Charcoal Versus Propane In Terms Of Fuel Costs

As I was grilling burgers last night I wondered if it really made sense for me to splurge for a Napoleon PT 450 RBI.



I could buy a lot of charcoal for the price of a new propane grill. I wondered though, over the long term, what is the price of a tank of propane versus a bag of charcoal?

Google found this: The Home Barbecue: Charcoal or Gas

A 5 gallon cylinder of propane costs anywhere from $15-$35 to fill (or swap) depending on the time of year and your location. You may get 12-20 meals out of a single tank depending on how big the meal and what you're cooking. That works out to an average of about $1.35 per meal. The 21-lbs bag of charcoal I just finished lasted about 12 meals at a cost of roughly $10, or $0.83 per meal. With the lighter fluid adding about $0.15 per meal. Monetarily, it is much cheaper to barbecue with charcoal.

So, it looks like there won't be a Canadian made Napoleon grill in my near-future.

Jeff Varasano Is Serious About Homemade Pizza

All it takes is 16 easy steps, a coal or wood fired brick oven, and making your own cheese and sauce.

Yet I love the authenticity of web sites like this.

See: Jeff Varasano's Famous New York Pizza Recipe

Alton Brown Makes A List Of His Five Favorite Cookbooks

Via the WSJ: Best Cookbooks

His list is:

The Joy of Cooking

The Frugal Gourmet

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

Outlaw Cook

Ratio

When Vintage Is Better

Seems the older kitchen items are better than their new counterparts. I reach for a wood spoon when stirring, a Mason jar for storing, and a cast iron skillet for most cooking.

Based on this article at Slate, older stoves are better too (specifically Wedgewood): This Old Stove

It Is Not About The Tools

Recent Mark Bittman articles of interest:

So Your Kitchen Is Tiny. So What?

...when it comes to kitchens, size and equipment don’t count nearly as much as devotion, passion, common sense and, of course, experience. To pretend otherwise — to spend tens of thousands of dollars or more on a kitchen before learning how to cook, as is sadly common — is to fall into the same kind of silly consumerism that leads people to believe that an expensive gym membership will get them into shape or the right bed will improve their sex life. As runners run and writers write, cooks cook, under pretty much any circumstance.

Fresh Start for a New Year? Let’s Begin in the Kitchen - Here, then, is my little list of items you might spurn, along with some essential pantry and long-keeping refrigerator items you might consider.

I'm not sure I could get by without canned beans and I would add whole nutmeg to the list.