I just bought a gas grill. I have always used charcoal before. I tried cooking steaks the other day and they didn’t turn out as good as they did on my charcoal grill. Is there some trick or something? I cook out at least 3 times a week, usually. Any tips on burgers and anything else you put on a grill?
they will never be as good as charcoal which is why i use it also. try some of the lava rock
Let don cook it. Best tip ever!
it will get better as you cook, the grease will build up on the burners and give you a lil more flavor, however, it will never be as good as charcoal. even the lava rocks arent as good and they take the grill a little longer to heat up. which usually isnt that big of a deal.
Only thing I ever learned to do was to sear a steak on both sides over direct high heat, then let them finish over indirect heat. Supposed to keep the juices inside more.
Procedures for cooking over gas or charcoal are almost identical. I prefer using lump charcoal, over regular charcoal, and regular charcoal over gas.
High heat for 4 minutes is high heat for 4 minutes no matter the heat source.
Hold your hand above the heat source and get a feel for how hot it is. The less time you can hold it there the hotter it is. Duh. 1-2 seconds is high heat.
Most gas grillers have the heat turned too high or too low.
Place the meat on the grill and leave it in place for 3/4 of the cooking time and then rotate it 90 degrees. The meat is evenly exposed to the heat and leaves you the very nice cross hatches that are a trademark of a grilling expert.
Learn to do the poke test for beef, pork, and chicken. <—The ulitmate indicator for doneness. Never cut or poke a steak to check. Don’t forget that beef will continue to cook AFTER you take it off the grill for almost 5 minutes.
Do not flip or turn too often. Also, do not close the lid unless you are going to smoke or slow cook something.
The real benefits of the gas grill come in when you cook stuff low and slow, like whole chickens, ribs, and pulled pork. No charcoal to start and no coals to add. Just nice constant heat. Get a cast iron smoker box and load it with wood chips soaked in water, beer, or juice and place it near the burner.
i find that gas always has a different taste to it …and charcoal always seems to make it taste better and seems to cook more evenly
Beer Burgers FTW!
charcoal is better but isnt worth the effort, i grill about 3 times a week all year on my gas grill. i love it
tips?..
it will take a while but you’ll figure out the hot spots, trial and error. i usually start my grill off on ignite (higher than high) to burn any old shit off. i then scrape and oil, then turn the heat down to where i want to cook it at, here’s where the trial and error comes in. i leave the burner closest to the tank at like a 7 and the further one at 10 to make it even. the hot start makes a nice seer on the meat though.
burgers are tricky because of the hot and cold spots and how much area they take up. since i only cook for two i dont need rocks. but if you’re family cooking i’d look into rocks for keeping an all round even heat like charcoal
mostly just pay attention to what worked. i had a tendency to cook to high, now i have my times worked out and only touch the meat once to flip it. once you get the times down for your goto meals it becomes as easy as the microwave.
Mesquite Wood Chips in Gas grills are great…give the BBQ flavor I guess.
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I’m learning how to cook on a gas grill. So far this thread has become alot of help. Please keep contributing.
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A chicken recipe FTW: Can be cooked on a gas grill, charcoal, or even in the oven.
1 whole chicken
2 whole lemons
2 big heads of garlic
Fresh Rosemary
Coarse Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Butter or Olive oil
Rinse the chicken in cold water and then dry with paper towels.
Salt and pepper the inside cavity, (not much salt and pepper) then stuff with lemons, garlic and rosemary. Cut the lemons and garlic heads in half. No need to clean the garlic, just toss it in.
Rub olive oil or butter on the outside of the chicken skin and then another sprinkle of salt and pepper.
Use the indirect cooking method for the grill with the lid closed:
Light one burner or build a charcoal fire on one side of the grill. Place the chicken on the other side of the grill. Add wood chips in smoker box near flames or charcoals. I recommend apple wood chips or chunks. Grill @ 300 degrees for 2 hours or until the chicken reaches 180 degrees.
OR in the oven:
Place the chicken in a baking dish and bake @ 350 degrees for 1.5 hours or until the chicken reaches 180 degrees.
Serve with some grilled baby red potatoes and grilled corn on the cob.
How do you grill corn on the cob?
^ i’ve never done it… but in theory, remove silk, soak for a while, grill till they steam. 
i may be a vegeterian, but i can cook like a motherfucker.
here si some of my tricks. all are trial and error shit i learned, or stuff passed down from my mom.
my tips for grilling is touch the meat one time–to flip it. i agree w/ the poke test mentioned above to see if it is done, but lately i just cut a tiny slit in the middle to see if it is pink. then i add my cheese which melts down in it.
i also use a good bit of garlic salts, fresh cracked pepper, and whatever else im feeling frisky with. key is fresh.
i have a couple bbq sauce mixes-- here is 3 of them—
black mix-
cup of strong black coffee, cup of Worcestershire sauce, cup of ketchup
1/2 cup cider vinegar 1/2 cup brown sugar (more or less to taste, pending how sweet you liek it) some chili powder-- say 3-4 tablespoons pending how how u want. i go for around 3 1/2. about 2 heaping spoons of salt (can subsitute w/ garlic salt) 2 cups of chopped onions 1/4 cup minced hot chili peppers (or use chili powder, forget how much i used last time) 6 cloves garlic minced
throw it all in a pan for 25mins on simmer. then once done, toss it in a blender and puree it.
this is good on steaks/burgers.
this one is good on chicken–
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel (can skip this part if u want)
1 teaspoon dry mustard (more or less to taste.)
1/2 teaspoon salt
cracked crush pepper
2 tablespoons honey (more or less to taste)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup vegetable oil
this u combine all the shit in a pot, let it sit for an hour. then baste the chicken w/ it. longer it sits, better it gets… say hr and a half.
last one i got is a quickie for burgers w/ shit found in the fridge (except the stoneys)–
11/2 cups hot sauce
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
11/2 cups italin salad dressing
1/2 teaspoon salt
can/bottle of beer-ur pick of beer. (stoneys seems to cook the best)
that gives you about a cup and a half of sauce. i use to make it by the gallon at college for football game cookouts, etc.
here is a good recipe to try on burgers—
cook burger as u normally would, but add a sweet tasting bbq sauce. be it home made or kc masterpiece.
when your on your last minutes of cooking (after you flip the burger), add more bbq sauce, a slice of onion, and a slice of orange, then more bbq sauce. close the lid and let it cook at a lower temp. the juices from the bbq sauce mix w/ the orange, and draw down through the onion into the meat. leaves a damn good taste in the burger.
oh yeah, here is a corn on the cob recipe–
clean the corn. toss it in a pice of alumium foil large enough to wrap the cobb up.
put butter on the top of the corn, like a teaspoon or so. i usually grab the stick and rub it in like you would a pen on paper.
then crack fresh pepper over the corn, it will stick on the butter.
wrap the foil around the cob like you would a baked potato.
cook for about 15 minutes, spinning the corn over so the butter/pepper mixes/around the corn.
another thing to try is, do the same thing mentioned above, but use butter and caramel ice cream topping instead of butter/pepper. u can also add mince chipotle? peppers w/ the caramel and butter. my mom usues the chipotle peppers, i never have the mf’ers around when i cooked it. they are a choclatey flavored jalepno peper. either way, with or w/o it, shit is good.
We just made corn on the cob last week the way rookee said. Removed the extra silk at the end, leave husk on, soak in water for 1/2 hour, then grill. It was pretty good.