Charcoal VS. Gas - Or, people like to do what is easier.
If you are a competition cook, you know that using Gas is a HUGE “no-no”. Gas is not allowed for use in any kind of competition, so why in the world do people still use smokers pictured on the left that run off of gas?
The simple answer? Because it is easier. It really is! Think about it, you get your meat all ready, you drop it on the smoker, fill your pellet holder with flavored pellets, fire up the gas and simply walk away! The gas does all the work, you can get a really nice result and you are “technically” smoking your food. I don’t know how many people I have met who smoke thier food using this method.
I remember when I started to get into BBQ, and my wife was talking to me about her brother who makes really good smoked food. I got excited since we were going to be with him in a few days, I wanted to see what kind of methods he uses and see if I could learn anything for competition. I was really disappointed. My brother-in-law does all his food on his weber gas grill! There was nothing I could take to use.
People love BBQ, they DON’T like making it if they don’t know how. There is a mystique and a difficulty to break into the BBQ community, this is why they are lured towards the easy methods of cooking, which really produce an inferior product.
Charcoal, even Kingsford (yuck) charcoal gives you a better tasting end product than gas does. It creates a taste that rivals no other. Cooking with charcoal does not have to be hard! It just doesn’t! It can be as easy to cook with as gas, if you have the right tools.
One of the tools you can use is the BBQ Guru to control your charcaol burn. One of the most important things fire needs is oxygen rich air. Oxygen makes your coals burn hotter, or colder if there is less air in your fire pit. With most charcoal smokers, cooks have to master their air vents, controlling the amount of air into their firepit to get to the desired temp. This is part of the fun of cooking, but once you master it can be something that most cooks can do without. Enter the BBQ Guru! The Guru controls just the right amount of air into your firepit to give you your desired temp without having to mess with ANY vents, bringing the ease of using a gas powered smoker to the charcoal world. Finally, a tool that can let even the most novice BBQ chef to create amazing results.