BEST
SUMMER
EVER
HUFFINGTON
05.26.13
CRAIG GOLDWYN
LIFESTYLE
FOOD
L
GETTY IMAGES/JOHNER RF
are equal such as cooking temp,
most folks can’t tell the difference
in the taste between charcoal- and
gas-grilled food. If you use strong
flavored rubs, marinades and sauces, you will never notice taste differences. You may think you can,
but blind tastings have shown that
you probably can’t. So if there is
little taste difference, the choice
comes down to functionality.
CHARCOAL: PROS AND CONS
Charcoal purists are vehement
and border on snobbery. They who
would never ever never own a gas
grill. They claim it is the flavor,
but for me, a lot of it is the thrill of
playing with fire and the ritual.
The real reason to buy a charcoal grill is that charcoal can get
hotter than standard gas grills,
and heat is what you need to
get steaks and lamb crisp on the
outside and red or pink on the
inside. Charcoal grills typically
cook up to 500F. If you use a lot
of coals or if the coals are raised
close to the cooking surface, they
can cook as hot as 700F. When
I get my hands on top quality
lamb or beef, I use bricks to raise
the charcoal grate on my Weber
Kettle to within one inch of the
meat. My favorite charcoal grills
have a crank that lets you raise
and lower the charcoal bed.
The down side: Charcoal is dirty
to handle; it can be hard to light;
it takes about 15 minutes longer to
get up to temp; there can be flareups that can burn the food, and
that is a health risk; it is hard to
tell what temp you are cooking at;
the temperature cannot be turned
down rapidly; during long cooks it
slowly loses heat and you need to
add more charcoal; charcoal grills
rarely have rotisseries; and there
is a lot of ash to clean up after.
Most of these problems are
PRO:
Charcoal
grills can get
hotter than
gas grills,
which is
preferable for
steaks and
lamb.