Gravy's Cooking Thread

Burns · 2026-04-22T06:47:05-0400

BrutulTM said:
I was a charcoal purist for like 20 years and then I got lazy and got a gas grill. Still get the urge for a charcoal burger or steak once in a while. I have a Big Green Egg but it's not set up currently because my back deck is too crowded with the gas grill and the pellet grill.

I cooked on gas grills for most of my life. I eventually realized there is nothing that's cooked on a gas grill that tastes better than cooking it on a stovetop/griddle. So fuck spending $1000+ on some fancy built-in grill in some fancy outdoor kitchen.

A smoker, on the other hand, is where it's at for outdoor cooking.

Lanx · 2026-04-22T06:49:47-0400

Burns said:
I cooked on gas grills for most of my life. I eventually realized there is nothing that's cooked on a gas grill that tastes better than cooking it on a stovetop/griddle. So fuck spending $1000+ on some fancy built-in grill in some fancy outdoor kitchen.

A smoker, on the other hand, is where it's at for outdoor cooking.

so you got a blackstone now to get your teppanyaki on?

Burns · 2026-04-22T07:15:15-0400

Lanx said:
so you got a blackstone now to get your teppanyaki on?

I generally don't cook asian food, but I use 10" or 12" cast iron skillets to cook hamburgers, sausage, or steaks. Smoking up the house with steak smell is half the fun and the meat to cheese to vegetable to bun ratio of a smash burger type is far superior to some thick hand pressed patty monstrosity. I also have a cast iron griddle, but rarely use it.

Lanx · 2026-04-22T07:21:48-0400

Burns said:
I generally don't cook asian food, but I use 8" or 10" cast iron skillets to cook hamburgers, sausage, or steaks. Smoking up the house with steak smell is half the fun and the meat to cheese to vegetable to bun ratio of a smash burger type is far superior to some thick hand pressed patty monstrosity. I also have a cast iron griddle, but rarely use it.

yea if you get a blackstone, use an all arounder shopping engine like google shopping cuz costco/walmart/academy,etc all have their "in house" style blackstone

like walmart sells this ver

for a good price (it's for camping)

and academy slaps on wheels and legs and it's the go go or something

BrutulTM · 2026-04-22T09:55:53-0400

Burns said:
I cooked on gas grills for most of my life. I eventually realized there is nothing that's cooked on a gas grill that tastes better than cooking it on a stovetop/griddle.

I totally disagree with that. A steak cooked on a gas grill definitely tastes different than one cooked in a cast iron pan. It's not the same as charcoal or smoking, but it definitely adds flavor because of the juices dripping on the hot metal plates over the burners and getting vaporized. If you add grill grates, that is magnified.

The Blackstone, on the other hand, I don't get. I mean it's nice to have that big surface to cook on, but it's just a big frying pan. I already have an electric griddle for cooking pancakes and whatnot and it cost a lot less than the Blackstone and it doesn't require a dedicated space on the deck. It makes sense if you're going camping, but I don't get the giant one on the deck.

Siliconemelons · 2026-04-22T10:03:20-0400

Sad: the split lamb breast got out of date before I managed to try it...sad -10$ :-(

Did 2 racks of herb crusted lamb for Easter - had 1 left over as I bought an extra... sams had -$5 off each package and I saw a small 17$ one, so 12$ for a little rack of lamb to try something new with- sure! Ended up using that small one for the herb crusted lamb as I know my wife likes more well done- so I made a small size one and a normal "big" size one and cooked them the same so hers was more well done.

Well- this Greek restaurant has lamb "riblets" they make... and they season and cook them different than their normal "full" lamb chops - and I like the riblets much better- so I attempted a dupe... essentially- olive oil, lemon, garlic, herbs - high sear.

Wife liked them better than the herb crusted version, I agreed and this is much simpler.

Burns · 2026-04-22T11:05:09-0400

BrutulTM said:
I totally disagree with that. A steak cooked on a gas grill definitely tastes different than one cooked in a cast iron pan. It's not the same as charcoal or smoking, but it definitely adds flavor because of the juices dripping on the hot metal plates over the burners and getting vaporized. If you add grill grates, that is magnified.

The Blackstone, on the other hand, I don't get. I mean it's nice to have that big surface to cook on, but it's just a big frying pan. I already have an electric griddle for cooking pancakes and whatnot and it cost a lot less than the Blackstone and it doesn't require a dedicated space on the deck. It makes sense if you're going camping, but I don't get the giant one on the deck.

I've done reverse sear, butter baste sear, and sear into oven finish but usually just do the latter for ease. All of which produced a better maillard reaction crust than any steak I have ever grilled, which lend more flavor than the drippings getting burnt back onto the steak from an open flame. I found the doneness is much easer to control in the oven as well.

Here is one of the old Serious Eats chefs perfectly cooking a huge tomahawk, for example:

BrutulTM · 2026-04-22T11:06:48-0400

Burns said:
I've done reverse sear, butter baste sear, and sear into oven finish but usually just do the latter for ease. All of which produced a better maillard reaction crust than any steak I have ever grilled, which lend more flavor than the drippings getting burnt back onto the steak from an open flame. I found the doneness is much easer to control in the oven as well.

Here is one of the old Serious Eats chefs perfectly cooking a huge tomahawk, for example:

Of course you can get a good seat on a cast iron pan. That doesn't mean it doesn't have a different flavor from being grilled.

Burns · 2026-04-22T11:16:39-0400

BrutulTM said:
Of course you can get a good seat on a cast iron pan. That doesn't mean it doesn't have a different flavor from being grilled.

I never said there was no difference, I said nothing cooked on a gas grill tastes better than cooking it on a stovetop.

QuickEdit: I should probably qualify that with "when using retail equipment," as I'm sure the pros have some special high dollar grills they use.

Furry · 2026-04-22T11:37:56-0400

Burns said:
I've done reverse sear, butter baste sear, and sear into oven finish but usually just do the latter for ease. All of which produced a better maillard reaction crust than any steak I have ever grilled, which lend more flavor than the drippings getting burnt back onto the steak from an open flame. I found the doneness is much easer to control in the oven as well.

Here is one of the old Serious Eats chefs perfectly cooking a huge tomahawk, for example:

I dry age my steaks, sous-vide them and then sear them. Oven works too, but sous vide produces a perfect steak every time. Dry aging enhances the crust however you decide to finish your sear.

BrutulTM · 2026-04-22T14:27:55-0400

Burns said:
I never said there was no difference, I said nothing cooked on a gas grill tastes better than cooking it on a stovetop.

"Better" is subjective. Grilled steak tastes great and so does reverse seared.

Rajaah · 2026-04-22T17:33:46-0400

This is one sexy grill. Wood pellets only I think. I bet it produces a lot of flavor.

Here's the one I'll get in the near future when the budget allows. Anyone know if the "premium" version is worth getting? Same size as the normal version, 22".

Rajaah · 2026-04-22T17:40:06-0400

Here's some grilling porn from yesterday's practice session on a friend's grill:

Didn't know what I was doing yet, and put the food on too soon (while it was still a bonfire) rather than letting the charcoal settle into the 2nd and 3rd images.

The food ended up with a subtle gas-like taste. I think that grill might have some lighter fluid residue on it from someone else using it that didn't burn off? Or maybe that taste is from putting the food on too soon with the briquets not actually melted down yet. I didn't get any sort of stomach issues from the food testing, so I don't think it was lighter fluid residue.

Next time I try will be with the charcoal starter.

Edit: I used lighter fluid on the charcoal pyramid method for this one. Next time I won't use that at all and will give it time to properly burn first. This time was basically me doing a charcoal pyramid bonfire and cooking right on that once it died down most of the way.

M Power · 2026-04-22T18:21:34-0400

Rajaah said:
Here's some grilling porn from yesterday's practice session on a friend's grill:

View attachment 625923
View attachment 625921 View attachment 625922
Didn't know what I was doing yet, and put the food on too soon (while it was still a bonfire) rather than letting the charcoal settle into the 2nd and 3rd images.

The food ended up with a subtle gas-like taste. I think that grill might have some lighter fluid residue on it from someone else using it that didn't burn off? Or maybe that taste is from putting the food on too soon with the briquets not actually melted down yet. I didn't get any sort of stomach issues from the food testing, so I don't think it was lighter fluid residue.

Next time I try will be with the charcoal starter.

Edit: I used lighter fluid on the charcoal pyramid method for this one. Next time I won't use that at all and will give it time to properly burn first. This time was basically me doing a charcoal pyramid bonfire and cooking right on that once it died down most of the way.

You have to let the charcoal burn all that shit off. Also, if you use the easy to light charcoal you gotta let that burn off on those too.

Search

Gravy's Cooking Thread

Burns

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider

Lanx

Burns

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider

Lanx

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.

Siliconemelons

Ssraeszha Raider

Burns

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.

Burns

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider

Furry

Email Loading Please Wait

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.

Rajaah

Honorable Member

Rajaah

Honorable Member

M Power

Golden Squire