Nothing like slapping the meat on coals just long enough to make it stop mooing

My Man is a charcoal man, as was my dad. I am not fond of propane or gas for BBQ.

I think charcoal gives the food a unique flavor (yeah, it's bad for you etc, but we don't eat it ever day....just once a week or so) because the edges get all crunchy and black. We even cook our vegetables on the grill.

My Man does all the grill cooking. I'm not even allowed to touch the Weber. "Lookout, you're gonna get burned!" if I even go near it. What am I, a 3 year old? As for my cooking on his grills (he has two, a full size Weber and a small one) it would be as if I had to grow a penis first.

If the food tastes burnt on a charcoal grill, you didn't let the coals totally turn to embers before cooking. I don't do this myself (My Man is the Total Master of the grill, I'm not even allowed to touch it. But, I do watch.) What My Man does is to start the coals with a round charcoal starting device (NO Boyscout Water, aka starter fluid!) It looks like a coffee can with a handle on it, you put the coals on the top of the little grate in the middle and newspaper, crumbled up, on the bottom) then when the coals are lit well, you dump them into the grill.


My Man then arranges the coals according to what he is cooking. Large things, like a whole chicken or turkey need a LOT of coals arranged into a hollow circle. Let's just say he's doing hot dogs or burgers or even steak. He waits until the coals are no longer giving off flames and are totally grey on the outside. He sometimes has some water, in case grease causes flare ups. When the coals are properly prepared, the food will taste like BBQ, but not burnt. Things tend to stay raw inside and burn outside if the coals are too hot and not ashed over.

Anyway, have him try until he gets it. It is so worth the extra work. We love our BBQ grill, I think we have had about 6 or 7 of them in the past 20 years or so, but it took him a few years to learn how to properly use them. A less stubborn guy could learn more quickly I imagine.

Theoretically gas adds no flavor at all. The burning gas creates heat, CO2 and water. There should be no flavor. If your gs grill is not tuned properly there is incomplete combustion that deposit carbon soot on the meat - not harmful but a nasty flavor.

Using charcoal will impart flavors onto food depending on what compounds from the wood were preserved in the charcoal making process. Since there is not that much flavor left from the charcoal - many people use unburned wood chips to add a smokey flavor.