Cooking With Gas No Longer

Things have settled down since the wedding, so I've been able to return to some of my more mundane enjoyments: namely cooking. I celebrated the lovely weather Tuesday night to fire up the grill and fix some bratwurst.

However, this time I decided to mix things up a bit. The latest Cooks Illustrated inspired me to try something new. First, I sliced up an onion, dropped the slices in a bowl and seasoned them with a little salt, pepper and thyme. I microwaved the onions, then placed them into an aluminum tray and placed the brats on top.

The plan from there is to put the wrapped foil tray on the grill for several minutes, letting the fat render from the brats onto the onions, and then remove the brats and finish them on the grill. Unfortunately, my grill simply doesn't generate much heat.

When I moved into the house, the grill was built in, which is a nice feature, except that over the years, I've learned that it simply doesn't get very hot, and when you're grilling, very hot is where you need it to be.

And after this experiment, which after awhile turned out okay, I'm done with the gas grills. I have a very small charcoal grill, and after using it a few times over the last year, I'm ready to move up to a larger charcoal model - I like the flavor better, I like the hotter fires, and frankly, it's more fun cooking with charcoal.

Any suggestions or favorite models? I'd love to hear it.