Charcoal vs. Gas Grills – And The Winner Is...?

Next week you may be pulling out the grill for a family Labor Day picnic - but which type of grill will you use? There is an ongoing debate between the two tribes of grilling - charcoal or gas. Today we are going to use specific guidelines to determine a winner - although of course you can also judge for yourself! For our contest, we will judge the grilling performance in four categories: time to heat, temperature control, consistency, and taste.

The time to heat will be decided on the amount of time it takes from ignition until the grill is ready to be cooked on. Control of temperature is judged on how easy it is to, well, control the temperature. Consistency is the ability to keep the heat source going consistently for the entire cooking period. And taste is determined by... okay, let's just go ahead and give this one to charcoal right now. Everyone agrees that cooking with charcoal just tastes better. On to the judging.

Charcoal

Beef and Corn on a Charcoal BBQ grill (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There are many ways to light a fire, but only one works really well in getting charcoal hot and up to temperature quickly; and that is using a chimney starter. Unless you already have an extremely hot fire burning, it is rather time consuming to get charcoal to light correctly. A chimney is a metal tube with an opening in the bottom and top. This allows a good flow of air while still keeping the charcoal close enough together to get hot at the same time. This process takes about ten minutes to get hot and then another two after they are dumped out to get the grill ready to cook on.

Temperature control is easy to learn with a charcoal grill, but you have to do it right. You can create hot or cold areas by stacking more or less of the briquettes in one area. You can keep the temperature more even all over the surface by spreading the briquettes out. All it takes is a quick wave of the hand over the grill to identify hot and cold areas, then it is on to the cooking.

Charcoal heat can last a relatively long time when the grill is open or if there is a good flow of air through the grill, but you have to make sure you have the air adjusted properly. Having the right air flow keeps the embers glowing without having them burn out too fast, or having them go out.  It's a matter of getting to know your grill.  If you close off the air flow either with the cover or the bottom slots, your charcoal will die out.  If you leave your grill wide open, your charcoal will burn out.  You've got to learn the right mix of air, but when you do, your fire will last plenty long enough to grill what you want.

Most grill aficionados will give the flavor award to charcoal.  Even diehard gas grill users will do what they can to get a charcoal flavor from their gas grill.  If you've ever walked through a neighborhood where residents are busy firing up their grills, the aroma you smell that makes you go 'ahhhh' is coming from the charcoal grills.  Gas grills simply do not give you that same aromatic effect. Charcoal is, by far, the best when it comes to taste.

Gas

Turn a knob, press a button and you have instant fire. You can go from ignition to ready-to-cook in a matter of five minutes. There will be a little learning curve as you find out just how to set the dials to get the required temperature.  Most recipes for grilled foods will give you a general temperature guide such as “over medium-high heat” or “grill set to high heat” etc.  Very few recipes actually tell you 400 degrees.  So, yes, your grill is hot in minutes with just a few clicks, but you have to learn through experience where your dials will lead you.

Gas grill. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While it takes almost no time to heat up, there are a few issues when it comes to controlling the temperature. Sure, you can see what the temperature is inside the grill by that nifty little gauge on the cover, but when it comes to heating individual areas, you might run into a little problem. The structure of the gas jets running around the grill will give you hot and not-so-hot spots on the grill's grates.  Some bigger grills solve this by running gas jets through the middle of the grill as well as around the perimeters.  However, many grill recipes call for placing food on direct heat at first, then moving to indirect (those cooler spots in the middle), or cooking entirely on indirect heat. So the structure of the gas grill actually adds to the versatility of cooking on the grill. The bigger gas grills with the extra jets through the middle have the ability to turn off that middle gas line, so you still get an area that offers indirect heat. Problem solved.

Consistency is spot on with a gas grill. You can pretty much cook for as long as you have gas, and typically in any weather. When you close the lid, the grill stays lit so you don't have to worry about air flow through the unit to keep the fire going.  If you've got a big fat chicken on the rotisserie, you don't have to worry about the heat dropping as the charcoal burns down, being left with an undercooked bird.  A tip for serious gas grill users is to keep two gas tanks on hand – one on the grill and a back up. Watch your gas gauge and you'll never have to worry.

When it comes to taste on a gas grill, I don't want to suggest that the food doesn't taste good.  It does, but in comparison to charcoal grilled food, well, there's that 'ahhhh' effect again. Charcoal grilled food just has the 'grilled' taste that we all know and love.

The Winner

If grills were judged on taste alone, you know what the outcome would be. But this decision might just surprise you. The clear winner in this contest is gas. While the learning curve on the temperature may be a bit steep to begin with, once you learn it you will be an expert.  And just the sheer speed of lighting and the ability to cook in any weather makes gas grills very difficult to beat. So get out there, crank your knob, push your button, and get grilling!  And, if you happen to disagree with me, then get out your charcoal and enjoy your tasty grilled meal!