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Del, I looked up my favorite cooking resource, "Joy of Cooking" for the skinny on searing and beef. There are about eight grades of beef, with Prime being the top, and within that, dry aged being the absolute best. Prime comes from young, tender cattle, with muscle that is well-marbled with fat. Dry aged means hanging the whole beef carcass at refrigerated temps for 2-3 weeks. During this time the outer portion of the side loses moisture. The inner portions get very tender and rich in concentrated flavor. To get edible cuts, the dried outer portions of the carcass must be cut away, which means less yeild and higher price. This type of aging is getting quite scarce. More common is wet aging, which basically vacuum packs cuts of meat and ages at refrigerated temps. The result is just as tender as dry aged but without the enriched flavor. According to JofC,, searing is more important for grilling due to the lack of any way to catch drippings. However they also say it can be done with high heat from the charcoal source, and I assume similar high heat can be obtained on most gas grills by turning up the flame. Also, and I quote from JofC: "Grilling: The central fact about grilling is that it is generally a high-heat cooking method, which involves cookign realteively tender foods quickly over a hot fire. When food is exposed to the direct heat of the flames, a seared crust develops on its exterior. Tender cuts of meat such as beef, pork or lamb grill beautifully, as do shrimp, scallops, and firm textured fish such as tuna, swordfish, and mahi mahi... oil the cooking grate before you begin grilling." "While grilling is quick and hot, barbecuing si slwo and low. Barbecuing involves cooking whole pigs aor lambs ore one of the large, tougher cuts of meat (such as beef brisket or pork shoulder) in and enclosed psace with teh hot smoke of a wood fire. The temperature is usually kept at around 220F: the very slow cooking causes the meat's connetive tissues, called collagen, to dissovle into tenderness. Because of the moisture in the enclosed space, barbecuing resembles the moist-heat method of pot roasting, transforming trough meat into a tender, smoke-tinged treat. The crusty, smokey exterior provides a satisfying chewiness that contrasts perfectly with the moist, richly flavored inner meat."

I have cooked on all three and the TEK IR is the only gas grill that cooks as well as charcoal. It's advantages over charcoal are that it is quick to set up, easy to clean up and does an excellent job of creating the charcoal taste. As many here know, the flavor is created by the smoke from the fat striking the hot surface be it charcoal or something else. The higher the IR energy (from gas or charcoal) and the less the flame, the more smoke generated rather than being turned into additional flame. The TEK creates a great deal of smoke because the IR glass sits between the flame and the dripping grease. On older style IR burners there is still an open flame to ignite the grease drippings reducing the amount of smoke to add flavor. With charcoal, once the embers are glowing red, it is emitting a lot of IR and much less to no flame and hence produces a lot of smoke and flavor. I have owned the FireMagic and I would not purchase another. The burners are cast SS but they still do rust over time and the flavor grills wear out too. They are very hard to clean and the heat was not anywhere near as good as the advertisements. If you are the type that never clean a grill and don't mind a gritty looking grill it may not matter. I am the type that wants it to look clean and inviting each time and the self cleaning feature along with the dishwasher removal panels makes the TEK a breeze to clean and keep looking nice. For me that was worth a lot. The more conventional grills like the Firemagic, even with their ceramic infrared burner are not even a close match.

When smoking pork ribs or butts, I regularly make one of these sides to put under the pork for the last couple hours of cooking. The porky goodness drips onto them and adds some ridiculous flavor on top of the smoke. Keri's Hog-Apple Baked Beans Potatoes Au Gratin I just made those very beans this weekend along with a beef brisket, burnt ends, and corn on the cob all on the grill. I leave my corn in the husk, but remove the silk and let them soak in water with a little sugar for about an hour. Then just cook until there's a slight char on the husk and the kernels darken a bit. I have in the past used that same grilled corn to make this Mexican Street Corn Salad which I am obsessed with. For steaks, I pretty much exclusively do the reverse sear method. I almost always use ribeye and the reverse sear is perfect on a ribeye as it gives it time to render down a lot of the fat. My go to seasoning is Montreal, but will sometimes go simple S&P and maybe some garlic salt. I normally season right after I start the grill which takes about 45 minutes to get up to temp and stabilize. If you prefer to keep your meet in the fridge until grilling time, you can do that too. I aim for a temp of 225-235 on the grill, and I grill in-direct. I use a leave in probe and pull the steaks when they hit 125 degrees which takes 35-45 minutes. I then prep the grill for direct heat, and jack up the temp to 500-700 degrees (takes about 10 minutes which is perfect to rest the steaks during this time). The steaks get thrown back on the grill to flash sear for about one minute per side which with the rest and the sear normally brings the temps up to about 130-135 depending on your steak thickness. Steaks are perfectly cooked edge to edge and deliciously juicy. When I grill salmon, my go to is to use cedar planks as it gives them an amazing flavor. I typically stick with sockeye salmon as to us it's so much better than the atlantic we can get here in MN. I portion them out prior to cooking, and use a bit of salmon rub and cook until flaky. Because of the planks, you don't get the crispy skin, but I don't miss it.