Tell us what you bought, what you grilled and how you did it. I would rather lose the indoor stove/oven than my grill. Meats that char a bit and carmelize are so much better and grills don't heat up the house. Easier to clean too.

I can't imagine that you don't like it!
Don't you ever grill? Have you never eaten grilled meat?
Or are you talking about the difference between gas and charcoal??
And what was it you cooked for your first foray?
Do you mean that you fry your steaks? How do you do broiled pork chops? In the oven?
Perhaps you just don't know how to use it yet.
Linda C

Your joking right? I just bought a new grill, and I just love it. You need some good grilling recipes. Have you ever had a Sockeye Salmon on the grill? Barbacued steak? Grilled Vegetables? Barbeacued Chicken Breasts? It's endless what you can cook on one of them. Diana55

show us a skelly on the grill, Diana

I have to admit I have never been impressed with gas grills. I love charcoal, though. With a gas grill you do not get the grilled taste. I do accept that you can cook good things on it and not heat up the kitchen, but you don't get that actual grilled taste.
Lisa

Hey Beverly!
I think there's a break-in time where the new metal gets seasoned with drippings from foods cooking on the grill. Last year we bought a new gas grill after giving away our 10+ y.o. gas/cast iron grill. It took a bit of cooking, but soon enough foods were tasting wonderful, luckily the salesman warned us not to clean up the crustys that fall below the grids. It's a learning process, but I love mine too. Also you can use mesquite wood chips or applewood etc to give foods a lovely smoked flavor. I don't do that very often, but like Peppi, I love the bbq for quick clean up, no mess and no hot kitchen!

What's a "skelly"?

I gave up on gas grills several years ago and went back to charcoal.

Okay, now I'm officially the last person in America without a grill.

cloudy_christine , there are two of us without a grill. We left ours when we sold our house and I haven't replaced yet. I am looking at the Weber Spirit though.

I certainly prefer charcoal but the convenience of the gas grill is amazing. I use it almost everyday. Everything is better on it...perhaps a good grill book would help. I like the Weber big book of grilling.

Years ago I had a gas grill. I didn't care for it and went back to charcoal.

Jim

My advice to you as a newbie on the grill is this: HOT

In my opinion the trick is too sear stuff as hot as you can to crust the skin or surface of the meat. At that point, if you need to cook longer like a big fat piece of chicken, move it to a less blazing spot on the grill.

Just shy of burning the surface is my goal on a grill. Don't burn it but get it nice and colorful. I've owned a gas grill that didn't get hot enough to do this and I was not not happy until I replaced it.

I have a charcoal grill that I use more often because it really gets hot.

michaelp

I agree with Michael. One of my favourite gas grills was a DSC and it would get up to 1100°F with both sides turned on. And over 600 with just one side. Perfect for roasting over indirect heat. I gave that grill away when we moved a couple of years ago and I knew I wasn't going to be able to have a gas line hookup. The grill I have now heats up to just under 600°F with both sides on. Still cooks a good steak and anything else I feel like grilling. I've had gas grills for over 29 years. Can't imagine life without one.
Ann

You asked for it........."Skellie Grilling"......

.......the Skellie Sauce....

.........

Give the cook something to eat! He's nothing but skin and bones.

Jim

You gals are so funny!

I know how to use the grill.

You mean I'm not supposed to clean the grunge off. LOL

The food has been okay. It cooked correctly - fast. I haven't done any slow as of yet, but I know how. I'm just impatient.

There's great grill marks, just no grilled taste. So far I've cooked lemon pepper chicken skewers and they tasted good, just no grilled taste. Also cooked pork tenderloin and steaks.

Diana, your grill looks like the skull in the Indiana Jones movie that I just saw this afternoon.

For those who aren't impressed with gas grills, do you use hickory or mequite or other flavoring woods when you grill? Buy some of the chips, soak in water for a few hours. Wrap in foil. Poke holes in the foil with a skewer and place on the BBQ, over the heat. The wood will smoke and flavor your meat. You may want to leave the lid down for part of the cooking time, to increase the amount of smoke your food is 'bathed' in. Makes a huge difference, though, in the taste of your food.

Beverly, I feel your pain. I had one and gave it to a guy I work with.
James

Thanks Azzalea, but I leave it down the whole cooking time except for long enough to turn the meat over. I have been intending to try the wet wood chips. You really shouldn't have to always use those though.

If DH would let me I would draw names here who doesn't have a gas grill and ship it off to you. Alas, he paid for it, so I know he won't.

Thanks for the sympathy James. It looks like several people feel my pain. We didn't buy a very expensive one but we did pay over a hundred for it so it's a big disappointment. I think the worst part of it is that I'll have to keep using it to keep from hearing DH gripe because he really didn't want to buy one.

You've said it all, Bev.

No grilled taste.

Food cooked on a gas grill tastes EXACTLY the same to me as if I had done it under the electric broiler.

If I want smoked food, I'll add wood. But I'm not going to depend on the wood solely to try to cover up the fact that gas simply won't give me flavors that I find to be completely lacking.

I use my gas grill every now and again. I use the Traeger 95 percent of the time. Much more flavor. The gas grill is good for whipping us some chicken breasts real fast (if I'm out of wood chips for the Traeger!). Try some japapeno poppers (stuffed with cream cheese and whatever else you want) on the gas grill. It won't make your oven a mess and they do well on those. Cook things with an inherent amount of flavor already in the ingredient.

To be honest a 100.00 (or so) gas grill is a nice convenience item, but like many have said the flavor is not going to be intense.

They have a purpose and can be quite convenient!

Duane

I have a propane grill that someone gave me who had moved to an apartment and couldn't keep it. I seldom use it because I have two charcoal grills - a small one and a large one (depending on how much I plan to cook), but I do use it when I give parties. I agree that it needs the wood chips (I use Mesquite) for a smoked flavor - otherwise it's not much different from grilling inside. I keep the propane tank filled so that I will have a way to cook in case of earthquake. I have some small propane burners that I use when camping for that emergency as well.

There's no reason why you can't have a charcoal grill in addition to your gas grill. The climate where I live is so mild that I cook outdoors all year, except during the few days when it happens to rain, but in the winter, I generally only cook outside on week-ends, since it gets dark too early. In the summer, I like to eat dinner outside, and we have nice cool ocean breezes to keep the temperature moderate.

Lars

We have both a large gas grill and a big Weber charcoal grill, and we use them for different types of food. I love steaks and hamburgers on our charcoal grill, and use it for those. I cook all summer long on our gas grill rather than heating up the house with our stove and oven. It has a side burner, so I can cook a pot of something on that too. I also roast huge pans of fresh vegetables on the gas grill, and love to put whole chickens on the gas grill rotisserie. When we have a big crowd over for a picnic, both grills are always used. Especially if we are doing corn on the cob and we need a lot of grill space. We love both.

Actually I have a charcoal grill that I bought two or three years ago and haven't used. I kept dreading the learning curve on it. Looks like I'm going to have to drag it out and start learning.

It sounds like you don't really like grilled food much or you would have already done all that. I wouldn't feel guilty about not grilling - some people don't care for grilled food much and some people like me, don't like braised food much.

Actually I love chacoal grilled food. And I know to cook a steak you put it on a very hot grill. My problem is going to come in with the slow part of cooking ribs and things like that. I'm not patient when it comes to cooking.

I don't understand why anyone would feel guilty about not grilling. I certainly don't.

Like you, I don't care much for braised food though and it's being touted a lot now.

"I kept dreading the learning curve on it."

There's really no learning curve, Bev.

You start the fire, wait until the briquettes are covered with white ash (means they're fully burning), spread them out, and go to town.

At that point all you have to watch is your heat control (just like with a broiler) and watch for flare ups, which you have to also do with most gas grills.

That's what I really like about the Weber kettle, the lid really helps keep flares to a minimum.

Starting the briquettes is always a source of contention. Many people use liquid starters... I HATE them.

I use one of the chimneys. Works great.

When you see fire coming out of the top of the chimney, you know your charcoal is ready to cook.

Kframe, I hate liquid too and I even have a chimney. I know you cook steaks on high heat. It's the things that you have to slow cook that I'm concerned about. Things like ribs and chicken. I suppose you just move them away from the fire? Oh, and how about hamburgers? How do you cook those?

A chimney is a must have for starting charcoal. It's so easy, convenient and reliable. Kinda like starting a gas grill. :-) I can't imagine why it took me so long to get one.

Jim

Ditto Jim.

Hamburgers- hot, hot- get a crunchy surface just before burning. If it's a thick burger finish it on a lower heat but a burger only takes 4 or five minutes per side. If ecoli worries you try soaking a little bread in milk or half n half to make a bit of mush and mix it in the hamburger with some spices. The bread will allow you to overcook the burger and still keep it moist. Get a good fast read thermometer and pull the patty off at about 160 F.( safe at 155F

Chicken- pretty much the same. I like to get it crunchy on the skin with high heat also. Then put it on a cooler area and take your time. If you like BBQ sauce, put it on after the hot hot part and flip it often re-slathering the little birdies with each turn. Pull them at about 165 ish. I let the dark meat go a little longer because most people get funny if they see any pink at all although it's safe if the center hits 165F. A typical piece of chicken will take about 15 to 20 minutes.

Ribs- unless you have a smoker or a wood bbbQ made for slow cooking it's tough to do the whole thing on the grill. For years, I put the ribs in a long pan with a little water for steam, or beer or cola or ginger ale(theres a million ways, but i usually just use water). I cover it tightly with foil and cook it in the oven at 350 for about 3 hours or more, until a fork slides in and out without any resistance. Then I slather with my favorite sauce and grill it for about 20 minutes or more. Finished temp is a non issue because of the long oven time. If it's a thick sauce I cook until glossy and the peaks start to get really dark to almost burnt.

For me the key is the fast read thermometer to take the guessing out of it and so i don't have to gash the meat to look at the color.

have a blast!

michaelp

I'm going to save your information Michael and thank you so much. I have a Thermopen thermometer and a grill almost identical to this one so I think I have all the equipment. Just need to practice.

Beverly

Here is a link that might be useful: Grill

Just chiming in that my experience with a gas grill was like yours and others above - doesn't taste any different to me than cooking on a range.

We used ours about three times and sold it. We only got it because we had moved to a new house with a wooden deck over the garage and we thought it would be safer than charcoal - less chance of burning the garage (and house) down. We ended up getting a new Weber Peformer - had a much better ash/ember catcher than our old one - plus a gas starter which is a treat.

I wondered for a long time after that what the appeal was of a gas grill when food tastes like it was cooked on a range. I decided it must be because you don't make a mess of your range and you don't really have to clean it - and some men who won't cook anywhere else will cook all the time if they're cooking on the gas grill.

We have owned both gas and charcoal grills. We prefer charcoal as we just don't really get the flavor that we are seeking on gas. I also have a Weber and wouldn't trade it for anything!

But I will say that a gas grill is convenient and I agree with the high "HOT" heat. Used several times with the grill racks broken in a bit, it does add a bit.

I just wish I hadn't had to learn the hard way.

Beverly