Barbecue is a slow process of cooking in a low temperature that is about 300-400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 8 to 18 hours. The low temperature creates smoke and it gives barbecue the characteristic flavor. Normally the food to be cooked is kept in a separate chamber not in contact with the source of heat. To produce the smoke charcoal, wood-chunks or smouldering logs will be used.



This type of cooking is very helpful to cook large pieces of meat. Different heat source can be used like charcoal, gas, wood etc. There are regulators for the burners which help keep the process in our control and gives confidence of cooking food properly. There are no dirty hot ashes which make the cleaning work tiresome. The charred remains after cooking should be scraped off with wire brush and should be wiped off with vegetable oil.

In the charcoal grills the traces of coal tar may be coated over the food material. This disadvantage is over come by using gas barbecues. The wood barbecues will have their characteristics flavor imparted to the food based on the wood used.

In the gas barbecue the wood smoke flavor can be imparted by using the smoker box. The smoker box is a perforated box with soaked wood chips in it which is placed over the heat and under the cooking grill. Some of the gas barbecues will have built in smoker box.

Gas barbecue grill consists of a cooking chamber. In the cooking chamber there gas burners will be placed beneath and above that there will be grids which hold the heat absorbing material like lava rock.

In the higher end grills multiple sear bars which are made of conducting materials are used. A cooking grid is placed above the sear grids or lava rock leaving some space on which food stuff will be placed. The burners are connected to the gas outlet. The gases used for barbecue cooking include natural gas or propane which is supplied from a tank under the cooking chamber.

Gas barbecue has got many benefits over the other types of barbecues. It is easy to use. It gets ignited in a touch of button and reaches cooking temperature in about 10 minutes. It helps the meat juices to vaporize back into the food and give the real flavor of barbecue which avoids the chaos of using charcoal.

Since the fuels used will produce wet heat the texture of the foodstuff may be changed. This is also an advantage that the food stuff which takes long time for cooking like ribs since the stuff will not dry out in the process of cooking.

The gas grills are very expensive because of the complexity and higher heat. There is no hassle of removing the ashes that has to be disposed off. It also helps to reduce air pollution. The gas grill parts can be replaced easily if worn out. The life of the equipment may be extended and the pollution may be reduced by proper maintenance.