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NYT Syndicate
Gas or charcoal? It is a question that has bedeviled American consumers and cooks for decades, since the first LazyMan propane grill went on sale in the 1950s and left the Smiths with their briquette-fuelled brazier looking jealously over the fence at the Joneses and their new outdoor science stove.
In the abstract, there is no one correct answer. You can have affirmative responses to the use of either fuel. You can stack them as high as summer corn.
For instance: You get great smoky flavour and an unparalleled crust from cooking over or beside coals or wood. There are positives and negatives to each form of fire, depending on what you are cooking, and when and for how long.
"We are way past 'versus,'" said Adam Perry Lang, a barbecue chef from New York who built his career on food enhanced by the flavours and scent of wood smoke. Lang said that at home, he cooked over propane, and that, in some cases, he actually preferred gas to charcoal or wood."They've gotten very good," he said of gas grills."You can make some really, really good food with a gas grill."
A lot of people do, or try to. Roughly 180 million Americans have some kind of grill in the yard, on the patio or sitting out on the deck, according the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association, a trade group. Of that number, said Eric Davis, a spokesman for the association, roughly 62 percent have gas grills, and 50 percent own charcoal-fired ones ” which suggests that at least 12 percent (or something in the neighbourhood of 20 million Americans) might employ both gas and charcoal grills in their pursuit of outdoor cooking joy. Davis is among them."My gas one is a little more convenient," he said."It all depends on how much time I have."
So which to buy? Or which to use? Chefs and experts, as well as a few days spent testing both gas grills and charcoal grills with colleagues from The Sweethome, a product recommendation site owned by The New York Times , suggest a number of factors to consider before you shop and cook.
Gas grills are, of course, a marvel of expediency, and among the simplest ways to keep heat and smoke out of your kitchen during the summer months. They are ideal, said chef Josh Cohen, who owns bars and restaurants across north Brooklyn, for cooking fish, for roasting vegetables, for making a fast dinner of sausages and peppers. He suggested brining thin fillets of fish in a solution of salt and sugar for about 10 minutes, then patting them dry and grilling them gently on one side over gas on a hot, clean grill."Only about three to five minutes, and you're good," he said. There is no need to flip them until you're putting the fish on a platter to serve.
What gas grills are not good for, Cohen and others said, is high-heat searing. Even the ones that scored highest in The Sweethome's testing were ultimately unsuited for cooking a pricey, well-marbled steak, or even a good hamburger, unless you deploy a cast-iron pan or steel plancha on top of the grates to help concentrate the heat and allow the meat to cook in its own fat.
Matt Hinckley, a chef and the proprietor of Hinckley's Fancy Meats in Orlando, Florida, said he did just that."Apartments aren't geared for cast-iron searing," Hinckley said."It sets off the smoke detectors every time. People watch these TV chefs making a cast-iron pan white hot and throwing a steak on it. I can do it outside and get a great sear on my steak, without compromising the air quality of my living conditions."
For Hinckley, who said he cooked over propane"probably 70 percent of the time," a gas grill is simply easier to deal with for daily cooking, especially in the dense humidity of an Orlando summer."It's great for low and slow grilling," he said."Especially with the fattier cuts, propane requires less maintenance. Those flare-ups over coals can cause problems."
Lang is of the same mind."You put a really well-marbled steak over live fire," he said,"it can be really volatile." For meats high in fat, he also recommends a gas-fired grill or the use of a pan or plancha."Start the meat in the pan," he said,"render some fat, then kiss the steak onto the fire at the end for a crust. You want browning to occur before you start the caramelisation. That's the best of both worlds."
As for cooking over charcoal or wood? It is a technique practically as old as humankind. It is not particularly difficult, as any cave man would tell you. But it is more complicated than simply turning a knob on a stove. You have to build and bank and tend a fire. You have to pay close attention to temperatures and"zones" of heat.
Grilling that way may not be the best use of time on a weeknight, but on weekends ” or any time you can get free to concentrate on your cooking ” a charcoal grill cannot be beat. (That is not just idle opinion. The Sweethome's side-by-side testing of both hamburgers and barbecue chicken cooked on gas and charcoal grills delivered a flavor win to charcoal by a wide margin, regardless of the model.)
Good things to grill over charcoal? In Hinckley's opinion: steak, so long as it isn't too fatty or too slicked in oil."I'm always going to go toward charcoal for that," he said."It's hard to generate enough heat with a propane grill." Also: chicken, fruit and anything that will be cooked long enough in the presence of smoke and indirect heat to qualify as barbecue.
For his part, Lang suggested"choice cuts, less fatty proteins, even skinless chicken" for the charcoal grill, where they can pick up the scent of the smoke beneath them."You can just lacquer them like in Japanese cooking, with a baste," he said.
But he cautioned that much the same could be done on a propane grill.
"I love everything about wood and charcoal, but not at the expense of people stepping away from grilling altogether because it's complicated to light and tend a fire," Lang said. Grill on gas if you have to, or if you want to:"There's no B team anymore," he said.
Grilled Flounder
Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
For the brine:
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
For the fish:
4 flounder fillets, approximately 1 1/2 pounds, or any thin, low-fat white fish
Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste
Neutral oil, like canola or grape seed
4 small pats unsalted butter, approximately 1 teaspoon each
Chopped parsley
1 lemon, quartered
Method
1. Make the brine: Put salt and sugar in a large bowl or pot, and add around a half-gallon of water, stirring to combine and dissolve the salt and sugar.
2. Set the burners on a gas grill to medium. When it is hot, scrape grates to make sure they are very clean. (If using a charcoal grill, build a fire in your grill. When coals are covered with gray ash and you can hold your hand five inches above the coals for five to seven seconds, you are ready to cook.)
3. While grill heats, slide the flounder fillets into the brine and allow them to sit for approximately 10 minutes, then remove from the brine and pat very dry with paper towel. Season fillets with salt and pepper, then apply just a little oil to one side of each fillet, lightly spreading it with your fingers to cover the flesh.
4. Apply some more oil to a paper towel and, using tongs to protect your hands, use the towel to oil the grill grates. They will smoke furiously. Gently lay the fish fillets, oiled-side down, onto the grates. Cook until the fish has started to turn translucent at its edges, approximately three to four minutes, then remove from grill and place, grilled-side up, on a warmed platter. The fish will continue to cook as it rests.
5. Top each fillet with a small pat of butter, some chopped parsley and a squeeze of lemon, then serve.
Grilled Soy-Basted Chicken Thighs With Spicy Cashews
Time: 1 hour
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted cashews
2 tablespoons Sriracha sauce
3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1/2 cup, plus 3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
Hot sauce, to taste
2 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs
1/4 cup brown sugar (light or dark) or molasses
2 tablespoons peeled and minced ginger
4 scallions, sliced thin
5 or 6 springs cilantro, tough stems removed and roughly chopped (approximately 2 tablespoons)
Method
1. Heat oven to 300 degrees. Combine cashews and Sriracha sauce in a small bowl and stir until nuts are coated. Line a small baking pan with foil and spread the coated cashews out on it, then place in the oven and bake until nuts are dry, approximately 20 minutes. Carefully remove the nuts from the foil and let cool, then chop roughly and set aside in a small bowl.
2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together sesame oil, 1/2 cup soy sauce, the hoisin sauce and the black pepper, and hot sauce if using. Add chicken thighs and stir to coat. Refrigerate until ready to cook.
3. For the basting sauce, combine the remaining 3 tablespoons soy sauce, the brown sugar and the ginger in a small bowl, and whisk until the sugar has dissolved.
4. When you are ready to cook the chicken, build a fire in a charcoal grill, leaving about 1/3 of the cooking space free of coals. When coals are covered with gray ash and the temperature is medium (you can hold your hand 5 inches above the coals for 5 to 7 seconds), you are ready to cook. (For a gas grill, turn one burner to high, leaving the others off, then lower cover and heat for 15 minutes.)
5. Using tongs, remove chicken thighs from marinade and cook, directly over the coals, turning every few minutes, until they are well-browned but not crusty, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Then, using a pastry brush, begin to baste them with the soy, ginger and sugar mixture, until they develop a lacquer, an additional 8 to 10 minutes, again turning every few minutes. (If chicken threatens to burn, place it over the part of the grill without coals.)
6. Transfer chicken to a warmed platter, sprinkle with the chopped cashews, the scallions and the cilantro, and serve.
