Question of the Day, Friday, May 10

[Winchester]

Morning! And TGIF!

Let's talk about grilling. Do you enjoy grilling outside? What's your favorite food to grill? How often do you grill? And do you use a gas grill or a charcoal grill?

We've had a gas grill for years and are thinking of buying a charcoal grill. We love to grill and most nights during the summer (And often during the winter, when there's not a lot of snow on the ground), we'll grill dinner. We'll grill anything and everything, from meats to veggies and fruits, to desserts. Our favorite, though, is probably a good rib-eye....Rick likes his medium, while I like my beef very, very rare. (Throw it on, turn it over, and take it off.) We like doing breakfast on the grill on a nice summer Saturday.

 

[dejolane]

We have a small grill for charcoal since it's just my husband & I . We don't entertain that much but we are planning to buy a better one before summer. We grill about 3 times a week especially on the weekends we go to our daughters for cookouts. When we grill it's T-Bones and nothing else. YUMMY...

dejolane

 

[di and bob]

We have a gas grill. Nothing beats the taste of charcoal, but we can't wait that long, we're done eating and THEN the coals are perfect! My favorite is rib steak, medium rare, then hamburgers (well done!).

 

[feralvr]

We don't have a grill right now!! We gave away our old grill before we moved. A grill is on the list of "must haves". We love to grill. Mostly chicken and burgers. Larry loves brats but I cannot stand them. We like anything with barbeque sauce!! I will also grill veges too. Wrap them up in some foil with spices and a little olive oil. SO GOOD!!!!

 

[dejolane]

I use my George Foreman grill for brats too.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I love grilled food! My favorite is salmon when my step dad grills it. But you can't beat a good hotdog or burger either! I like to have a grilled hotdog once or twice a year. We have a charcoal grill. I prefer that; but I was thinking a gas grill would be faster if we wanted to grill on weeknights. Right now we only grill on the weekends. We just had a little bbq last weekend actually. I couldn't give up my charcoal though. LOL

 

[mani]

I used to have one, but and this had made me think it wouldn't be a bad idea to restart... I used to love grilled veggie salads! 

 

[Winchester]

Mani, if you happen to like Caesar salad, try grilling the romaine. It brings the salad to a whole new level! Just delicious! I had it a couple years ago at a restaurant in town and had to try it at home.

I like to take huge onions and throw them on the grill. Then I carve out a hole in the center of each onion and fill the holes with baked beans. Continue grilling til the onions are done. So good! (Add some cooked bacon to the beans for a nice flavor, too.) Love grilled French fries, although they're more like potato planks than fries. Still really good. Oh, and we like filled tomato halves done on the grill, too. And zucchini boats. Grilled peach halves are wonderful!

Our gas grill is large enough that we can do burgers and dogs and some chicken at the same time. Or Rick will put on veggies first, then when the veggies are almost done, he'll throw the meat on. There's always plenty of room. And Mooch, we love grilled salmon, too. Yum!

I bought a couple grill baskets for grilled stir-fry recipes and they work out quite well.

The reason we're thinking of getting a charcoal grill is for the taste. I agree, charcoal beats gas hands down!

 

[swampwitch]

We are buying a new grill this year, and for the first time ever it will NOT be a charcoal grill. It's because of the climate at our house - 95% of the time it is chilly and windy, even in the summer. The salt air rusted through our second kettle-drum grill a couple of years ago, and I gave up on BBQ'ing completely because of the hassle.

If you are cooking in a warm climate, like most normal places in the summer, charcoal is great but if you are fighting a cold wind that is constantly hitting the grill, it's very difficult to keep the fire at a good cooking temperature. You can't add charcoal while there is food on the grill, even if the fire is cooling too much, it will flare up. And you can't use a huge mound of charcoal to begin with because then it's too hot to put food on and you have to wait for it to burn down anyway. 

It took me a while to figure out that charcoal grills work great in Texas, where the heat helps with the cooking, but in cold climates it's very difficult to keep the coals burning at a good temperature long enough to cook the food. I realize this is not a problem for most people, but thought I'd mention because it's a huge drawback here.

I saw a grill advertised that had one side gas, one charcoal. That would be pretty perfect IMO.

p.s. favorite food to grill is fresh salmon with butter and lemon

p.p.s. if you are cooking with charcoal, using a chimney to start the fire eliminates the need for any starter fluid, it works great and you don't get that toxic smell / taste

 

[AbbysMom]

We have a gas grill.

We normally grill chicken and vegetables. Nothing beats a good burger off the grill. Aaron loves grilled salmon.