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The sun is out, the skies are blue and it’s a beautiful day for a barbecue! Gas versus Charcoal Barbecues – the debate continues!
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Gas versus Charcoal Barbecues – the debate continues
The sun is out, the skies are blue and it’s a beautiful day for a barbecue!
According to Ainslie, in his Big Cook Out book:
"There are two basic types of barbecue available - charcoal or gas - and whichever you choose, they both work on the same basic principles. The food is placed on a rack over the heat and, as it cooks, it releases melted fat and cooking juices. These fall off on to the heat source (charcoal, coals, lava rocks or metal bars or plates), which converts this moisture into smoke that then rises up and flavours the food. Contrary to popular belief, charcoal in itself imparts no actual flavour - it is only the smoke from the cooking juices and any aromatics added to the coals that actually add any flavour to the food - so you do, in fact, get that same outdoor flavour when you use gas too."
Barbecue traditionalists may look down on gas BBQ’s, but no one can argue that cooking over gas is quicker and easier than using charcoal, however, the pro-charcoal argument goes a gas barbecue comes at a price of giving up taste for convenience.
Fighting the corner of taste for the gas BBQ are the pro-gas-grillers who believe you can still have a flavour full dinner if you prefer cooking over gas plus you would appreciate the ease of being able to come home from work and have a grilled dinner on the table in less than an hour.
Things to consider when buying a BBQ:
Time
How much time do you want to spend in preparing your barbecue? The flames of a charcoal barbecue take over half an hour to die down to a white cinder state before you can start putting meat on the grill grid whereas a gas BBQ is almost instant – may take a few minutes to heat up but otherwise they are pretty much immediate.
Convenience
Probably the biggest consideration, next to cleaning, is convenience – if you are entertaining throughout the day, with family and friends popping in you may want to consider a gas barbecue where you can turn the heat on and off on an as need basis, whereas the charcoal barbeque needs more attention and looking after to keep the flames alive and hot. Gas has constant and easy heat supply.
Cleaning
Used coals and dirty grill grids need to be cleaned and cleared soon after the embers have cooled on a charcoal BBQ. The grill grid can be really hard to clean as the fat burns onto them so easily. Lots of soaking and scrubbing with wire wool required! Gas is fairly easy to clean, however, more complex BBQ’s can be a little annoying to wash too. Either way, a good cleaning product is probably worth investing in and readily available off your local supermarket shelf.
Taste
There are lots of conflicting opinions and debates on the gas versus charcoal BBQ - whether you can really tell the difference between meat cooked on gas or charcoal. The most common question is if gas cooked meat tastes better than traditional charcoal? Interestingly enough, the question is never reversed! As the discussion carries on, it's clearly the natural desired smoky taste in charcoal cooking that the BBQ hopes to achieve.
Make this summer the best one yet by entertaining all your family and friends in your garden with a barbecue party and top it with a gas or charcoal BBQ from Garden Chic. We have a wide range of barbecues; we even have indoor BBQs so you can get that summer feel when it is not so welcoming outside. All products are carefully selected from the most reputable BBQ brands on the market today. They are easy to assemble and use and most importantly, always provide good quality cooking.
