We get asked this question regularly … ” Which BBQ is better ? Gas or Charcoal ? ”

To best answer this question, you need to consider your Lifestyle and Entertaining wants and needs and the particular ocassion that you need to relate to ? Eg. having a Large Gathering of 20 people ? or An intimate Dinner Party for 8 ? ,   Weekday or Saturday Afternoon BBQ for the Family ?

Gas is by far the most popular BBQs sold now - Most people in today’s busy world want to start cooking with a minium of prep time. Gas bbqs allow you to preheat within a few minutes and you are ready to go.

However, Charcoal - solid fuel bbqs - using either charcoal briquettes or wood lump charcoal offers the better unique,  delicious  flavour & aroma  BUT prep time will by on the short side of a hour. You will need to prep the bbq and allow the charcoals time to heat up sufficiently to be ready to grill or roast. This time will take 40mins to 1 hour.

The Flavour that you obtain from Charcoal fire is undeniably the BEST ! Gas cannot replicate this flavour. Some of the latest Gas BBQs do attempt to come close though. Also Gas removes a few of the variables in maintaing the heat - So one could say that you could get a more predicable outcome with more consistency from a Gas BBQ either LPG ( Bottled Gas ) or Natural Gas ( Town Gas from a home bayonett fitting in the backyard)

I personally have both barbecues - a Gas unit for entertaining ( Must say - I cant live without my Gas barbie ) that we use almost daily.

A Charcoal Kettle for the moments when I want to savour the taste, smell, touch. Also great for entertaing those special friends or family or for long lazy lunches in the backard.  What could be more fun and what can bring my family together like this ?  It also brings out the primitive instincts in me. Remember our ancestors were cooking over open fires  thousands of years ago.

Tell us what you think, What works for you ? or What recipes or Special tips or hints that we can share ! Also we would love to know your BBQ Recipes that we can pass around.

PS. Anyone aware of any hints for BBQ Beef ( Dinosaur ) Ribs ?

Cheers,

JOE

This entry was posted on Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 10:40 am and is filed under BBQ Choices. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.