How Do I Pick the Right Barbecue for this Summer?*

It might be a little early to start planning for summer; and even more presumptuous to assume there will be any nice long summer evenings or Sunday afternoons with fine weather, but planning to buy a barbecue for the family and looking at what type makes the most sense to your situation is going to really help enjoying your time in the garden.

 In this article, I intend to look at the pros and cons of both gas and charcoal barbecues, their prices, and how it’ll benefit the whole family. For more information on barbecue equipment and accessories, take a look over at The Kitchen Professor.

Credit

Charcoal Barbecue
It’s without question that a charcoal barbecue offers the best flavour and provides the most natural barbecue experience, but at what cost?

Preparing a charcoal barbecue can take as much as an hour from the point you start to having a nice white ember that’s clean to cook on. There’s a fair few steps just to get those chicken drumsticks on the griddle:

⁃ Prepare newspaper to catch kindling wood

⁃ Cut your kindling wood into small chunks

⁃ Apply the charcoal once kindling has taken hold

⁃ Wait for the charcoal to turn white so no chemicals are released in or onto your food.

Given these steps all take time it’s fairly obvious you’ll need to have plenty of spare time on your hands to manage a charcoal barbecue. This is absolutely fine if you are willing to make the time investment, but for those of us who are busy and have very little free time or children to look after, will struggle to setup for regular barbecues in the garden.

Another big issue with charcoal is the dust, you almost certainly need to ask the neighbours to take their washing, as well as bringing in your own too. It’s far more difficult to control than a gas barbecue. The other thing is the cost, it’s ever so easy to burn £3 a time on charcoal even with a good offer from Asda.

On the upside, charcoal really gives that feeling of an outdoor event, the smokey flavour it provides is unparalleled and it provides a real sense of hunt and gather instinct which is nice for all dads.

Gas Barbecue
The list of benefits to a gas barbecue is extensive, the best place to start is just how much time it will save. the total time required to prepares for a gas barbecue is less than one minute. This is in stark contrast to charcoal which as we’ve already established will take an hour on average. This makes it the ultimate solution for a busy working family.

Gas barbecues are so much easier to control too. You can control the temperature ever so easily with a dial. A charcoal barbecue takes so much more skill, and that’s fine if you’re a regular bbq fan, but someone who only does half a dozen barbecues in the whole summer will really struggle. Gas takes the skill out of it and then and give you total control. This actually makes food processing safer as well.

You’re far more likely to get an even cooked, yummy burger with a steady temperature. Th is is good for the kids and it helps with planning. There’s nothing like an army of hungry mouths waiting to be fed and no ETA in sight. That ends up stressful and defeats the whole point of trying to relax in the garden.

In summary if you’re time rich then a charcoal barbecue is worth persevering with, unfortunately it takes skill, and it’s more expensive than gas per event, that said the upfront costs probably settle the difference long run. If you don’t have the time and want to enjoy a barbecue on a whim then a gas barbecue is for you.