For grilling/smoking -- charcoal or propane?

[Fire Me Boy!]

OK... I know everybody's got their preferences... so vote. I'm making it a private poll, so nobody will know how you voted, so be honest. Some people CLAIM charcoal but are closet propane users.

[Goapics1]

I use propane mostly. I have a small charcoal grill that I use when tailgating/camping.

[Fire Me Boy!]

Propane enthusiasts: UNITE!

[InChiefsHeaven]

Charcoal for flavor....

...propane for convenience. Someday my kids will leave the house and I'll have all the time in the world to fire up the coals.

[Goapics1]

Charcoal for flavor....

...propane for convenience. Someday my kids will leave the house and I'll have all the time in the world to fire up the coals.
You hit it right on the head brotha'. :clap:

[htismaqe]

Bad, bad poll.

You cannot equate grilling to smoking/BBQ, they are two different things.

I've added two options to your poll.

[Goapics1]

Bad, bad poll.

You cannot equate grilling to smoking/BBQ, they are two different things.

I've added two options to your poll.
Can I re-vote then?

[htismaqe]

Anyways, I use propane for grilling. Grilling is about "quick and easy".

I use charcoal and wood for smoking/BBQ.

:D

[jspchief]

What about those of us that use electric smokers? :sulk:

[htismaqe]

Can I re-vote then?

Sure. Tell me what you voted for and what you want your vote to be.

[htismaqe]

What about those of us that use electric smokers? :sulk:

Ah, the sweet smell of ostracism.

[Bwana]

Charcoal is your friend.

[Goapics1]

Sure. Tell me what you voted for and what you want your vote to be.
voted propane. want to change to "Charcoal for smoking, propane for grilling" thanks

[Goapics1]

What 'bout those deep fry turkey pot's? Anyone use those? I got one, and family loves that shit whether it be a whole turkey, chicken, or duck.

[htismaqe]

voted propane. want to change to "Charcoal for smoking, propane for grilling" thanks

done.

[Goapics1]

done.
thank you

[6 Iron]

Nearly idiot proof grilling and smoking, with great flavor.

http://www.biggreenegg.com/

[OgTheCaveman]

http://www.ancestraltrails.org/graphics/sugarbush/detail/camp-fire-drawing.jpg

[Goapics1]

http://www.ancestraltrails.org/graphics/sugarbush/detail/camp-fire-drawing.jpg
Og, you are pretty good at this interweb thingy! I'll give you some positive rep.

[Phobia]

What 'bout those deep fry turkey pot's? Anyone use those? I got one, and family loves that shit whether it be a whole turkey, chicken, or duck.

Yeah - I do that, too. But it's unrelated to grilling or smoking.

I use charcoal/wood for both grilling and smoking. Sometimes I'll use a propane grill, but I put wood chips in there for flavor.

[MOhillbilly]

Yeah - I do that, too. But it's unrelated to grilling or smoking.

I use charcoal/wood for both grilling and smoking. Sometimes I'll use a propane grill, but I put wood chips in there for flavor.

its all in the wood, fire&draw.

[htismaqe]

Nearly idiot proof grilling and smoking, with great flavor.

http://www.biggreenegg.com/

Everybody that's ever used one swears by the Egg. I've never used one myself.

[Baby Lee]

It's clean burnin' ahtellyawhaht!!

[Baby Lee]

Everybody that's ever used one swears by the Egg. I've never used one myself.
Alton Brown made on using two big terra cotta flower pots inverted on one another, a hot plate, a pie tin for wood, a grate, and a meat thermometer. $40.

[HC_Chief]

With grilling, it's all about searing. In that case, doesn't matter what you use. The "Flavor" from charcoal is inaccurate: if cooked properly it won't taste any different. Now, if you cook w/ charcoal and don't use a drip pan/drip guard, you'll get charcoal ash \splashed onto the meat... which adds a bitter/burnt flavor; not to mention carcinogens.

[KCTitus]

Grilling: propane
BBQ/Smoking: coal/wood

And I concur with what HC said...you sear the meat to seal the juice and flavor inside. Grilled meat doesnt take long and wouldnt pick up any flavor from chips/coal, especially if cooked med rare to rare.

[htismaqe]

With grilling, it's all about searing. In that case, doesn't matter what you use. The "Flavor" from charcoal is inaccurate: if cooked properly it won't taste any different. Now, if you cook w/ charcoal and don't use a drip pan/drip guard, you'll get charcoal ash \splashed onto the meat... which adds a bitter/burnt flavor; not to mention carcinogens.

Bingo. If your steak TASTES like charcoal, you're probably cooking it too slow.

[Baby Lee]

With grilling, it's all about searing. In that case, doesn't matter what you use. The "Flavor" from charcoal is inaccurate: if cooked properly it won't taste any different. Now, if you cook w/ charcoal and don't use a drip pan/drip guard, you'll get charcoal ash \splashed onto the meat... which adds a bitter/burnt flavor; not to mention carcinogens.
Uncle Jun - It's them all d@mn carcinogens in grilled meat. They never told us.

[Rain Man]

Propane enthusiasts: UNITE!

At first I thought you said, "Propane enthusiasts: IGNITE!"

[HC_Chief]

At first I thought you said, "Propane enthusiasts: IGNITE!"

Tpemroary dlysexia

Dyslexics UNTIE!

[cdcox]

I've taken to doing good steaks (fillet mignon) on the stove in a cast iron skillet. Since cooking steak is mostly about searing you don't lose anythig by not using the grill. The benefit of the pan is that all the drippings from the meat are captured in the cooking fat. I typically make a pan sauce out of the drippings. I would never touch a steak with A-1 but a freshly made pan sauce is a whole different story.

[Baby Lee]

I would never touch a steak with A-1 but a freshly made man sauce is a whole different story.
:eek:

[cdcox]

:eek:

No, that is not what the seedy cocks is for.

[HC_Chief]

I've taken to doing good steaks (fillet mignon) on the stove in a cast iron skillet. Since cooking steak is mostly about searing you don't lose anythig by not using the grill. The benefit of the pan is that all the drippings from the meat are captured in the cooking fat. I typically make a pan sauce out of the drippings. I would never touch a steak with A-1 but a freshly made pan sauce is a whole different story.

I grilled steaks once and my sil put ketchup on it. Another time my wife made her spectacular roast (unbelievable how good that roast is)... sil put ketchup on it. Each time I told her to get the &$^% out! :grr:

[htismaqe]

I've taken to doing good steaks (fillet mignon) on the stove in a cast iron skillet. Since cooking steak is mostly about searing you don't lose anythig by not using the grill. The benefit of the pan is that all the drippings from the meat are captured in the cooking fat. I typically make a pan sauce out of the drippings. I would never touch a steak with A-1 but a freshly made pan sauce is a whole different story.

I'm not fond of beef fat as a flavoring agent for steaks, so I do steaks on the grill.

For bacon cheesburgers though, I fry up some thick bacon and then fry the hamburgers in the bacon fat. Pretty good.

[htismaqe]

I grilled steaks once and my sil put ketchup on it. Another time my wife made her spectacular roast (unbelievable how good that roast is)... sil put ketchup on it. Each time I told her to get the &$^% out! :grr:

See, I'm raising my 3yo right. Everybody around her (except me) eats ketchup on just about everything it seems.

So my 3yo eats BBQ sauce instead of ketchup. I take her to McDonald's and she gets chicken nuggets, just so she has some Q sauce to dip her fries in. :D

[HC_Chief]

I'm not fond of beef fat as a flavoring agent for steaks, so I do steaks on the grill.

For bacon cheesburgers though, I fry up some thick bacon and then fry the hamburgers in the bacon fat. Pretty good.

I've recently been adding Lee & Perrins to the ground beef before grilling... it's excellent! :thumb:

[KCTitus]

I would never touch a steak with A-1...

A friend of mine's wife puts ketchup on her steaks...I cannot eat in the same room with her, it sickens me.

[htismaqe]

I've reccently meen adding Lee & Perrins to the ground beef before grilling... it's excellent! :thumb:

Dude, I love Worcestershire sauce on burgers and beef roasts. I've been using it in my BBQ sauce recipe.

[HC_Chief]

A friend of mine's wife puts ketchup on her steaks...I cannot eat in the same room with her, it sickens me.

Frigging blasphemy! If the steak is tough/poor quality, okay... but not a high quality, well seared cut!!

Those people don't deserve to eat a good steak.

[HC_Chief]

Dude, I love Worcestershire sauce on burgers and beef roasts. I've been using it in my BBQ sauce recipe.

It adds a nice distinct flavor to the burger.

My wife's roast is insanely good... the sauce it simmers in (crockpot slow-cook for 6+ hrs) has garlic, Lee & Perrins and Soy. :drool:

It's actually a Dr Phil recipe.

[Fire Me Boy!]

Frigging blasphemy! If the steak is tough/poor quality, okay... but not a high quality, well seared cut!!

Those people don't deserve to eat a good steak.
My SiL likes her steaks burned to a crisp... seriously. If it's not REALLY well-done, she won't eat it. Consequently, whenever we have steaks and she's invited, we all get ribeyes... she gets chuck. Burned steak is burned steak. I'm not about to turn a good ribeye into a meteorite.

[Fire Me Boy!]

Frigging blasphemy! If the steak is tough/poor quality, okay... but not a high quality, well seared cut!!

Those people don't deserve to eat a good steak.
Hell, I put ketchup on cheap steaks sometime, but if it's anything better than a chuck steak, it's garlic salt, pepper, and a dollop of herb butter.

[HC_Chief]

If you ever want to try a premade rub/marinade, give Daddy Henkel's a try... it is GOOD.

[Rain Man]

Back before I was married, I had a cheating fiance (not the wife, another fiance, one who cheated). One time, she told me that a friend of hers was coming to town, and we should take him out to dinner. We took him to one of those Stuart Anderson places and all had steaks. I asked for some A-1 sauce, and this friend of hers was just an ass about it. He kept saying sarcastically, "Is that steak good with that steak sauce on it?" and "How's that A-1 sauce working for you?" and other stuff.

At the time, I just ignored him because I was trying to be polite to my cheating fiance, but now I wish I had broken the A-1 bottle on the table and cut him with it.

[KCTitus]

Frigging blasphemy! If the steak is tough/poor quality, okay... but not a high quality, well seared cut!!

Those people don't deserve to eat a good steak.

No, these are really good cuts...ribeye, NY Strip, etc averaging $10-15 per steak.

[htismaqe]

My SiL likes her steaks burned to a crisp... seriously. If it's not REALLY well-done, she won't eat it. Consequently, whenever we have steaks and she's invited, we all get ribeyes... she gets chuck. Burned steak is burned steak. I'm not about to turn a good ribeye into a meteorite.

My wife likes her steaks well done. I like mine medium to rare.

The Hy-Vee here sells "charcoal steaks" and I think they're flank, or an old pair of work boots. My wife buys them because they're cheap. I buy them for her because I know she's going to ask me to turn it into charcoal.

[HC_Chief]

For whatever reason (satisfying the white trash loser side of me I suppose) I've been taking excessive pride in making really cheap cuts taste like filet mignon :D

I'll pick up a dirt-cheap pack of shoulder cuts, trim 'em a bit, lay the beat down on 'em with a tenderizer, marinade & grill 'em. I get all kinds of comments on how great my steaks are and how I must have spent a ton of $ to get such juicy, tender steaks.

[Eye Patch]

Real barbeque purist use charcoal… Period

If you’re look for connivance, which the propane models offer, but want the flavor consider the Weber charcoal igniting grill.

It’s basically a Weber that has a propane-connected tube inserted into the chamber. All you do is pile the charcoal over the grate where the tube is below…. Turn on the gas and push an igniting button. Leave the flame on for 7 minutes and presto you have the coals a going. In another 7 minutes I’m ready to spread the coals and start a grillin’.

Got one for fathers day years back and I use it all the time. Here is a link to one below.


http://www.weber.com/bbq/pub/grill/2005/charcoal/cg.aspx

[htismaqe]

Real barbeque purist use charcoal… Period

If you’re look for connivance, which the propane models offer, but want the flavor consider the Weber charcoal igniting grill.

It’s basically a Weber that has a propane-connected tube inserted into the chamber. All you do is pile the charcoal over the grate where the tube is below…. Turn on the gas and push an igniting button. Leave the flame on for 7 minutes and presto you have the coals a going. In another 7 minutes I’m ready to spread the coals and start a grillin’.

Got one for fathers day years back and I use it all the time. Here is a link to one below but this one has a porcelain chamber and lid which mine does not. Wish I did because with porcelain it never dries out the meat especially when you cook chicken or a turkey.

http://www.weber.com/bbq/pub/grill/2005/charcoal/cg.aspx

Real BBQ purists DO use charcoal (or more correctly, wood).

But a Weber charcoal grill is just that, a GRILL. It is not BBQ.

[Goapics1]

[QUOTE=htismaqe]My wife likes her steaks well done. I like mine medium to rare.
[QUOTE]
Ditto brotha'. Same in my household. :thumb:

[KCTitus]

Real BBQ purists DO use charcoal (or more correctly, wood).

But a Weber charcoal grill is just that, a GRILL. It is not BBQ.

yeah, BBQing and grilling are two different things...

[htismaqe]

Real barbeque purist use charcoal… Period

If you’re look for connivance, which the propane models offer, but want the flavor consider the Weber charcoal igniting grill.

It’s basically a Weber that has a propane-connected tube inserted into the chamber. All you do is pile the charcoal over the grate where the tube is below…. Turn on the gas and push an igniting button. Leave the flame on for 7 minutes and presto you have the coals a going. In another 7 minutes I’m ready to spread the coals and start a grillin’.

Got one for fathers day years back and I use it all the time. Here is a link to one below.


http://www.weber.com/bbq/pub/grill/2005/charcoal/cg.aspx

I should also mention that I believe real BBQ purists use lump charcoal, not briquettes.

[6 Iron]

Everybody that's ever used one swears by the Egg. I've never used one myself.

The egg has four disadvantages:1) price, 2) a roughly 15 minute interval between lighting the coals, and having them ready to cook on, 3) occasionally having difficulty finding natural charcoal, and 4) the cooking surface is too small for groups larger than 6-8, or at least for them to eat simultaneously.

But for moist meat cooked slowly with a nice natural charcoal flavor, or well-seared steaks at 600+ degrees F, it is hard to beat. Because of the easily and accurately controlled temperature, I have no fear in grilling more expensive meat, like a beef tenderloin.

[6 Iron]

Alton Brown made on using two big terra cotta flower pots inverted on one another, a hot plate, a pie tin for wood, a grate, and a meat thermometer. $40.

Interesting. I would suspect that you can only use this for smoking and lower temperature cooking, however.

[htismaqe]

The egg has four disadvantages:1) price, 2) a roughly 15 minute interval between lighting the coals, and having them ready to cook on, 3) occasionally having difficulty finding natural charcoal, and 4) the cooking surface is too small for groups larger than 6-8, or at least for them to eat simultaneously.

But for moist meat cooked slowly with a nice natural charcoal flavor, or well-seared steaks at 600+ degrees F, it is hard to beat. Because of the easily and accurately controlled temperature, I have no fear in grilling more expensive meat, like a beef tenderloin.

1) that's not a disadvantage, it's a caveat ;)

2) that's part of natural cooking/BBQ, it's not unique to the egg

3) really? I buy pretty decent natural lump at 3 or 4 places. Ironically, the highest quality stuff comes from WAL-MART. http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumpdatabase/lumpbag10.htm

4) that's really you're one and only problem right there

[Baby Lee]

Interesting. I would suspect that you can only use this for smoking and lower temperature cooking, however.
That's what he was using it for. I dunno whether or not the terra cotta would hold up if you substituted another smaller grate and charcoal/wood for the hot plate configuration. Seems like it should, but I'd hate to turn out wrong. Maybe if you dug a hole and put the lower pot in the ground. But then you'd have to arrange for airflow to the hole at the bottom.

[htismaqe]

FYI, that Wal-Mart brand of lump is made by Royal Oak, who also makes the Green Egg name-brand lump.

[6 Iron]

1) that's not a disadvantage, it's a caveat ;)

2) that's part of natural cooking/BBQ, it's not unique to the egg

3) really? I buy pretty decent natural lump at 3 or 4 places. Ironically, the highest quality stuff comes from WAL-MART. http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumpdatabase/lumpbag10.htm

4) that's really you're one and only problem right there

1) I would say that it is disadvantageous to have less money in your pocket. Eggs are pretty expensive relative to similarly sized propane and conventional charcoal grill.

2) I should have specified with respect to propane.

3) Wal Mart is also my site of choice for buying coal, but I always buy 2-3 bags when I find it, because they are often out. Perhaps because there are a lot of propane grillers up here in the Northland, and they do not keep the natural charcoal stocked as well as in your locale.

4) Yep.

[6 Iron]

FYI, that Wal-Mart brand of lump is made by Royal Oak, who also makes the Green Egg name-brand lump.


Nice pearl. The Green Egg brand is way too expensive.

[Dr. Johnny Fever]

OK... I know everybody's got their preferences... so vote. I'm making it a private poll, so nobody will know how you voted, so be honest. Some people CLAIM charcoal but are closet propane users.
I honestly couldn't give less of a crap what my meat is cooked on as long as it's cooked. I've never been able to taste a difference.

My grill is propane btw.

[Robio9]

Alton Brown also states that propane is absolutely useless for smoking meat. I haven't verified this, but according to him, one byproduct from burning propane is water vapor which can act as a barrier on the surface of the meat, preventing smoke from permeating as easily.

[htismaqe]

Alton Brown also states that propane is absolutely useless for smoking meat. I haven't verified this, but according to him, one byproduct from burning propane is water vapor which can act as a barrier on the surface of the meat, preventing smoke from permeating as easily.

That's interesting. Burning most hydrocarbons will give off some H2O, though, including charcoal briquettes.

[Phobia]

I honestly couldn't give less of a crap what my meat is cooked on as long as it's cooked. I've never been able to taste a difference.

My grill is propane btw.

Your last statement explains the first.