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[Hank D Thoreau]

This post was inspired by the "Thinkin about renouncing charcoal" under folks names with the appropriate number of posts.

So is there anything that you prefer to cook on a charcoal grill? Do you like charcoal as a change of pace for certain cooks?

I have been using a pellet smoker since December 2018. Almost all cooking that I used to do on my Weber kettles, I now do on my Daniel Boone pellet smoker.

There is still one thing that I continue to do on the Weber, whole turkeys. I did not like the tough skin I got when cooking turkey legs on my smoker.

I posted about it at the time and apparently, it was not an issue unique to me. There were a few remedies proposed but not enough for me to risk the holiday meal without some testing.

I cooked my Thanksgiving turkey on my Weber kettle.

I would also consider doing some large pieces of meat, like rib roasts, over charcoal for the flavor difference.

My charcoal grill imparts a different flavor which can be a nice alternative. For now, the smoker takes much less effort, and everyone at my house likes the results.

[Hank D Thoreau]

I have done indirect cooking on a Weber kettle but never two zone. For indirect you split the coals between the two sides rather than placing them all at one side to create a direct and indirect zone. Usually, I will set up a second grill if I need to do both, that way I only need to control one thing per grill.

[hughver]

I have a BGE and I like chicken pieces better on the BGE than the pellet grills.

[Canadian John]

 At one point I had 3 kamadoes, a 22" Weber gold kettle, Weber gasser and pellet grill - now a Memphis Pro..  I find direct cooking of steaks, bone in pork chops to generate the best taste as well as baked

potatoes (we eat the skin)and asparagus, are better done over charcoal*. What I don't like done on charcoal* unless it is foiled with garlic + oil is, broccoli. It has a distinctive taste I don't enjoy. Although I

haven't done chicken over charcoal lately, I feel it's better..If the taste is ~ equal and nothing else comes into play, I cook with pellets as the Memphis is so easy to clean up.

 * LUMP not briquettes.  Add; Burgers to charcoal.

[cookingjnj]

I will be cooking a marinated London broil on my Weber kettle tonight and bone in ginger beer brined pork chops tomorrow on the kettle.  I prefer pork chops and steak cooked over charcoal than I do with the RT.

[CaptJerry]

Burgers and steak on charcoal
Been reverse searing steaks.
Cook low and slow in pellet grill, sear on Kamado, tasty!

[Brushpopper]

I do chicken breasts for my wife and ABTs on my little $25 charcoal grill I use for the travel trailer.  I'm usually cooking steaks or butterflied pork chops for the girls and I on the pellet grill and after the breasts are done I'll throw our stuff on the charcoal grill to reverse sear.  All long low and slow cooks are strictly on one of my pellet grills, usually the Maverick these days.  Might do some burgers on both of them this week as an experiment.

[urnmor]

Not really

[Free Mr. Tony]

Chicken

[dk117]

Chicken

+1 on chicken.   I believe I've got a handle on everything else with my gasser and two pellet pits.  But the best chicken I've ever made was over lump charcoal.   Never been able to duplicate with pellets or gas.  (note it's close but there's something, not just nostalgia that I miss)

[GREG-B]

Currently have 2 kamado's and a GMG DB.  Prefer grilling steaks, chops and foul on the Kamado.  Mostly low and slow on the pellet pooper. 

[pmillen]

<sigh>  I'm, again, breaking a rule I set for myself.  I'm trying to keep my comments true to the pellet unit perspective.

Yeah.  There are some things that we prefer cooked over charcoal.  My drum smoker produced the best chicken.  It went to the landfill quite a while back but the kamado flavor is close.  Almost anything cooked hot and fast seems, to us, to be better over charcoal.

I have a stick burner (KBQ C-60) that produces a different smoke flavor and smoke taste strength (if I want it).  And I have a gasser that even gets a bit of use.  I don't think the charcoal burners are the most frequently used.

[Jimsbarbecue]

Yes. We have  Charcoal pellet and a gas grill. Use the pellets grill more than all the others combined. The one thing we really like over charcoal is steak and veggies.

[Ross77]

I have to confess.  I bought the Masterbuilt Gravity 560 in January and have been really enjoying it.  I've missed that charcoal flavor on steaks and burgers.

[pmillen]

But not everyone shares the taste for charcoal.  And Bentley concluded, in this thread, that his Memphis Pro duplicates the charcoal taste.

He wrote, "This thread just proved that there is no difference in flavor for me in a burger cooked over charcoal and one cooked on my Memphis Pro, so why would I want to waste the limited space for the charcoal grill!"

EDIT: Syntax