Cooking with gas: Opinion
By JOE O'CONNELL, Past President
For half a century--ever since some pitmasters began to
experiment with using gas (natural gas or propane) to cook barbecue--the
debate has raged. Can a cooker using gas alone produce authentic
American barbecue? No! Authentic American barbecue must be
cooked in the smoke from a wood or charcoal fire. Can a cooker using
gas and wood produce authentic American barbecue? Read on.
From J & R Manufacturing
The legendary manufacturer of the Oyler restaurant barbecue smoker
is J & R Manufacturing of Dallas, Texas. J & R reports the following on
its website:
Natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas are
terrific fuels for many applications. However, barbecue is not one
of these applications. We use gas-fired infrared burners for our
rotisserie line and they work great. They work because the gaseous
products of combustion do not contact the food. Some barbecue oven
manufacturers use gas burners as the basis of their design. When the
temperature drops, the gas comes on. This gas affects the taste of
the barbecue!! Taste tests prove this "barbecue" to be inferior.
These same manufacturers caution users to use wood sparingly because
there is no control on the temperature ceiling (too much wood and
the oven overheats). We pioneered gas/wood ovens many years ago and
rejected them for taste reasons.
The day we made the decision to never use gas
again in a barbecue pit was at a Republican National Convention
party in the summer of 1980. We were participating in a catering
event on the grounds of the Mesquite Championship Rodeo. We had one
of our trailer-mounted Oyler barbecue pits equipped with a forced
air gas burner in its firebox. We put logs in the firebox and
started the pit. Since it was 108 degrees that day, we quickly
retreated into our air-conditioned car. We looked up at the
smokestack and noticed that every time the gas burner came on, the
smoke disappeared! We had a very efficient smoke-eating gas flame in
the firebox. We have cooked with wood, period, since that day! Gas
is convenient, but we don't trust it around barbecue. Too many times
have we heard of "combination" ovens in which there is no wood in
the firebox - Someone was lazy or someone forgot! Sometimes the meat
is overcooked or burned because too much wood was used. We trust
good ol' wood! We have precise temperature control of both the lower
and upper temperature cycles. Despite the propaganda you may hear
from the gassers, the fire is easy to start without a gas burner.
The control lasts well over fourteen hours with no one around! So,
please, don't insult the tradition of barbecue by abusing the meat
with gas!
Discussion of gas on the website of J & R Manufacturing
Counterpoint
By Bill Wight, cbbqa member
December 10, 2002
I know two serious cbbqa barbecuers who recently purchased Ole
Hickory restaurant style smokers. These gas/wood smokers are used in
many barbecue restaurants across the USA. I too was skeptical of using
gas for the heat source as does the Ole Hickory. However, the proof is
in the tasting and I've had barbecue out of both of these Ole Hickory
smokers that used propane for the heat source and chunks of hickory or
oak for the flavor. As a competition barbecue cook, and a KCBS
Certified Barbecue Judge, I have to say that the barbecue from these
smokers was some of the very best I've ever had. So like all things in
life, there is no hard answer on the use gas and wood in a barbecue pit.
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