Cooking on a Propane Grill

If you have always cooked over charcoal, cooking on a propane grill can be a bit of a challenge. Propane as a cooking fuel provides a few new challenges and differences from charcoal. Propane also has some unique benefits over charcoal. Propane burns clean, so you do not taste the fuel used to cook your food. Propane also provides for very easy cleanup. Finally, propane is easy to replace and is very cost effective.

One of the great advantages of cooking with gas is that you do not generally taste charcoal or charcoal flavored smoke in your food. There are times when you do want to taste the fire fuel, such as when you smoke food over low and slow heat; however, gas grills are generally not used for this purpose. Rather, gas grills are used to grill meat, vegetables, and even fruit and in most cases it is better to taste the fire but not the fuel.

Using a gas tank as the fuel for your grill also makes it very easy for you to clean up. You don’t have to deal with smoldering charcoals and what do with them. If you are just grilling a few things, you likely only need to turn off the grill and hit it with a wire brush and cleanup is done. It just is not that easy if are using charcoal or wood; with these fuels you must do a lot of work to get the fire started, must wait a long time after the food is done for them to cool down, and then find a proper place to dispose of them without turning everything you touch black. Gas provides optimal convenience for grilling and cleanup.

Finally, propane is very cost effective. A tank can last for several months worth of weekend grilling at a cost of just $ 15 to $ 20. Wood and charcoal can cost this much for just 2 to 3 grilling sessions. You must also store wood or charcoal and ensure that it doesn’t get wet; you don’t have this problem with a tank.

For most day to day grilling, gas grilling is the best choice for convenience and quality. There are certain cases where the flavor of smoked wood really enhances the food, but this is generally not done in day to day cooking and so gas is recommended. You can cook delicious and healthy meals on a gas grill and end up with very little cleanup work… the best of both worlds.