The gas or charcoal grill debate

Since 1995, my husband, Jeff, and I have debated over which is better: gas or charcoal grills?

My thinking is gas grills are easier and cleaner - just turn on the propane, push a button and it is ready. You can control the temperature and there's no messy charcoal briquettes to discard.

Jeff's thinking is gas grills have too many parts which break often and food cooked on a charcoal grill simply tastes better.

After 14 years of winning this discussion, I finally conceded and we bought a large kettle charcoal grill a couple weeks ago.

With a library of cookbooks at my disposal, I researched different charcoal grilling techniques.

Some experts say not to cover the grill while the food is cooking. The smoke will overwhelm the food and alter the taste, they say. Others say to use the cover to evenly cook the food and get a smoky flavor.

We use it depending on what we're grilling. For meats that don't take long to grill, like hamburgers or brats, we don't use the cover. But we cover chicken, which takes longer and could use more heat.

Recently, we barbecued a chicken by, yes, following a recipe. First, I put a spice rub on the chicken, covered it and refrigerated it for an hour.

Jeff prepared the grill following several books, “Williams-Sonoma Grilling” and “Cook's Country Best Grilling Recipes.”

He used the indirect heat technique by placing the coals on one side of the grill and the chicken on the grate on the other side. Although recipes vary, he brushed barbecue sauce on the chicken before grilling. After 30 minutes, he moved the chicken to the middle of the grate, flipping the meat and brushing it with barbecue sauce every 5 minutes for 20 minutes.

I placed quartered potatoes brushed with olive oil directly on the grill. I boiled them for 15 minutes first, another new tip I learned by reading the cookbooks.

As the chicken and potatoes cooked, I took the silk off several ears of corn, brushed them with olive oil, seasoned them with salt and pepper, covered them with the husks and put them on the grill.

For the final 5 minutes, Jeff moved the chicken pieces directly over the coals, slathering them with more sauce to caramelize them.

I concluded we were both right on the grill debate. While the process was time consuming, there was no denying the great smoked flavors and the barbecue smell wafting throughout the neighborhood.