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.

[KCTitus]

Originally Posted by HC_Chief

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]

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!

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

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/2...arcoal/cg.aspx

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by 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 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/2...arcoal/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.

[KCTitus]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

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]

Originally Posted by 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/2...arcoal/cg.aspx

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

[6 Iron]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

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]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

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]

Originally Posted by 6 Iron

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]

Originally Posted by 6 Iron

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]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

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]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

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.