True, but the heat is spread around and you can roast things evenly (no rotisserie needed). I use the hood to cook everything! Steaks, hamburgers, sausages, chicken. Even heat and it keeps the heat in longer. Our grill doesn't use lava rocks either. Newfangled design disperses heat with metal bars built in.

I got something like this.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0...1.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

It's been almost 2 years since i last used it though.

Side burner-
I use mine when I want to pan fry fish and do not want to stink up the house ;)

Spit-
I use mine a couple times a year when I want to do a leg of lamb, or roast on the bbq.

Also I saw an interesting program on the food network that was of the opinion that charcoal vs gas made zero difference in taste. As the BBQ 'taste' is caused by the fats dripping from the meat, vaporizing in the flames and then getting redeposited on the meat. Also with gas you never have to worry about getting the lovely lighter fuild taste on your steak [img]smile.gif[/img]

<font face="Verdana" size="3" color="#00FF00"> This is a great time to buy a BBQ since summer is almost over and prices drop. You can now pick up that $400 or $500 BBQ for like $200.

Great time to buy BBQ's.</font>

[ 08-25-2003, 01:09 PM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

All you need is a load of bricks, some wood and a grill rack. You build four walls using the brick, preferably on a stone surface, get a fire burning inside and once it's died down you bring out the rack and start BBQing.
You can leave the bricks outside all year around, no need to worry about rain, and building a fire is always fun regardless of the weather.
Roasting things evenly is overrated, you don't do that with a wok either. You can adjust temperature by shoving the meat about until it is in a cooler or warmer spot, and by adding or removing layers of bricks you can easily more the grill closer to or further from the fire.
Take no substitute [img]smile.gif[/img]

Just bought a new weber gas grill(looks just like the one in a post above).And I love it! Even for me alone I come home from work and can have it warmed up and ready to cook before you could open a bag of charcoal!!It cooks even and cleans quickly ,and the weber is all stainless steel inside so it won't rust and it has a very good warrenty!I paid 350 for it but they should start to go onsale pretty soon now...

Unless of course you are Wellard who is just emerging from the southern winter into the peak BBQ buying season ;)

Ok, so show us a pic of the new bbq!!! We want to see it! Send food, send plane tickets so we can all share in the barb-ee-cue-ing! :D

You know, this used to be a great Aussie tradition - build your own bbq - we had one in half a 44 gallon drum.

But now it's illeagal to have a fire in the backyard (bushfires), gas or coal/rock etc only...