It’s a Holy War amongst barbecue grill users, Charcoal vs. Gas. Most hardcore enthusiasts will argue until blue in the face that charcoal produces better tasting grilled foods, where some gas grill users claim that they just can’t tell any difference. However countless taste tests have shown that for the most part food cooked with charcoal just tastes better. There are a couple of reasons why this is. When you cook with charcoal it produces moisture free heat that hardens the surface of the meat and seals in all the juices. The smoke that is produced by the charcoal binds with the proteins on the surface of the meat producing the smoky flavor that is characteristic of charcoal cooking. In addition the meat tends to be plump since it still contains its internal juicy goodness. Gas is typicaly 25-30% moisture and causes a steaming effect to occur to the meat while it cooks. The result is that the meat cooked with gas looses its juicy goodness and can have a dry bland taste to it.

Grills that use gas as a fuel source don’t produce smoke. Some manufactures will claim that their technology will convert dripping grease into smoke, however the concept of that burnt grease flavor tends to be somewhat of a turn off for those of us with taste buds.

Some new hybrid grills allow you to add smoker chips to a tray in an attempt to pass the flavor onto the food. However to truly lock the flavor in you need to expose the meat to an intense source of heat while completely immersing it in smoke. Charcoal produces a steady stream of smoke combined with heat, where gas combined with smoker chips does not.

What it all comes down to is if taste and plump juicy food is what you want then you can’t beat a charcoal barbecue.