Duke said:In reply to tuna55 :
Charcoal may be easy, but it's not easier than turning 2 valves and pushing one button.
I don't agree. Crumple up some paper, pile charcoal into the chimney, set it on fire.
Duke said:In reply to tuna55 :
Charcoal may be easy, but it's not easier than turning 2 valves and pushing one button.
I don't agree. Crumple up some paper, pile charcoal into the chimney, set it on fire.
Even worse.
We bought our son a Weber electric grill a few years back, because apartment, but he's since moved in with his brother so it became surplus. It's in my garage now and it gets 75% of the workload.
I have charcoal and propane, but find that propane has no advantage over either, so it rarely gets used.
Years ago my FIL, who was afraid of propane, bought an electric grill and I laughed.
Oh, how I laughed.
When it broke and he replaced it with a new one I took it home, bypassed the switch, used it for years and grew to quite like it.
Kingsford was invented because Henry Ford wanted something to do with all the wood scraps leftover from building Model T bodies.
It's wood based but makes things taste awful.
Use hardwood lump if you can.
tuna55 said:Duke said:In reply to tuna55 :
Charcoal may be easy, but it's not easier than turning 2 valves and pushing one button.
I don't agree. Crumple up some paper, pile charcoal into the chimney, set it on fire.
If we include finding the paper (in this paperless world), every step of that is more difficult than any step of propane.
Propanecougarmellencamp said:tuna55 said:Duke said:In reply to tuna55 :
Charcoal may be easy, but it's not easier than turning 2 valves and pushing one button.
I don't agree. Crumple up some paper, pile charcoal into the chimney, set it on fire.
If we include finding the paper (in this paperless world), every step of that is more difficult than any step of propane.
We'll just have to call this one a draw between us and our opinions then.
In reply to Propanecougarmellencamp :
It's sad to see a grown man defeated by something as simple as lighting a fire.
ShawnG said:In reply to Propanecougarmellencamp :
It's sad to see a grown man defeated by something as simple as lighting a fire.
Who the hell said I was grown?
I liken this debate to be the grilling equivalent of automatic vs manuals-
Sure, automatics (propane) are easier to use universally, and are probably more consistent and 'idiot-proof'...
...but I still like to row my own gears (and use charcoal) whenever I can! I understand the benefits of both, I own both, and use both.
If I need to make meat done and don't wanna bugger up the kitchen and wait for coals to heat, it's propane.
But when I want to enjoy myself and relax and truly enjoy a meal/life, it's charcoal and the 6-speed.
ShawnG said:In reply to Propanecougarmellencamp :
It's sad to see a grown man defeated by something as simple as lighting a fire.
I'm certainly not defeated by it; I just can't see how you can claim it is physically easier than turning 2 valves and pushing a button.
Duke said:ShawnG said:In reply to Propanecougarmellencamp :
It's sad to see a grown man defeated by something as simple as lighting a fire.
I'm certainly not defeated by it; I just can't see how you can claim it is physically easier than turning 2 valves and pushing a button.
like this:
I claim that it is easier than... Ha!
Really, it's easier for everyone. Nobody has to fiddle with the valves (is it closed? this thing is sticky. What's that smell? Is there a leak?) and the igniters (which always fail anyway, so you're blowing propane all over for a minute or two before you give up and get a lighter), and the kids and wife are more leery of flammable gas than they are a pile of lump charcoal in a chimney. When I am doing it, it's still easier. Also better at everything else other than speed.
Electric's even easier and when you eat I bet you can't tell the difference between electric and propane
There is no way turning on a propane grille is harder than lighting a fire. If you list all the ways the propane grill can fail, well, what if the charcoal is wet? What if you're out of matches? What if a bear is between you and the charcoal bag? What if, in an intergalactic incident, all charcoal has been reformed my nanomachines into C4 and lighting it results in serious damage to your neighborhood?
I have a 15 year old propane grill and it's had to have a couple pieces replaced. But it is stored outside, and the same would be true of a charcoal grill. If you fail to maintain your equipment you can not blame the equipment.
Mr. Peabody said:Electric's even easier and when you eat I bet you can't tell the difference between electric and propane
Tell me more about these electric grills. I've never heard of one, unless you're talking about something like a Foreman?
In reply to mtn :
I believe it's the same body as the smaller propane units, they look the same to me. We have the biggest one with the optional stand
Weber, so it's not cheap, but they are very well built.
Propane is for those who value convenience over quality, and I get that. You're still wrong.
Charcoal.
Duke said:ShawnG said:In reply to Propanecougarmellencamp :
It's sad to see a grown man defeated by something as simple as lighting a fire.
I'm certainly not defeated by it; I just can't see how you can claim it is physically easier than turning 2 valves and pushing a button.
Because after first few months, the button doesn't work anymore. And if you can find replacements they're just as costly as buying another grill. At least that's been my experience with the last 20 or so propane grills I've gone through in my life.
Then there's the really annoying ones that have the igniter tied to the dial.
And running out of propane during a cook is a real pain. I KNOW my chimney will give me 4 hours on lump, 6 on kingsford. Without throwing the tank on an actual scale, I don't know if I have an hour for chicken or a day for roasting something in the tank, because even though they make gauges for them, those don't work either.
Propane for grilly things when the job is to get the food cooked and not spend 15 minutes digging out the paraphernalia to get ready to cook.
Charcoal or sticks for grilly and smokey things when the job is to hang out drink beer and cook food.
Electric for smokey things for when I have better things to do than hang out and babysit a fire.
If you can't get equal food off of all of them then you need to learn how to use your equipment.
RevRico said:Duke said:ShawnG said:In reply to Propanecougarmellencamp :
It's sad to see a grown man defeated by something as simple as lighting a fire.
I'm certainly not defeated by it; I just can't see how you can claim it is physically easier than turning 2 valves and pushing a button.
Because after first few months, the button doesn't work anymore. And if you can find replacements they're just as costly as buying another grill. At least that's been my experience with the last 20 or so propane grills I've gone through in my life.
Months? 20 grills? I think you need to take better care of your equipment! As I said, my grill is 14 years old and works fine. And it lives outside, just under a cover that I replace if it wears out.
RevRico said:Duke said:ShawnG said:In reply to Propanecougarmellencamp :
It's sad to see a grown man defeated by something as simple as lighting a fire.
I'm certainly not defeated by it; I just can't see how you can claim it is physically easier than turning 2 valves and pushing a button.
Because after first few months, the button doesn't work anymore. And if you can find replacements they're just as costly as buying another grill. At least that's been my experience with the last 20 or so propane grills I've gone through in my life.
In 32 years I have owned 4 - maybe 5 - gas grills and I have never, not once, had an ignitor button fail to work.
The burners eventually rust out unless you get stainless ones, agreed. But I have literally never had an ignitor fail to light the fire if there is propane present at the burner.
RevRico said:Duke said:ShawnG said:In reply to Propanecougarmellencamp :
It's sad to see a grown man defeated by something as simple as lighting a fire.
I'm certainly not defeated by it; I just can't see how you can claim it is physically easier than turning 2 valves and pushing a button.
Because after first few months, the button doesn't work anymore. And if you can find replacements they're just as costly as buying another grill. At least that's been my experience with the last 20 or so propane grills I've gone through in my life.
(I don't care about the argument, because I do slightly prefer charcoal but use propane because it is far easier for me)
Ignitors are cheap. 100% of the time when mine has stopped working, in my grill from 2016, it has required a new AA battery. That has happened twice. Also, every spring I take out the pancake compressor, disconnect all the propane lines, and blow out all the cobwebs. I use the grill enough that that probably isn't an issue, but it is a force of habit from when I was a kid and we would go 3 months without touching it.
Also I am still rocking my uncovered Weber which Tunawife bought fifteen years ago, and have replaced exactly zero things. Last week TunaKid 1 used it for a blacksmithing project which involved wheeling it around the house, and I had to drill a hole for a cotter pin to keep the wheel on. That's the extent of my repairs in my ownership.
I've had similar luck with igniters. I've never had one work reliably.
I've never spent top dollar on a grill either, unless it was for my kids.
Ok, here is a somewhat related question: I have tried, and failed, to fry outdoors in the winter. Oil doesn't get hot enough. Anyone have a solution to that? Heat shields around the whole ordeal?
My igniters fail long before everything else rusts out.
My current gasser is the best I've ever had, $100 from ALDI, I've still had to replace the burners twice and need to weld in a new bottom and it's only 4 years old. And it uses matches to start because the on dial ignitors lasted about a week.
We'd bought a fancy one when I was younger trying to break the string of buying a new cheap propane grill every other year. Like $600 in 90s money, so that's like $2k today. Igniters failed within 3 months, replacements were unfindable. Within 2 years everything but the stainless shell was rotted away. Never bought another fancy one again.
Meanwhile, my 22 inch Weber kettle I found on the side of the road in 2010 is still kicking. I've bought a grate and made a new ash catcher for it and that's it.
For the grill, charcoal. I used to only use the lump hardwood stuff, but switched over to regular briquettes and no one ever noticed a difference in taste. I have never owned a bottle of lighter fluid or whatever it's called and I don't use the charcoal that's been soaked in the stuff either. Just a little bit of paper and a chimney starter. In fact, sometimes I only use the grill as a stand for the chimney starter and I put my cast iron skillet directly on the chimney starter. If I'm in a hurry, I can use the air compressor to fan the flames to great effect as well.
Last year for Christmas, however, my wife got me one of those Blackstone griddles. It's the first propane accessory I've ever had that wasn't for camping. Since there's a giant slab of metal between the flame and the food, I can't imagine that the source of the BTUs would ever have any noticeable effect on the flavors in the food. I've been using that griddle like crazy to make all sorts of stuff and the grill has seen a lot less usage.
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