yer panties in a wad aren't ya?

Burning propane or natural gas is pretty inert when it comes to smell or
taste. But a piece of meat grilled over it doesn't taste like oven baked
or pan fried so it's not just the temperature. Where does that taste
come from?

-muleherder

Duwop wrote:

What the HELL is up with this "smoky taste from greasy lava rocks,
mmmm mmmm good!" stuff?

snip of an excellent rant....

It comes from a generation believing the burger king "flame-broiled"
propoganda. Whoever woulda thought consumers could be such suckers for the
taste of flame-vaporized fat deposited on meat as "real barbecue?

muleherder wrote:

Burning propane or natural gas is pretty inert when it comes to smell
or taste. But a piece of meat grilled over it doesn't taste like
oven baked or pan fried so it's not just the temperature. Where does
that taste come from?

Vaporized burnt fat that's been re-deposited on the meat. Please tell me you
can tell the difference between that and hardwood smoke??!!! :-)
Dave

Yep Yep Hardwood smoke is the way to go. You can tell the difference.
It's just better.

-muleherder


On Wed, 21 Apr 2004 19:35:14 -0700, Dave Bugg wrote:

muleherder wrote:

Burning propane or natural gas is pretty inert when it comes to smell
or taste. But a piece of meat grilled over it doesn't taste like
oven baked or pan fried so it's not just the temperature. Where does
that taste come from?

Vaporized burnt fat that's been re-deposited on the meat. Please tell me you
can tell the difference between that and hardwood smoke??!!! :-)
Dave

Wow - thanks for the response - there are obviously a lot of seasoned
(excuse the pun) BBQers out there.
Bottom line is that gas and wood seem to be two different things. As a
casual user, and likely to stick with simple grilling rather than attemting
slow cooking. I'm temped by the gas but first, I'll seek out some
non-impregnated charcoal and see what difference that makes. Not so easy to
chop down oak trees here in the UK (and of course our BBQ season is only 8
days long on a good summer).
Cheers
"jdoe" wrote in message
newsUOgc.26892$ru4.25537@attbi_s52...
Each has it's own advantages and drawbacks. When used properly for the
application a gasser (a good one) can turn out food as good as anything
from
charcoal. May have a slightly different taste but I"ve done head to heads
with same foods charcoal to gas (good lump btw) and there is little
difference.
There is the satisfaction of building your own fire but there is some
thing
satisfying too in turing a knob or pushing a button and getting good fire.
Bottom line I use both but 98% of the time I"m gassin' 'cause it's more
consistent and easier. YMMV
Larry
"Stephen Judge" wrote in message
...
Simple question - I've never (knowingly) tried food cooked on a gas BBQ
before - are they as good as using charcoal ?
Thinking of getting one which comes complete with "lava rocks" to
improve
taste apparently.
Or should I just stick to the traditional method ?
Thanks