I received so many interesting comments following my recent column on grilling (isn't anyone cooking indoors anymore?) that I asked some of the reader-writers for permission to publish their comments herewith.
• In your column you chose lump charcoal over briquettes or gas. But there's a fourth option. I use primarily wood, starting with two good chunks between which I place a handful of lump charcoal to help get the wood going. Over all, I stack short pieces of wood in a loose log-cabin fashion. One of the great benefits of this method is that the wood takes a little while to get going, during which some high-quality beer consumption and bird watching can take place. And during cooking, the flavor of the smoke really dresses things up. Wood is a fantastically primal method of cooking -- that's a significant part of its charm.
-- Alec MacLeod, North Orange, Mass.
Nice going. You've combined grilling and smoking very effectively. Have a beer for me.
• I agree charcoal is better than gas. However, my judgment is based on three very nontechnical perspectives.
1. When I go to bed, I don't have to remember if I turned off the gas or not.
2. I don't have to be a pest-control specialist to keep the squirrels from chewing through the rubber gas hose (wire coils can now prevent this frustrating event).
3. My Weber charcoal grill has outlasted the three gas grills that my children have given me for Father's Day over the last 20 years.
-- Jack O'Brien, Fairfax
Beware of well-meaning children.
• With your comment about water vapor being formed when gas burns, I now understand why the components of my gas grill rust out so fast. I barely get two years use out of "enamelized" grids and bars.
-- David Hanttula, Los Altos Hills, Calif.
Interesting, but I doubt if the rust is caused by water vapor from the burning gas. I'll bet you leave it outdoors without a cover.
• Here in the UK we tend to use butane gas, which I imagine burns hotter than propane. The burner flame heats a bed of pebble-sized lava bricks that then radiate heat upwards onto the meat placed above them. So it is unlikely that the water vapor would condense onto the meat. As a convert from charcoal I really don't miss the mess and long waiting time between lighting and cooking, and the food tastes just as good. Given the changeable English climate it is a good thing to be able to light the machine and be cooking within 10 minutes before the next rain shower comes along.
