Dilemmas Grill this: gas or charcoal?

By Eric Bartels

Pamplin Media Group, Jul 17, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

While it may have taken its time getting here, summer has arrived, and that means taking the barbecuing skills out of storage. Some of us proudly will switch on the fancy gas grill, others will go hunting in the basement for the briquettes and starter fluid.

Gas or charcoal? There are charcoal devotees who would no more consider going gas than a pizza chef would fire his pies in a microwave. On the other hand, other folks probably would not barbecue at all without the convenience offered by their gas-powered machines.

The burning question: Which method offers a win for sustainability?

– Eric Bartels

Air pollution

Here’s something you may not have known about charcoal briquettes: they were popularized by Henry Ford. The production genius reportedly gave over a good portion of his showroom space to the sale of outdoor cooking supplies. In fact, he promoted his cars as a great way to get to and from cookouts.

Briquettes are made of wood that’s already been burned, mixed with coal, binding agents and other additives. They don’t produce a lot of smoke when used in cooking, but that’s because most of the moisture and volatile gases were burned off into the atmosphere before you bought the bag.

The good news is that briquettes consist

primarily of low-quality wood byproducts like shavings, sawdust and bark. Lump charcoal is simply charred wood from tree branches and mill scraps, rather than downed trees.

Gas grills burn propane, an industrial byproduct created by the processing of petroleum and natural gas. Weirdly, the country’s inventory of the stuff is stored in enormous salt caverns around North America.

Propane generally is safe, easy to transport and one of the cleanest-burning fossil fuels. Portland runs its fleet of school buses on it, citing both economic and environmental benefits.

Advantage: Gas

Equipment cost

Generally speaking, a good-quality kettle grill for charcoal cooking – one that gives you the capacity to do some entertaining – will run you about $100. The image of a gas grill may be of a Transformer-like apparatus that only Tony Stark could afford, but stripped-down versions start at about $125. If you want a high-end Deception model, however, expect to pungle up $1,500 or more.

Advantage: Charcoal

Flavor

This is subjective, to be sure. While taste tests have shown that a lot of people can’t tell the difference, many others say briquettes and, especially, hardwood charcoal impart a smoky taste you can’t get from gas.

Gas grills can be outfitted with wood boxes that burn wood chips, but we have to give the edge to man’s oldest fuel source.

Advantage: Charcoal

Fuel cost

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