Charcoal or Gas?
I was gas for many years. Switched to charcoal a few years ago. Never going back to gas
Gas.
Charcoal only tastes better, if'n you don't know how to season with gas.
But, I agree... straight ahead grillin' gas v charcoal, winner charcoal.
Every Sunday evening, I cook the family meal, on the grill on the back porch.
Ok.... Southern evenings, are the best... year round. So put yourself there, first.
Weber Genesis, 3 stations (with sear station-- lol, never used it) and side burner.
We are a meat/potatoes/veggies/bread family.
1) I'll start with the taters. I cut baby golds in quarters, and fill up a big tin.
Season with about 1/3 stick of real butter, 3 cloves garlic, dashes of chipotle, for kick.
These go on the grill first. They take an hour. Cover the tin with foil for the first half hour, remove foil to stir occasionally the second half hour.
The end result is somewhat tender taters in the center, with burnt/crisp taters along the edges. (My in-laws fight over 'em, lol)
2) Veggies. all go on after taters have been cooking 1/2 hour.
Baby carrots soaked/cooked in butter/teriyaki/garlic tin, combined with carrot sliced carrots and spliced carrots.
Simple vegetable, but in 3 forms/cuts... loaded with flavor.
Brussel sprouts cooked with butter/garlic. Cooked til tender (a must)
Asparagus spears. cooked with butter/garlic. Asparagus really reduces as you heat, so I save some asparagus to put in 1/2 way thru.
Corn on the cob. cooked on the side burner. No prep other than boiling water. Simple, but always appreciated.
3) Meats.
Steak, as much as budget allows. I don't know about ya'll's whereabouts, but beef is uber-expensive in the south, compare to chicken, fish, pork.
I won't grill T-bone, prime rib, or Filet mignon. Too expensive... save for a restaurant so the cook temp has to be perfect, or you can send back.
My fave to grill is rib-eye, ny strip, or sirloin. Plus, that's all I can afford, cooking for 6, at the least.
I've found the key is not so much the cut, but the temp cooked. I set 2 cook stations on low, and 1 station on medium. Meats are always cooked on lowest settings.
Steak/pork take 20 mins for med/well, Chicken/fish take 25 mins for well done.
At those temps/times... all meats are safe/done/JUICY-TENDER.
I KNOW I'VE DONE WELL, WHEN THEY TELL ME "yum... juicy and tender!"
The only "challenge" I have, is getting the "RARE" lovers perfect.
Chicken, my favorite. Pennies on the steak dollar, yet everyone loves a great chicken breast nearly as much as a good steak.
More 'seasoning', tho. I soak a 12 pack of chicken breasts in a large teriyaki bowl. I throw in garlic cloves/salt. Stab the breasts with a knife, letting the juices into the meat.
Put plenty of condiments on the table on chicken night, so fam/guest can season individually.
Chicken breasts takes 1/2 hour, on low heat. turning frequently and basting with the teriyaki bowl/sauce, the breasts marinated overnight in.
Fish, Red Snapper rivals steak as the fish-meat most requested. But it's rarely at the supermarket.
Red Snapper cooks like fish/ eats like steak. Most of the time, cook salmon, on fish night.
Both Red Snapper & Salmon filets are wrapped in tin-foil, lined on the bottom with pure virgin olive oil. Pat of butter/garlic on the top.
Wrap in tin-foil, grill for 1/2 hour. Turn over tin-foil wrap 2X while cooking, to spread the butter/garlic juices, all around.
Pork, Pork chops, cooked on low heat. Turned often and basted with lite glaze of applesauce. Takes 1/2 hour.
4) Bread. Last ten minutes. Buy French bread loaf, cut thick. butter/garlic salt both sides, and grill 5 mins each side (again, low heat). Perfect.
Warm bread with meal, perfectly pre-seasoned.
Fall/winter Sundays... the meal prefaced with a Viking win if we played at noon, anticipated if we play late, Sunday/Monday night.
I tried "smoking" meats. I get it, the tastes on the meats, are incredible. I just don't have all day.
& I have too many people invited, riding on a chance... and a whole lotta money in beef/pork.
I got enuff "pressure" feeding 6+ economically, without throwing in the intricacies of smoking, and to a lesser extent, charcoal.