Charcoal or Gas?

Charcoal or gas?

I am often asked by customers whether they should buy a  charcoal or gas spit roaster. While it is tempting to recommend using gas because it is much cleaner to use than charcoal, and it takes less time to set up, I recommend charcoal EVERY SINGE TIME. 

Why you may ask? I’m a big believer that if you’re going to do something, you may as well do it properly. If you’re going to go to the trouble of sitting around watching your spit roasted meat cook for 3-5 hours, you may as well get the best flavour possible out of it.

Not only does charcoal cook your meat by the heat it emits, it also smokes the meat as it cooks; adding a rich and unique flavour. As your food cooks, the fire and smoke is absorbed by your food which add a smoky authentic flavour to any dish.

Despite what many people think, charcoal is also fairly easy to use. You simply place it into the charcoal starter or directly on the base of your spit roaster and light it to get a hot flame going. While it isn’t quite as easy to moderate the temperature as you can with gas, you can add more charcoal to the fire throughout the cooking process to increase the temperature, and also move your charcoal away from the food using a shovel or wood poker to reduce the temperature.

If safety is your concern, just keep a hose or a bucket of water in close proximity so you can quickly dampen the fire if needed. After all, gas certainly isn’t immune from causing its fair share of fires.

My final argument is usually if you’re going to cook a roast an outdoor gas spit roast, you may as well just use the ordinary oven in your kitchen!

Case dismissed!