This and That

Gentlemen, start your grills

Which is better: grilling with charcoal or propane?

For many years I was one of the guys with the black-smudged hands and the extra match stuck behind my right ear. Then in an exasperated moment of “I’ve waited long enough for the coals to get hot” I jumped ship and went over to the dark side.

That’s the dark side where with a turn of a knob and push of a button you have flames aplenty, flames so powerful they can light up the night sky.

And a grill hot enough to cook anything you throw at it faster than you can say, “What’s for dinner?”

I was happy and, more importantly, my wife was happy. But it was too much for my good friend Gary, a grilling purist who won’t even consider abandoning his hardwoods and briquettes.

“So, what do you do when the tank runs dry,” he asked. “Push the grill over to your car and connect to the exhaust?”

We’ve gone back and forth with bantering like that for years now; I’m on my second gas grill and he’s gone through a mountain-size pile of bags of charcoal. And while I’m stubbornly convinced my switch to propane was proper and he remains equally convinced charcoal will always be king, neither one of us has pushed away from the table because of the cooking medium.

While I’ve landed my share of verbal zingers, Gary can claim the ‘best of all time’ comment. Not long after I had switched to propane, we were in church one Sunday morning listening to the pastor’s sermon on the 21st chapter of John. You know, the gospel lesson about the disciples fishing all night with no success and then Jesus appears along the shoreline and instructs them to cast their net again, this time on the right side of the boat.

The net now contains so many fish it is nearly breaking. The disciples drag it to shore, where Jesus has a fire built to cook some of the fish over the coals.

At that point, Gary leaned over and whispered, “I didn’t hear him say anything about propane ... did you?"

Share:

Facebook  MySpace  Digg  Stumble    Mixx  Fark  del.icio.us   LiveSpaces

 

Member Comments

View Comments: | 1-3 | Post a comment

dragonmaster
06-01-08 3:16 PM »Report Abuse	I use both charcoal and propane. I use the charcoal to give hamburgers and chicken that smoke taste, and use the propane to cook steaks(it is easyer to get the heat just right). So im not part of the fight ^_^. BTW...its easyer to bring a charcoal grill with u to picknicks than a big propane grill.
BrewDoctor
05-24-08 3:16 PM »Report Abuse	If gas is option propane is you ticket since it is about three times hotter than natural gas. I've use it all wood, charcoal, propane, and even had some major smoke action on the kitchen stove. But the test is not how you cook it but does the first bit put a smile on your face. If it does you've do your job to my way of thinking.
ChrisLareau
05-14-08 2:22 PM »Report Abuse	Having grown up with natural gas permanently piped in (this is the real Warren Advantage) I didn't know what I was missing until today. Still working on cooking the perfect steak. Can't get the grill hot enough though--maybe I should switch fuels? Anyone else have this problem with natural gas? Propane does sound like the way to go

You must first login before you can comment.

Existing Member Login
Not a Member?	Create a Member Account
*Your email address:		<--Email REQUIRED!
*Password:	Forgot Password?	<--Password REQUIRED!
	Remember my email address.