Aaah, the age old debate between a gas BBQ and charcoal. There are definite pluses and minuses to the arguments. The charcoal devotees will highlight that a gas model is essentially just a grill, and if you’re going to get rid of the smell and flavour of charcoal you might as well just stay inside and grill things. Probably whilst fiddling around on your iPod and other things that are ruining the best traditions of humanity.
For the convertees, though, gas BBQs offer a practicality that just can’t be beaten, especially not by the prospect of your mate’s chicken, which is luminous pink on the inside and black on the outside – something that is acceptable for a strawberry cream, but not for poultry. So, what are the perks of a gas BBQ?
It cooks far more evenly. As with the aforementioned strawberry crème, it’s important that the foodstuffs typically barbecued aren’t cooked poorly, otherwise you’re going to end up with a whole bunch of guests that at best hate you, and at worst will try to get you nicked for poisoning. A gas BBQ will enable you to get that chicken just right.
It is far more efficient, and a whole lot less volatile. Using a charcoal barbecue is without doubt ideal for somewhere like Oz, where the sun always shines and the wind always stays away. It’s not quite the same for Wolverhampton. Charcoal barbecues can take ages to light, and even then there’s absolutely no guarantee that they’ll stay lit. If you’re prepared to wait two hours for a chicken drumstick, then be our guest.
It’ll keep going. You’ve been in the ‘barbecue shove’ before. We all have. The first of the food has gone onto the plates, and everyone nearby proceeds to move grapple each other in a poor WWE imitation, just to get to a burger before the flames have died, and the charcoal barbecue has to be set up aaaaall over again. Gas BBQs are the Duracell bunny, and will keep going until you’re stuffed.