Grilling: The New Frontier

When I first got married, I had no cooking experience. I remember coming home from our honeymoon and in a moment of sheer panic thinking, “What are we going to eat tonight?” The answer turned out to be “Domino’s pizza,” but we couldn’t eat that for the rest of our life. I needed to learn how to cook, and fast.

That week I tried making spaghetti, and I kid you not, started a stove fire boiling the noodles. If there were a Ground Zero for cooking, I was in strata -5. But, as I got more experienced cooking (and very experienced using a fire extinguisher), I began to become obsessed with cooking. I’ve always liked eating, and suddenly I realized, I could eat whatever I wanted if I learned how to cook.

I’m fairly competent in the kitchen now, and I’m looking to conquer the next frontier in cooking: the grill. But first, we needed to get one, and I didn’t even know where to start. I knew there were three types of grills:

1) Charcoal Grills
2) Gas Grills
3) George Foreman Grills

But as I talked to my grill-expert friends, George Foreman grills don’t count as “real grills.” Kind of like how the Vikings don’t count as a real football team. After some personal interviews and scholarly Google searches, I have collected this summary of the pros and cons of charcoal and gas grills:

Charcoal Grill Pros:

1. Cheap-Charcoal grills, though not as cheap as a BK Stacker, cost less than gas grills. They have a simpler design so fewer things can break, and charcoal is cheaper than a propane tank.

2. Flavor- Most agree that charcoal grills give your food a deeper, more complex taste. Because charcoal grills have hotter flames, this is also an optimal grill for searing steaks and other meats.

3. Impressive- Starting a fire from scratch will impress friends and influence people.

Charcoal Grill Cons:
• You have to start a fire from scratch.
• It’s hard to control the internal heat.
• Ashes and grease in the bowl mean more clean up after grilling.

Gas Grill Pros:

1. Controllable-You can control the heat and temperature of the fire more easily, so cooking food “just right” is a cinch.

2. Easy- Push a button and ta-da! Fire.

3. Cleaner-No ashes or charcoal remains to sweep out of the bowl or off the ground.

Gas Grill Cons:
• Gas grills are a much bigger investment and require more money up front.
• More things can break on it like the wiring or knobs.
• You look like a sissy.

This helped me make an informed decision about which kind of grill we were going to invest in. I chose charcoal, though I think gas grills are fine, legitimate choices as well. It’s just that my family had a charcoal grill growing up, and I had fond memories of my dad grilling on it. I also wanted to impress my friends when we had them over for dinner. So, I encourage you to venture forth from the kitchen and take on the new challenges of outdoor grilling. I know I am—I have a shiny new fire extinguisher and everything.