pippyrips

I'm a big bbq fan and up until now have always used charcoal -the good old fashioned way!

To cut a long story short i bought a new kitchen this week and had a £70 gas BBQ thrown in with the deal.

Its currently unopened and i can't decided to sell it on or throw away the old BBQ and use this from now on.

Are gas BBQ's better or worse the charcoal? I can't help thinking you lose part of the experience by going gas??!!! Also how expensive is the gas and how weasy its it to get hold of?

Any thoughts appreciated ASAP as i will be firing one or the other up in a few hours!

shaunywrx

Unless you've already got a gas bottle i would'nt bother, you have to put down a £30 deposit on the bottle, and it's about £15 to have it filled, also if it's a cheap £70 gas barbecue, the chances are it will fall apart after 12 month's, stick with your charcoal, sell it on to some poor unsuspecting mug
P.S. This is from someone who uses a gas barbecue 80% of the time

Edit: Just read the rest of your post
The gas itself is easy to come by, most petrol stations stock it, and i personally think the food tastes just as good.

Leslie

I don't know anything about them, but can't you use it in conjunction with charcoal to get the taste?

Les

shaunywrx

You can change the coal/bricks that come with gas barbecues, to something called penrock (i think, or something like that) and the food tastes just the same as if done on charcoal, it's not so much the charcoal that gives the food it's taste, it's more because the oils and fat drip onto the coals, thus producing smoke which gives the food a distinctive flavour.

LG John

I've always felt charcoal BBQ'd food tastes noticeably better than Gas; I'd probably stay old school. Also, part of the experience is lighting the BBQ and waiting 45mins+ starving your *** off before you can begin cooking. In some ways, that hanging around with beers in hand is part of the BBQ experience.

hodgy0_2

no

POC

Just waiting for SJ_Skyline to get involved with this thread

NotoriousREV

Why? Does he sell propane and propane accessories?

FlightMan

Gas BBQ + Penrock = authentic taste.

j4ckos mate

mines gas with the lava rocks,
i must say though i did one last week and my neighbour did at the same time, mine was finished and colling down while he was still waiting for the flames to go down, and it had a real kerosene smell, which seemed quite off putting

Steve Perriam

don't do it !!

sell or give the gas one away fast ! its just not the same.

when we was Down Under we had no choice but to use gas, but over here i'd never own one. its just not right.

gonna be lighting my charcoal in about 15 mins

jjones

BBQ WTF!

great food steve, dodgy apron

Steve Perriam

LoL JJ.

u still lurking on here then m8e

long time......hows you doing ?

food was and is ace....apron was class to

Neanderthal

iTrader: (6)

OMG NFW BBQ HAX!

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

Its like a Counter Strike convention in here

Matteeboy

No they are utter cack.

I remember the crushing disappointment when we went to the Barbie capital - Oz. Everyone had gas BBQs - you may as well fry everything.

Proper charcoal from a proper charcoal seller (not supermarket/garage cack) is the only way.

boomer

+1

mb

Steve Perriam

Lol, another one still lurking.....get the bbq out Nean !

Counter what DJ?

ahh the good old days.

well its another BBQ evening down here

M444GY

iTrader: (72)

gas bbq= cheating imo

Steve_PPP

iTrader: (3)

i've got a gas one and love it. if i'm having mates round and making an afternoon of it, then i've still got my old charcoal bbq in the shed and drag that out (its more fun i admit). but with the gas one, i can have a bbq whenever i like - takes a few mins for coals to heat up, less faffing around, no messy old coals to get rid of afterwards. much easier, and means i can have several bbqs a week during summer with no hassle

food still tastes great too - like someone said above, i'm sure its the smoke that gives it that bbq taste and you still get smoke with a gas bbq

G00ner

There's different types of gas barbies though, my mate had one today on his quite expensive gas barbie and the gas flame only heats a griddle, there's no coals or charcoal etc and hence the taste was crap, just like it had come out of the oven.
I then popped round the in-laws who have a gas barbie, but theirs heats the charcoal, smoke is produced and the food tasted much, much better.

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

GO! GO! GO!

renno rannes

I have decent gas BBQ and find it great, I have Jack Daniel's smoking chips in it and the food tastes great, I also put a Steak rub on the steaks which gives great flavour.

davyboy

What?

We don't have any charcoal shops around here.

Surely charcoal is charcoal.

We've got a gas and it has it's advantages. It's very quick, you can use it without planning. However, it is not as god as a proper BBQ.

SJ_Skyline

Might as well just use a gas hob.

dsmith

Fire in the hole !

Flaps

iTrader: (1)

Far easier to control the heat on a gas one, so far less charcoal sausages! We like ours.

Funkii Munkii

BBQ are so last year

A nice cast iron Chimnea is where it's at, wood burning, slow cooking, tender as anything, and use the chimney to hang fish meat etc and use it as a smoker.

If you're cooking for a handful of people and have plenty of time get a Chimnea, doubles up as a nice fire when the sun goes down, food cooked on this hammers anything I've had on a BBQ, Gas or Charcoal.
Not mine but a similar size.


Also have the big Aussie gas BBQ and for a quick evening BBQ it's great, tastes no different to Charcoal imo and have never burnt anything on it lol

Diesel

Charcoal, wet soaked wood chips, close the lid, hour and a half to cook a vindaloo basted belly pork slice @270 degrees F = absolute heaven! It is scientific man's work though and needs a tricky balance between oxygen and smoke!

Gordon Ramsay has a gas BBQ - I think that is worse than the MP's expenses scandal!

D