/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>15948114
Propane is easier, charcoal has more flavor, I have woods on my property so I usually just use old branches and shit.

>>15948114
>i got a really cheap charcoal one and am not sure if i'm feeling it
Do you often purchase things you don’t really want and then ask internet randos how you’re supposed to feel about said purchase?

Worth it to go for a cheap wood pellet grill.
You can grill or smoke with it. Clean up is easy, I don’t know of a downside personally besides price.

>>15948163
>Do you often purchase things you don’t really want and then ask internet randos how you’re supposed to feel about said purchase?
perhaps
it was $20 and i was curios.
hard as hell to get the fucking charcoal to burn

>>15948114

>>15948114
should my charcoal grill be smoking like a ton?
cooked on it like that and the food tasted okay so i assume it's fine but idk

>>15948114

>>15948175
>hard as hell to get the fucking charcoal to burn
Chimney starter.
You can buy a commercial one, or you can make one out of a tall can - chunky soup can or metal coffee can are good starting points.
Once you get 6 or 7 briquettes going, you can dump cold ones on top and they'll start burning in about 10 minutes.

>>15948114
Grillings pretty great anon, you should definitely try it.
>charcoal or gas
Propane is “cleaner” and doesn’t leave as much of a taste on the food as charcoal does, but some like that taste. You can sperg out over carcinogens too but honestly there’s so much shit out there that we don’t even have a part of that could potentially maybe give you cancer that is a moot point unless you’re huffing charcoal fumes all day indoors or some shit like that. Charcoal also takes longer to preheat and needs constant attention to the temperature, while gas grills can not only preheat and retain temps much easier and quicker, but also reach higher average temperature overall. Its really a question of preference, restaurants for example tend to go heavy on gas but consider how quickly smoke can fill up inside, whereas an outdoors Southern style barbecue pretty much requires charcoal. All in all just keep in mind that butane is bastard gas and you can’t really go wrong with either.
>a gas grill is worth its price if you’re into grilling if you ask me though

>>15948459
how bad is charcoal for you exactly?
i just wanted more ways to make burgers desu

>>15948440
Is it possible to do so without a chimney burner? I have one but it always felt like unnecessary hassle to toss em in the grill. Also what's the best way to add more charcoal to the grill? I tend to add too little and just tossing more coals in doesn't seem to help much

should i be using a lot of lighter fluid?

>>15948568
I would only ever use a chimney for lump charcoal. I never use it for briquets.

>>15948566
There’s an argument to be made for propane being inherently healthier, but IMO unless you are already fucked in the health department its like cutting charcoal will turn you into Superman, though breathing that shit in certainly isn’t good any way you look at it.

>>15948114
My favorite grilling was when we were out of brikettes and charcoal, only dry birchwood.

So i chopped some fine, made e bed of glow and then larger birchwood around it.

The taste was incredibe, birchy and smokey :D a lot of work but the end result was so good, i guess sometimes you do good without even knowing it :D

While many use newspaper with chimney starter, my choice is starter cubes, no burnt paper flying around my backyard.

>>15948574
Use a charcoal chimney and you don't need lighter fluid.

>>15948730
Burnt paper flying in the summer wind is very kino though. More comfy than cherry blossoms

does food taste different on these? was thinking of getting a electric one if i can find something for like $50 or less

sneed

>>15948175
>hard as hell to get the fucking charcoal to burn
Oh, so the problem is just that you're a fucking moron

>>15948361
Came here to see a hank of the mill meme

>>15949533
how is it my fault that it won't ignite?
faggot

>>15949613
It's your fault that you can't figure out something that cavemen figured out, yes. Retard.

>>15948175
>hard as hell to get the fucking charcoal to burn
Have you tried combusting it?

>>15948114
>is it worth it?
Let me work it (yes)
>is charcoal or propane better?
Charcoal tastes better, but propane is much easier to use, especially if you are only cooking a couple things at a time.

>hard as hell to get the fucking charcoal to burn
Use a chimney and some newspaper

>>15949888
cave men didn't have charcoal

>>15950053
how does propane compare to just cooking something on the stove?

>>15950728
Probably faster and less clean-up, though it will probably come out drier. At least on the stovetop or oven you can contain juices or cook meat in butter/seasonings. Propane is mostly just convenient.

>>15948114
Charcoal is the only choice unless you're a pleb. It's hotter and actually makes your food taste better, unlike propane which is no different to cooking inside on the stove.

>>15948568
>without a chimney burner?
Of course.
Charcoal is carbon; get it hot in an oxygen environment, carbon will oxidize (burn).

The chimney starter just conveniently concentrates the ignition heat and helps with airflow (oxygen supply).
There's a great video out there where a guy soaks a large pile of charcoal in liquid oxygen and throws a cigarette on it; fireball ensues; what coals are left are basically ready to cook in about 9 seconds. (This is not recommended.)
You can also keep a tender fire going, separate from your cooking fire. 3 hot coals in the bottom of a chimney, dump cold charcoal on top; 10 minutes and it should be heated; transfer in with tongs.
If you're adding cold charcoal to a grill, you need to add it about every 35 minutes, so the old coals are burning out just as the new ones are getting started (timing is different for lump, this is for briquette).
You can also do the charcoal snake thing, for a very slow burn long cook.

Any barbecue pitmaster is going to keep a tender fire going, probably in a burn barrel that looks a lot like a big chimney starter.

>>15948276
You probably just didn't wait long enough for your coals to fully light. They always smoke until fully lit. You should get pic related, fill it up with charcoal and put crunched up paper in the bottom, light the paper and then set it down and initially it will smoke a lot, but once the charcoal are all lit, after about 10-15 minutes), they shouldn't smoke anymore and will have turned white. That's when they're ready and you put them in your grill.

>>15949009
Of course it doesn't. Why would it? Only advantage of something like that is the cooking space it provides.

It depends on how you want to use it. I personally use mine a lot so I got propane as I can't be bothered to light a fire every time I want to grill a steak for myself

>>15950890
Why not just cook it inside?

>>15950920
I like having BBQs with the lads in Summer.

Charcoal is best. Squirt a bunch of lighter fluid on it, it should burn nicely. Propane is silly, like dragging your kitchen stove outside.

>>15948114
get an offset smoker.
>>15950890
>>15950942
you're not bbqing, you are grilling. you might as well cook it inside. propane is so fucking redundant.

>>15950942
“The lads”

>>15950999

Nah, propane grills have a piece of metal that allows the meat juices to drip down on and smoke. This gives the meat a bit of a smoky flavor that you can't get indoors.

Charcoal grill is still the best, though.

>>15950890
>I got propane as I can't be bothered to light a fire
Pretty sure the propane doesn't do much for your steak if you don't light it on fire.

I have several charcoal grills and a big gas weber. I'm looking to snag one of these small gas webers on craigslist now because it's a bitch to prep and clean up charcoal every time I want burgers, especially if it's bad weather. And searing anything inside gets oil and smoke everywhere. The big gas grill is too fuel inefficient if I'm just cooking a few patties.

With pic related, if I still want smoke flavor, it's easy to substitute charcoal with some wood by putting it next to the burners.

>>15950806
seems less convenient since you have to go outside

>>15950890
>>15950920
so how much better tasting is charcoal than just regular cooking in a pan? because it's a lot more expensive and time consuming

>>15950999
i thought lighter fluid was bad?
>>15951029
can't you just add woodchips to smoke on a propane grill and get all of the smokey benefit?

>>15951307
Charcoal is the hottest cooking fuel you can easily get. (Temperature/fuel density thing. Propane just blows away in the breeze.)

People put up with it because of the seared crust you can get. Look up caveman steak; that method is not really possible with other heat sources.

Charcoal is not the best for smoking/indirect heat cooking, but it is pretty good. (Hardwood which you season and partially carbonize yourself is better here, but that is far more work for modest improvements in the results.)

How much better than a pan isn't readily quantifiable; it's subjective. If you want the results that charcoal gives, you probably can't get them with a pan.
If you want a really rare steak with a strongly seared crust, charcoal is about the easiest way to get it.
If you want the smoky flavor and indirect heat, charcoal is a pretty easy way to get pretty good results.
It's different than a pan, to be sure. If you want this style of result, you don't try to get it with a pan.

are you a euro? grilling is a way of life here. i know anons have said charcoal is the way to go, but i’d absolutely recommend propane if it’s available to you. charcoal does give the meat a taste, but i personally don’t care for it. hank hill wasn’t kidding when he said “taste the meat not the heat”

>>15951317
>add woodchips to smoke on a propane
>get smoke
Yes.
But... with propane, it's hard to reshape the heat source. The burner is the shape of the burner. It makes hot where it makes hot.

With charcoal or wood, you can move the fire (and the heat) to just one side, and create a lower temperature cooking area.
You can sort of do this with a multi-burner propane setup, using a $300 grill to approximate the intrinsic capabilities of a $25 charcoal grill.

>>15951075
>it's so easy to substitute charcoal with some wood by putting it next to the burners.
I thought they banned that in the late 70s after those kids died at that back yard birthday BBQ

>>15951317
>can't you just add woodchips to smoke on a propane grill and get all of the smokey benefit?
Absolutely. Literally did this earlier. My propane grill has triangular covers on top of where the fire emits but under the grill. I got a triangular steel smoker box that fits snugly under the grill on top of the cover I just fill with wood chips, close the lid and smoke. Pic related is a pork loin I did the other day. Ignore anyone saying propane is the same as indoors, they're retarded.

>>15951307
It tastes a lot better. The fat drips onto the coals and the smoke imparts a unique flavor onto the food that you just can't get inside.

You have to get a big green egg style grill and yse lump charcoal. Anything else is garbage and belongs in the trash. If you get a shitty thin webber metal grillette you may as well use propane.

>>15952604
A simple charcoal pit and a little skill will still outperform a novice with an $800 meme egg

>>15952331
Definitely not in the US, I always add a little wood(usually store bought chips) for flavor. Where did that happen?

Ceramic grills and pellet grills are the most cucked things you could buy for bbq

>>15948167
No it’s not you can’t sear on pellet grills

>>15953279
You actually can if you get some grillgrates. It's still a glorified outdoor oven though and shouldn't be treated as a grill