Read This Before You Buy a Grill
In this not-at-all-biased post I break down some of the different grill options available to consumers, including charcoal grills (show me the flavor), gas grills (they are convenient), electric grills, and smokers (you should own one).
You can find advantages and disadvantages (hint: there are no disadvantages to owning a smoker) to owning each type of grill. And if you already own a grill that isn’t working, think before you replace it. I’m willing to bet you can fix it up in no time with a little help from eReplacementParts.
Charcoal Grills
The classic grill type, charcoal grills are generally inexpensive and easy to use. If you’re a grill purist, then you probably don’t need this article. You already know what you need, and it’s a charcoal grill. While they lack some of the temperature controls of their gas-powered brethren, the right grillmaster can easily move coals around to create hot and warm cooking surfaces. And since charcoal burns hotter than gas, you can do a better job of searing your meats. Charcoal will also give meat that smokey flavor that’s hard to recreate with gas or electric grills.
Of course, one of the downsides to a charcoal grill is the price of charcoal itself. More expensive than gas, using charcoal frequently (if you’re like me, that means four times a week during the summer) can become pricey. There’s also the question of what to do with all that ash when you’re done cooking. And, of course, charcoal requires patience. You can turn on a gas grill, heat the grates, and start cooking in under 10 minutes. With charcoal you may wait up to 45 for the coals to burn down to the proper cooking temperatures. But for us patient purists, options other than charcoal simply don’t exist–unless we’re talking smokers.
Gas Grills
The most popular type of backyard grill, gas grills offer a lot of cooking control without the long wait. With gas grills you can cook your entire meal at once. You don’t have to move coals around or wait for them to reach different temperatures. If you have two or more burners you can set one on hot for meats such as chicken and one to medium for vegetables or red meats, and then throw anything that needs indirect heat on the racks above. You won’t find more convenience with any other grills on this list. Unfortunately, convenience often comes at the cost of flavor.
True, some gas grills come with optional smoker boxes, but these won’t provide the true smokey flavor you can get from charcoal grills or smokers. You will also spend more on a gas grill than a charcoal grill, though using propane or a natural gas line will probably result in breaking even over the life of the grill.
Electric Grills
Good for cooking indoors or out, electric grills can be great for saving space, but won’t pack in flavor like other grills. My advice: don’t go electric unless circumstances force you to go electric. If you live in a city and either don’t possess a balcony or have a landlord who won’t let you put a grill out there (almost always the case due to fire hazards), then this is the route for you. You’ll get a similar grilling effect, but without any of the smoke.
You can find large electric grills, but many times these won’t meet the code for an apartment or condo. If you end up using a smaller model, size will become a problem as you may only fit one or two cuts of meat on the grill at a time. Grilling some vegetables on electric grills that use metal plates rather than a grilling grate may be entirely impossible. And of course, your meats won’t have that smokey flavor you can get from charcoal and smoker box gas grills.
Smokers
Smokers cook food slowly and pack it full of flavor. Most people will buy a smoker as an attachment to an existing grill or a stand-alone unit that can supplement their cooking goals. So chances are, you’ll choose one of the models above before buying a smoker. But I’m going to include smokers on this list because I love them. Smokers use wood chips to cook meats very slowly, leaving traces of the source wood lingering in the cuts. This results in very flavorful, tender cuts of meat. Due to the slow cooking nature of smokers, they do better with larger slabs of meat, so steak and chicken breast will do better on a charcoal grill. In the end, though, why cook a chicken breast when you can cook the entire chicken or a whole pig using a smoker?
Exactly. There is no good reason. There are no downsides to smokers. Everyone should own one. But if you need a charcoal grill, too, I will understand.
