I'm a die-hard charcoal fan myself, and wouldn't stoop to grilling on
anything else. But my evil twin was whining about all the time, effort,
and mess involved with charcoal, and actually used the g-word (gas) the
other day.

So, purely as an intellectual exercise, to amuse said evil twin, I'm
inviting opinions on the relative merits - and drawbacks - of natural
gas and propane.

Initial expense, usage expense, installation issues, maintenance issues,
safety, food flavor -- anything else you can think of are all fair game
for this discussion.

I do have (I mean, my twin does have) natural gas readily at hand on the
deck, so that's a minor consideration at best.

Smitty Two wrote:

I'm a die-hard charcoal fan myself, and wouldn't stoop to grilling on
anything else. But my evil twin was whining about all the time, effort,
and mess involved with charcoal, and actually used the g-word (gas) the
other day.

So, purely as an intellectual exercise, to amuse said evil twin, I'm
inviting opinions on the relative merits - and drawbacks - of natural
gas and propane.

Initial expense, usage expense, installation issues, maintenance issues,
safety, food flavor -- anything else you can think of are all fair game
for this discussion.

I do have (I mean, my twin does have) natural gas readily at hand on the
deck, so that's a minor consideration at best.
Hmmm,
Do you have your own tree farm? Do you know too much barbeque is linked
to cancer risk?

In article QY%8j.3156$hQ3.764@pd7urf3no,
Tony Hwang wrote:

Do you know too much barbeque is linked
to cancer risk?

I don't put too much stock in modern mythology. Cancer, cholesterol,
communicable diseases, that kind of stuff doesn't spook me too much.
There's enough worriers in the world already. I exercise, I don't eat
**** food, I don't smoke, that's good enough for me.

Don't cave in to the yuppified gas grill. Charcoal is really the only way
to grill properly. Otherwise you might just as well do it in a skillet on
the stove.

s

"Smitty Two" wrote in message
news
I'm a die-hard charcoal fan myself, and wouldn't stoop to grilling on
anything else. But my evil twin was whining about all the time, effort,
and mess involved with charcoal, and actually used the g-word (gas) the
other day.

So, purely as an intellectual exercise, to amuse said evil twin, I'm
inviting opinions on the relative merits - and drawbacks - of natural
gas and propane.

Initial expense, usage expense, installation issues, maintenance issues,
safety, food flavor -- anything else you can think of are all fair game
for this discussion.

I do have (I mean, my twin does have) natural gas readily at hand on the
deck, so that's a minor consideration at best.

this reminds me of when the adults are talking on the peanuts cartoons.


waa waaa wahaaa w aaaaa wwwaaahaa...



s
"Tony Hwang" wrote in message
news:QY%8j.3156$hQ3.764@pd7urf3no...
Hmmm,
Do you have your own tree farm? Do you know too much barbeque is linked to
cancer risk?

In article , Smitty Two wrote:
I'm a die-hard charcoal fan myself, and wouldn't stoop to grilling on
anything else. But my evil twin was whining about all the time, effort,
and mess involved with charcoal, and actually used the g-word (gas) the
other day.

So, purely as an intellectual exercise, to amuse said evil twin, I'm
inviting opinions on the relative merits - and drawbacks - of natural
gas and propane.

The "grilled" flavor is not as rich with gas as it is with charcoal; not sure
why, but advice given me by a friend after I got my first gas grill proved
helpful: get a couple pounds of the cheapest, greasiest ground beef you can
find, and grill hamburgers. Flavor of everything else you cook after that will
be much improved.

I would not want a propane gas grill if it meant using portable tanks. Our
previous home had propane for heating, so it was a simple matter to run a line
out onto the deck. Current home has natural gas, so of course I've done the
same thing here. For me, the slight loss of flavor is more than outweighed by
the convenience of having the fuel always available, and never having to make
an "emergency" trip to the grocery for more charcoal or lighter fluid.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

http://biggreenegg.com/

Considering getting one...

a

On Dec 15, 10:29 pm, a wrote:
http://biggreenegg.com/

Considering getting one...

http://www.komodokamado.com/KomodoKa...55& Itemid=38

Got one. Here's a review:

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/productrevi...okamado/kk.htm

R

"Smitty Two" wrote in message
So, purely as an intellectual exercise, to amuse said evil twin, I'm
inviting opinions on the relative merits - and drawbacks - of natural
gas and propane.

Initial expense, usage expense, installation issues, maintenance issues,
safety, food flavor -- anything else you can think of are all fair game
for this discussion.

OK, gas is not as good as charcoal. That said, it has many advantages too.
In the summer, cooking outside it just plain better than heating up the
kitchen or overloading the AC.

If natural gas is available, go for it. Initial cost of installing will be
higher, but the convenience is so much better. Just be sure to turn the
grill off when you are done. Gas is quick and less laborious if you are
cooking after getting home from work. No ashes to fuss with after, no hot
coals to spill on the deck.

If your evil twin wants gas, tell him to skip the cheap grills and get one
that will last and work well. I have a Vermont Castings (not the Home Depot
version) but Weber, MHP, Ducane, and other make high quality units.

Tony Hwang wrote:

Hmmm,
Do you have your own tree farm? Do you know too much barbeque is
linked to cancer risk?

Grilling may be, but not barbecue. The two methods of cooking are not the
same.

--
Dave
www.davebbq.com

In article
,
Smitty Two wrote:

I'm a die-hard charcoal fan myself, and wouldn't stoop to grilling on
anything else. But my evil twin was whining about all the time, effort,
and mess involved with charcoal, and actually used the g-word (gas) the
other day.

So, purely as an intellectual exercise, to amuse said evil twin, I'm
inviting opinions on the relative merits - and drawbacks - of natural
gas and propane.

Initial expense, usage expense, installation issues, maintenance issues,
safety, food flavor -- anything else you can think of are all fair game
for this discussion.

I do have (I mean, my twin does have) natural gas readily at hand on the
deck, so that's a minor consideration at best.

My suspicions that my evil twin is crazy: CONFIRMED.

Thanks to all for your responses. I guess I have a choice of putting up
with the inconvenience of charcoal, or sacrificing flavor for
convenience. That's about what I had thought. One significant advantage
to cooking meat outside is that grease tends to go *everywhere* in the
kitchen. So a gas grill may be in my future anyway. Maybe having both
charcoal and gas available is a good compromise, as was suggested. If
so, I'll go with the NG since it's right there, and I didn't hear any
admonitions to avoid it in favor of bottled propane.

You can have convenience and flavor at the same time.

Convenience = propane portable grill

Flavor = a grill set up with a layer of much used lava rocks.

On Sun, 16 Dec 2007 11:42:30 -0500, wrote:

You can have convenience and flavor at the same time.

Convenience = propane portable grill

Flavor = a grill set up with a layer of much used lava rocks.


I can remember when all gas grills used "lava rocks".
Somehow, they looked right when grilling.

Then, they went to a layer of ceramic briquettes.
( more even heat distribution, they claimed )

My most recent gas grill came with a "Tin Hat"
( a bent piece of sheet metal, directly over the burner )
They claim it provides the same grilling, but I suspect
it's just cheaper to manufacture/ship.

????
rj

I have a propane grill and when I remodeled my kitchen I had the
plumber install a gas line and got a NG grill (which is NOT
interchangeable with a propane grill).

So now I have both. When I cook for large groups I use both at the
same time.

So far they've twice changed the type of tank or connector on the
propane grill so I had to buy new tanks and will soon need to buy a
new connector as well for my Weber grill (both grills are Weber and
the propane one is ten years old with no problems).

Not having to have two tanks, to change tanks, to worry about running
out of gas in the middle of a party-- well worth the cost of having
someone install a gas line.

The NG grill gets hotter than the propane one-- they're both Weber
grills but the NG one is newer so perhaps it's not the fuel but a
design change.

Advantages of a gas grill vs. charcoal-- no mess, it gets hot in about
ten minutes, you can almost exactly control the temperature and you
don't have to refill it if you're cooking for a long time.
Disadvantages: People who for some reason think charcoal is the only
way to grill may annoy you by acting like they're purists and you're a
heathen. And maybe it tastes different (but you can also buy smoke in
a bottle).

Shaun Eli
www.BrainChampagne.com
Brain Champagne: Clever Comedy for Smart Minds (sm)

On Dec 16, 12:27 pm, Shaun Eli
wrote:
I have a propane grill and when I remodeled my kitchen I had the
plumber install a gas line and got a NG grill (which is NOT
interchangeable with a propane grill).

So now I have both. When I cook for large groups I use both at the
same time.

So far they've twice changed the type of tank or connector on the
propane grill so I had to buy new tanks and will soon need to buy a
new connector as well for my Weber grill (both grills are Weber and
the propane one is ten years old with no problems).

Not having to have two tanks, to change tanks, to worry about running
out of gas in the middle of a party-- well worth the cost of having
someone install a gas line.

The NG grill gets hotter than the propane one-- they're both Weber
grills but the NG one is newer so perhaps it's not the fuel but a
design change.

Advantages of a gas grill vs. charcoal-- no mess, it gets hot in about
ten minutes, you can almost exactly control the temperature and you
don't have to refill it if you're cooking for a long time.
Disadvantages: People who for some reason think charcoal is the only
way to grill may annoy you by acting like they're purists and you're a
heathen. And maybe it tastes different (but you can also buy smoke in
a bottle).

Whether it's a charcoal or gas grille, the metal grills are hugely
inefficient and don't hold the heat. They use way more charcoal and
waste far more BTUs. The Big Green Egg and the Kamado type grills are
more akin to ovens with grilling capabilities. My Kamado can cook
anywhere from 160 F all the way to 700 F. I can do really slow
cooking (ten or fifteen hours) and smoking, flash cook pizzas, and
anything else you can do with a typical metal grill. As far as the
ready to cook in ten minutes thing, I have a chimney charcoal starter
that uses a piece of paper to get the coals glowing in right about ten
minutes. If I'm in a bigger rush than that, I'll use a microwave and
have a burrito. They also have gas options if you don't want to deal
with the charcoal. The downside? Well, the one I have certainly
ain't cheap, and it doesn't have acres of grilling surface. Both
tradeoffs that I was willing to make to get the substantial
advantages. Doesn't make me a purist, just someone who likes to have
their BBQ and eat it too.

R

In article , wrote:
You can have convenience and flavor at the same time.

Convenience = propane portable grill

Yeah, convenient until that portable tank runs out in the middle of cooking a
meal. The only advantage in periodic trips to the hardware store to get a new
tank, over periodic trips to the grocery store for charcoal and lighter fluid,
is that you don't have to do it as often.

Real convenience is having a grill that's connected to the house gas supply.

Flavor = a grill set up with a layer of much used lava rocks.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

On Sun, 16 Dec 2007 03:29:19 GMT, a wrote:

http://biggreenegg.com/

Considering getting one...

a
I'll stick to my 15 year old Weber.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Retired Shop Rat: 14,647 days in a GM plant.
Speak softly and carry a loaded .45
Lifetime member; Vast Right Wing Conspiricy
Web Site: www.destarr.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

David Starr wrote:
On Sun, 16 Dec 2007 03:29:19 GMT, a wrote:

http://biggreenegg.com/

Considering getting one...

a
I'll stick to my 15 year old Weber.


Good for you...

a

On Dec 16, 5:15 pm, (Doug Miller) wrote:
In article , wrote:
You can have convenience and flavor at the same time.

Convenience = propane portable grill

Yeah, convenient until that portable tank runs out in the middle of cooking a
meal. The only advantage in periodic trips to the hardware store to get a new
tank, over periodic trips to the grocery store for charcoal and lighter fluid,
is that you don't have to do it as often.

Real convenience is having a grill that's connected to the house gas supply.



Flavor = a grill set up with a layer of much used lava rocks.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.


A charcoal grll and a gas grill are two different things. If you
don't want to compromise, get both. No question the charcoal grill
wins for flavor. You can't beat a natural gas grill for
convenience. I use mine all the time, including winter. Unless you
have a super range hood, which few homes do, cooking a real steak or
similar will smoke and stink up the house. Even then, it probably
uses more energy cooking the steak and sucking a lot of air out of
your house via a real range hood compared to using the outside grill.
Just light the gas grill and the problem is solved. You can also add
a small smoke box with some wood chips to flavor foods like fish while
grilling.

If you have natural gas avail, it's a big plus over having to fool
around with tanks.

In article ,
"Dave Bugg" wrote:

Tony Hwang wrote:

Hmmm,
Do you have your own tree farm? Do you know too much barbeque is
linked to cancer risk?

Grilling may be, but not barbecue. The two methods of cooking are not the
same.

Would you elaborate on that?

In article
,
RicodJour wrote:

On Dec 16, 12:27 pm, Shaun Eli
wrote:
I have a propane grill and when I remodeled my kitchen I had the
plumber install a gas line and got a NG grill (which is NOT
interchangeable with a propane grill).

So now I have both. When I cook for large groups I use both at the
same time.

So far they've twice changed the type of tank or connector on the
propane grill so I had to buy new tanks and will soon need to buy a
new connector as well for my Weber grill (both grills are Weber and
the propane one is ten years old with no problems).

Not having to have two tanks, to change tanks, to worry about running
out of gas in the middle of a party-- well worth the cost of having
someone install a gas line.

The NG grill gets hotter than the propane one-- they're both Weber
grills but the NG one is newer so perhaps it's not the fuel but a
design change.

Advantages of a gas grill vs. charcoal-- no mess, it gets hot in about
ten minutes, you can almost exactly control the temperature and you
don't have to refill it if you're cooking for a long time.
Disadvantages: People who for some reason think charcoal is the only
way to grill may annoy you by acting like they're purists and you're a
heathen. And maybe it tastes different (but you can also buy smoke in
a bottle).

Whether it's a charcoal or gas grille, the metal grills are hugely
inefficient and don't hold the heat. They use way more charcoal and
waste far more BTUs. The Big Green Egg and the Kamado type grills are
more akin to ovens with grilling capabilities. My Kamado can cook
anywhere from 160 F all the way to 700 F. I can do really slow
cooking (ten or fifteen hours) and smoking, flash cook pizzas, and
anything else you can do with a typical metal grill. As far as the
ready to cook in ten minutes thing, I have a chimney charcoal starter
that uses a piece of paper to get the coals glowing in right about ten
minutes. If I'm in a bigger rush than that, I'll use a microwave and
have a burrito. They also have gas options if you don't want to deal
with the charcoal. The downside? Well, the one I have certainly
ain't cheap, and it doesn't have acres of grilling surface. Both
tradeoffs that I was willing to make to get the substantial
advantages. Doesn't make me a purist, just someone who likes to have
their BBQ and eat it too.

R

I'll look into those, thanks for the option.

In article ,
wrote:

You can have convenience and flavor at the same time.

Convenience = propane portable grill

Flavor = a grill set up with a layer of much used lava rocks.

So I can add lava rocks to any gas grill? How do they enhance the flavor?

In article , Smitty Two wrote:
In article ,
wrote:

You can have convenience and flavor at the same time.

Convenience = propane portable grill

Flavor = a grill set up with a layer of much used lava rocks.

So I can add lava rocks to any gas grill?

Not necessarily. There needs to be a rack of some sort to keep them off the
burner (you gotta have room for the flames to come out).

How do they enhance the flavor?

They get hot. Grease drips on them, and smokes. The smoke is what produces
most of the "grilled" flavor.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

what's to elaborate on?

grilling is different from barbecue. Most people grill. Very few actually
barbecue.

s


"Smitty Two" wrote in message
news
In article ,
"Dave Bugg" wrote:

Tony Hwang wrote:

Hmmm,
Do you have your own tree farm? Do you know too much barbeque is
linked to cancer risk?

Grilling may be, but not barbecue. The two methods of cooking are not the
same.

Would you elaborate on that?

Smitty Two wrote:
In article ,
"Dave Bugg" wrote:

Tony Hwang wrote:

Hmmm,
Do you have your own tree farm? Do you know too much barbeque is
linked to cancer risk?

Grilling may be, but not barbecue. The two methods of cooking are
not the same.

Would you elaborate on that?

Grilling is the application of high, direct heat for the fast cooking of
food: fuel choice is optional.

Barbecue is the product of the application of a low temperature over a long
period of time, most authentically from an indirect wood or charcoal fueled
fire, to tough cuts of meat with high levels of collagen and sufficient
marbeling.

Cooking barbecue tenderizes the meat because of it's long period of cooking
time. Lean meats not only have no benefit from being barbecued, they will
actually toughen up from prolonged cooking. Grilling is most effective with
cuts of meat that are naturally tender. Tough cuts of meat will not become
tender when grilled, they need a far longer period of time for cooking.

There are many methods of cooking which can tenderize tough cuts of meat:
stewing, boiling, oven roasting, etc., none of which is bbq. Barbecue is not
a piece of equipment (that's either a grill or a pit or, if preserving meat,
a smoker), or a party where one grills (that would be a cook-out). Barbecue
is a cuisine.

The BBQ FAQ, which is used for alt.food.barbecue may be of help:
http://www.eaglequest.com/~bbq/faq2/toc.html

--
Dave
www.davebbq.com

Smitty Two wrote:
In article ,
"Dave Bugg" wrote:

Tony Hwang wrote:

Hmmm,
Do you have your own tree farm? Do you know too much barbeque is
linked to cancer risk?

Grilling may be, but not barbecue. The two methods of cooking are
not the same.

Would you elaborate on that?

Barbecue uses (relatively) low temperature and indirect heat, sometimes for
days.

It takes a while to cook a whole critter.

Smitty Two wrote:
In article
,
RicodJour wrote:

On Dec 16, 12:27 pm, Shaun Eli
wrote:
I have a propane grill and when I remodeled my kitchen I had the
plumber install a gas line and got a NG grill (which is NOT
interchangeable with a propane grill).

So now I have both. When I cook for large groups I use both at the
same time.

So far they've twice changed the type of tank or connector on the
propane grill so I had to buy new tanks and will soon need to buy a
new connector as well for my Weber grill (both grills are Weber and
the propane one is ten years old with no problems).

Not having to have two tanks, to change tanks, to worry about
running out of gas in the middle of a party-- well worth the cost
of having someone install a gas line.

The NG grill gets hotter than the propane one-- they're both Weber
grills but the NG one is newer so perhaps it's not the fuel but a
design change.

Advantages of a gas grill vs. charcoal-- no mess, it gets hot in
about ten minutes, you can almost exactly control the temperature
and you don't have to refill it if you're cooking for a long time.
Disadvantages: People who for some reason think charcoal is the
only way to grill may annoy you by acting like they're purists and
you're a heathen. And maybe it tastes different (but you can also
buy smoke in a bottle).

Whether it's a charcoal or gas grille, the metal grills are hugely
inefficient and don't hold the heat. They use way more charcoal and
waste far more BTUs. The Big Green Egg and the Kamado type grills
are more akin to ovens with grilling capabilities. My Kamado can
cook anywhere from 160 F all the way to 700 F. I can do really slow
cooking (ten or fifteen hours) and smoking, flash cook pizzas, and
anything else you can do with a typical metal grill. As far as the
ready to cook in ten minutes thing, I have a chimney charcoal starter
that uses a piece of paper to get the coals glowing in right about
ten minutes. If I'm in a bigger rush than that, I'll use a
microwave and have a burrito. They also have gas options if you
don't want to deal with the charcoal. The downside? Well, the one
I have certainly ain't cheap, and it doesn't have acres of grilling
surface. Both tradeoffs that I was willing to make to get the
substantial advantages. Doesn't make me a purist, just someone who
likes to have their BBQ and eat it too.

R

I'll look into those, thanks for the option.

Forget the Kamado company, there are huge problems with the product's
quality control and materials, customer service, and delivery times. I own
one, and have had no problems at all; in fact I love it. But the company and
its owner have since left a wake of scandal and broken promises that has
made me vow never to buy a product from them ever again.

Primo, the Big Green Egg, Kamodo-Kamado, and a few others will give you the
best product. For a single backyard piece of outdoor cooking equipment, the
ceramic pit will do everything you need it to do, and in a superior way. I
have not found another outdoor grill, or bbq pit, or oven which will do as
good a job as one of these ceramic pits will do.

http://www.komodokamado.com/KomodoKamadoNew/index.php

http://www.primogrill.com/

http://biggreenegg.com/

--
Dave
www.davebbq.com

On Dec 17, 12:53 pm, "Dave Bugg" wrote:
Smitty Two wrote:
In article
,
RicodJour wrote:

On Dec 16, 12:27 pm, Shaun Eli
wrote:
I have a propane grill and when I remodeled my kitchen I had the
plumber install a gas line and got a NG grill (which is NOT
interchangeable with a propane grill).

So now I have both. When I cook for large groups I use both at the
same time.

So far they've twice changed the type of tank or connector on the
propane grill so I had to buy new tanks and will soon need to buy a
new connector as well for my Weber grill (both grills are Weber and
the propane one is ten years old with no problems).

Not having to have two tanks, to change tanks, to worry about
running out of gas in the middle of a party-- well worth the cost
of having someone install a gas line.

The NG grill gets hotter than the propane one-- they're both Weber
grills but the NG one is newer so perhaps it's not the fuel but a
design change.

Advantages of a gas grill vs. charcoal-- no mess, it gets hot in
about ten minutes, you can almost exactly control the temperature
and you don't have to refill it if you're cooking for a long time.
Disadvantages: People who for some reason think charcoal is the
only way to grill may annoy you by acting like they're purists and
you're a heathen. And maybe it tastes different (but you can also
buy smoke in a bottle).

Whether it's a charcoal or gas grille, the metal grills are hugely
inefficient and don't hold the heat. They use way more charcoal and
waste far more BTUs. The Big Green Egg and the Kamado type grills
are more akin to ovens with grilling capabilities. My Kamado can
cook anywhere from 160 F all the way to 700 F. I can do really slow
cooking (ten or fifteen hours) and smoking, flash cook pizzas, and
anything else you can do with a typical metal grill. As far as the
ready to cook in ten minutes thing, I have a chimney charcoal starter
that uses a piece of paper to get the coals glowing in right about
ten minutes. If I'm in a bigger rush than that, I'll use a
microwave and have a burrito. They also have gas options if you
don't want to deal with the charcoal. The downside? Well, the one
I have certainly ain't cheap, and it doesn't have acres of grilling
surface. Both tradeoffs that I was willing to make to get the
substantial advantages. Doesn't make me a purist, just someone who
likes to have their BBQ and eat it too.

R

I'll look into those, thanks for the option.

Forget the Kamado company, there are huge problems with the product's
quality control and materials, customer service, and delivery times. I own
one, and have had no problems at all; in fact I love it. But the company and
its owner have since left a wake of scandal and broken promises that has
made me vow never to buy a product from them ever again.

Primo, the Big Green Egg, Kamodo-Kamado, and a few others will give you the
best product. For a single backyard piece of outdoor cooking equipment, the
ceramic pit will do everything you need it to do, and in a superior way. I
have not found another outdoor grill, or bbq pit, or oven which will do as
good a job as one of these ceramic pits will do.

http://www.komodokamado.com/KomodoKamadoNew/index.php

http://www.primogrill.com/

http://biggreenegg.com/

You've gotta watch that spelling, Dave. Particularly with companies
that have similar names. You got it right in the URL, but got the
name wrong in the in-paragraph list.

I totally agree with the company assessment, though. I ran across the
Kamado initially, was sold on the idea, then tried to place an order.
I couldn't - I mean, I literally couldn't. The customer service
sucked _big_ time. I was leaving messages like, "Hi. I've called
several times and I haven't received a reply. I am ready to place the
order but I need to talk to you on the phone. I want to give you
money. Please return my call ASAP." No return call. I was a bit
annoyed, did a bit more searching and ran across Dennis and the Komodo
Kamado. Vastly improved product. Dennis actually stepped into the
void that Kamado created when they pulled their operation out of SE
Asia and relocated to Mexico. Dennis saw the opportunity and
approached the factory that had been making them and made
improvements. So, as far as I'm concerned, I escaped a bullet.

R

On Mon, 17 Dec 2007 06:17:40 -0800, Smitty Two
wrote:

In article ,
wrote:

You can have convenience and flavor at the same time.

Convenience = propane portable grill

Flavor = a grill set up with a layer of much used lava rocks.

So I can add lava rocks to any gas grill? How do they enhance the flavor?

Animal fats absorb into the lava rocks. They are not wasted.
They create plenty of smoke, flavor, and cancer.

On Mon, 17 Dec 2007 06:17:40 -0800, Smitty Two
wrote:

In article ,
wrote:

You can have convenience and flavor at the same time.

Convenience = propane portable grill

Flavor = a grill set up with a layer of much used lava rocks.

So I can add lava rocks to any gas grill? How do they enhance the flavor?

Most modern day grills have metal shelves that deflect most of the
dripping grease away from the flame and into a drip pan. The grease
will smoke and flavor the meat after hitting the shelves but most of
the grease just deflects away.

The older grills had a second shelf below the cooking shelf. This
second shelf held the lava rocks. If you want to use lava rocks
today you have to convert the grill. Many grill housings still have
the shelf detents cast into the insides of the grill. Remove the
deflector shelves and find an appropriate shelf and buy some
lava rocks. The grill takes longer to heat up but has a much more
even heat and creates more flavor especially after the rocks get a
few uses in them.

On Dec 15, 11:09 pm, Meat Plow wrote:
On Sat, 15 Dec 2007 18:14:30 -0800, Smitty Two wrote:
I'm a die-hard charcoal fan myself, and wouldn't stoop to grilling on
anything else. But my evil twin was whining about all the time, effort,
and mess involved with charcoal, and actually used the g-word (gas) the
other day.

So, purely as an intellectual exercise, to amuse said evil twin, I'm
inviting opinions on the relative merits - and drawbacks - of natural
gas and propane.

Initial expense, usage expense, installation issues, maintenance issues,
safety, food flavor -- anything else you can think of are all fair game
for this discussion.

I do have (I mean, my twin does have) natural gas readily at hand on the
deck, so that's a minor consideration at best.

Charcoal and mesquite for flavor, gas for convenience. Been grillin for
almost 3 decades and that's basically what it boils (or broils) down to.
Most modern gas grills use indirect heating and depend on fat dripping on
hot metal deflectors to make smoke to flavor the meat. Doesn't work on
lean cuts of meat or lean ground beef. I have both grills and when I want
to grill good meat I use charcoal. If I'm cooking for kids, family etc,
gas is ok.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Charcoal and mesquite for flavor, gas for convenience

A smoker box, a supply of various types of wood chips and gas for both
flavor and convenience.

20 degrees outside this weekend...rolled the gas BBQ over to sliding
door on the deck and grilled up a couple of pizzas. Yum!

i think natural gas and propane cook about the same , so id go nat
gas if you have close hookup, no tank filling.. true charcoal is good
flavor and all, but i also like to flame cook stuff quick some of the
time with less mess .. lucas

http://www.minibite.com/america/malone.htm