How does the food taste compared to charcoal??? Thanks!!!
69956
no beating charcoal, but in the winter months you can use this in your house, i love doing fish on this, 3 mins a side at temp 4, with the cover on. perfect every time.
69957
As for me, I don't think any food taste as good as the one cooked on charcoal. A friend of mine told me that it's all in my head, and he couldn't tell the difference. So yeah, I'm not much help. Sorry.
69958
There isn't a charcoal taste unless I add liquid smoke to the meats. I really don't miss not having a charcoal grill.
1543860
I use Royal Oak lump charcoal, works great. Walmart has it. I have only used the Cook Air a couple of times but I can tell you its great! Awesome! I would think one 2x3 chunk of real wood would be enough. Do a google and see the lump charcoal its the best. Its real wood that has been burnt down to charcoal. Works really good and you don't need a lot...Mark
1308786
You can get this electric or charcoal. I have the electric model and am satisfied with the performance.
379338
No, you don't really get the char broiled taste that you get when using charcoal, but you get a very nice seared crust, minus all the oil needed to pan fry. I especially like whole mushrooms (tossed with olive oil, kosher salt, pepper and thyme before grilling) cooked on the Livart. As in pan sautéing, allow the food to form a seared crust before turning, then the food will release easily from the mesh grate. The mesh grate is easy to clean too, I use a Golden Fleece scrubbing cloth.
379336
The food actually tastes grilled with a good hint of char. If you want full-blown charbroiled, try a yakitori grill. They have them on Amazon. The ones that last are expensive though. My wife has been using this for over a year and enjoys grilling on it. She just used it a few nights ago and still loves it. I noticed she is sensible in using the grill, always being mindful of the instructions. I enjoy watching her grill skewers and steak. The food always turns out great with no left overs... especially when she cooks with BBQ sauce. She uses it for steaks, shrimp, vegetables, anything on skewers, chicken and pork chops... The food actually tastes grilled with a good hint of char. If you want full-blown charbroiled, try a yakitori grill. They have them on Amazon. The ones that last are expensive though. My wife has been using this for over a year and enjoys grilling on it. She just used it a few nights ago and still loves it. I noticed she is sensible in using the grill, always being mindful of the instructions. I enjoy watching her grill skewers and steak. The food always turns out great with no left overs... especially when she cooks with BBQ sauce. She uses it for steaks, shrimp, vegetables, anything on... » Read More The food actually tastes grilled with a good hint of char. If you want full-blown charbroiled, try a yakitori grill. They have them on Amazon. The ones that last are expensive though. My wife has been using this for over a year and enjoys grilling on it. She just used it a few nights ago and still loves it. I noticed she is sensible in using the grill, always being mindful of the instructions. I enjoy watching her grill skewers and steak. The food always turns out great with no left overs... especially when she cooks with BBQ sauce. She uses it for steaks, shrimp, vegetables, anything on skewers, chicken and pork chops... « Show Less
603348
Well, I'm no expert but I would say it's the difference between a charcoal pizza and a "wood fired" pizza. This incorporates chunks of wood that flame up in the rear of the unit as well as indirect coals to increase the heat.
849609
Wood charcoal... you can. Lump charcoal will damage it according to the Cook-Air people.... Western woods works great. Best steak I ever did on a bbq.
1677465
Same results. i use Kingsford, Walmart, Grocery store etc... Make sure it is actual charcoal and not the charwood. some places sell the wood pellets, which have a much lower heat.
1252436
I would only use charcoal because in the video it specifies "charcoal grill." If you prefer wood, I would Google a wood chip grill.
1170114
I start fire with charcoal. I soak wood in water overnight and cook using wood. I have enjoyed my smoker. It takes 8-10 hours for Boston butts to get tender but it is well worth the time. Also have smoked chicken. Awesome!
1314778
I prefer lump charcoal such as Royal Oak. The larger pieces hold heat much better and break down slower than briquettes. Lump charcoal seems to burn the fresh wood I sometimes use at a slower rate as well. I love using my smoker and hope you have a similar experience.
1170112
I always use lump charcoal, which is basically just burnt wood (and is sold pretty much anywhere you can find charcoal, Walmart is the best place to get it). You shouldn't really smoke with charcoal, for the exact reason you mentioned, you should always use lump charcoal or wood. You just put wood chunks on top of the lump charcoal and you have your heat and smoke!
819191
Believe it or not, I just used it last week for the first time. I made grilled chicken, which was very, very good. It did taste like I had put it on the outside gas grill. I hope this helps
379335
The food actually tastes grilled with a good hint of char. If you want full-blown charbroiled, try a yakitori grill. They have them on Amazon. The ones that last are expensive though. My wife has been using this for over a year and enjoys grilling on it. She just used it a few nights ago and still loves it. I noticed she is sensible in using the grill, always being mindful of the instructions. I enjoy watching her grill skewers and steak. The food always turns out great with no left overs... especially when she cooks with BBQ sauce. She uses it for steaks, shrimp, vegetables, anything on skewers, chicken and pork chops...
1580240
Yes. In my opinion, better than gas or charcoal. Have grilled steaks and burgers that were much better than on my gas grill. Recommend you purchase "The Complete Wood Pellet Barbeque Cookbook" from Amazon. Contains great tips, temps, cook times, and suggested pellet variety.
1232680
Jason, I've had a hard time getting it up to the desired smoking temp when it's cool & windy or just cool. I think one of the problems is that they only recommending using 12 or so starter coals. Yesterday I increased this number to 20 or so and that seemed to work better. I'll keep fooling with it and could see using up to half the coals in the chimney starter. And I've found that I need to have the top holes open more than the 5/16 they recommend. I'd say open them all the way up and then throttle them down. I also think it makes a big difference and significantly slows down the process if the meat isn't close to room temp to start. But I'll tell you, the more I use the device the more comfortable I feel with it. I'm having a retirement get together this coming Sat so started preparing for that this weekend. Using a rib rack I smoked 6 full racks of ribs on Sat and 6 more on Sun. I'd never have dreamed that 6 racks of ribs would fit on the Weber but they did. I baby sat the Sat batch pretty closely but once the Sunday batch was up to speed I only looked at about once/hour to stir the coals, add water & wood. We ate one last evening and it was good but will put the rest in the oven for 2 or 3 hours to get them more tender before serving. I hope that this (long) answer is of some help and encouragement. Dave McCartney, Marion, OH dkmcpa@yahoo.com
2091323
Real coal based charcoal not coconut based. Depending on the strenght of the aroma, I replace annually. Good luck.