Equipment
Rebates
As the weather turns warmer, we start thinking about outdoor cooking and the annual backyard barbecue debate flares up once again: charcoal or propane?
Charcoal may be great for low-and-slow classic barbecue. But when it comes to weeknight dinners al fresco or burgers and hot dogs for a pool party, propane grills offer a whole bunch of advantages.
On a hot summer day in Tennessee, the last thing you want to do when you come home is slave over a hot stove. With oodles of recipes for quick and easy grilled foods for all tastes and budgets, grilling is a great option for everything from chicken breasts to pizza to grilled fruits for a healthy dessert.
Propane makes grilling easy even for busy weeknights. No need to lug out a bag of charcoal, lighter fluid, chimney starter, newspapers, and a lighter. Go outside, turn a dial, push a button and, voila! Your propane grill is heating up.
By the time you’ve brought out the food, the grill is ready to do “its thing.” With charcoal, you have to pour it out, add the lighter fluid and ignite or start the chimney, and then wait another 15 minutes or more before it’s ready for grilling. And when you’ve got hungry people waiting for dinner, those 15 minutes can feel like an eternity.
One of the things cooks love about gas stoves is the precise control of heat it offers. Turn the dial, you instantly get more heat or less heat.
That control is a big advantage for propane grilling. It’s easy to make one side direct grilling and one side indirect. You can decide in an instant just how hot you need it, and adjust on a dime. Need medium heat for barbecued chicken drumsticks and then high heat for the veggie kebabs on the side? Propane can do that! That quick and precise temperature control is something you can’t do with charcoal.
Food purists may insist that only charcoal grilling makes good grilled food and barbecue. Guess again.
Charcoal can add a smoky flavor to food and, unfortunately, more than a hint of butane if someone is too liberal with the lighter fluid.
For some lighter foods, like fish, chicken or fruit, you often want the flavors of the food and its seasonings to stand out. Propane lets you do that while also providing quick searing and easy slow grilling.
Your delicious grilled dinner is ready. Now, you have a choice. Do you want to just turn a button and quickly clean the grates? Or do you want to have to wait an hour – or even longer – for a charcoal grill to cool down? And then you have to deal with disposing of the ashes, and all the mess and soot that goes with that task.
With all its advantages, propane is a great choice for busy families who still want to enjoy the fun and tastiness of outdoor grilling.
Read more about all of the ways propane outdoor living products can make life easier—and more fun! And then contact your local propane company to find out more about enjoying the great outdoors with propane.
