The All Important Summer BBQ Poll

[mitch]

Egg

Phil--go for it! I am trying my darndest to talk my middle brother into getting one. He is the true grillmiester! I have had mine for about a year and a half and I guarantee that if my brother had one, he would be teaching me stuff within three weeks. It is like a cult with these grills.

My oldest brother prefers to sit back and watch when we all get together and grill. He typically fixes himself a scotch and water, lights up a stogie and sit on the sidelines. He will be the first to sample any and all morsels. His wife is the griller, and he is quite happy with that. He is much happier doing wood working or PC building/repair.

Jonathan--I did not realize Weber was making the ranch series--thanks for the link. That looks like a nice, big grill and I'll bet you could turn out some series food on that!

 

[kenwashesmonday]

We only use charcoal.  With a chimney starter and 3 sheets of newspaper the fire is ready in 20 minutes every time, no stinky lighter fluid needed.  Kingsford charcoal burns the longest, we can roast a whole chicken without adding more.  The nicer Weber kettle BBQ's with the pot on the bottom to catch the ashes makes it a breeze to empty.

 

Ken D.

 

[philcobendixduo]

Long-time charcoal now uses gas

All we ever had growing up was charcoal. In the 1960's, my Dad bought an electric charcoal starter that I still have and used every time I grilled. Just put a few briquettes in, put the electric starter over them, pile on some more briquettes, plug it in for 10 minutes, remove starter (trying not to dislodge the pile too much), wait 15 minutes or so and the coals are ready - just spread them out and start cooking. Worked like a charm every time. As I grew older, I became impatient waiting for the coals to get hot enough to cook and finally bought a Cuisinart portable gas grill. I got the optional stand for it so it's not really so portable now but I don't take it anywhere anyway. While I enjoy being able to start cooking within minutes of turning it on, I don't like how grease builds up on the inside and has to be cleaned frequently. With the charcoal, I would always put foil under the briquettes and then just throw the whole lot away after it cooled down - no mess to clean up.
As far as taste goes, I don't notice much difference - it's just a convenience factor for me to go with gas.

 

[petek]

We're not much into bbq which surprised me when the other half went out and bought a new bigger propane grill with a side burner etc 3 years ago.. Our previous one had rusted away mostly from lack of use. So far this year I cooked two hot dogs on it and he hasn't touched it at all which is pretty much what happened last year as well. It's way too big... a little single burner would have sufficed.

Growing up I don't think gas/propane bbq's were even invented at the time. Dad had a simple charcoal one on those tripod legs and it mostly got used when we went camping along with the Coleman stove.