LOL...Thanks for keeping the rest of us on our toes kabukiman!
Quite frankly, Badmoon. I have to admit to being surprised to hear of anyone who had not eaten charcoal grilled food for so much of their lives (admittedly a little narrow on my part). Personaly, I feel that charcoal grilled is hands-down better than gas. But I have no hatred toward gas grilling just the same.
The thing that, to me, makes charcoal grilling better is being able to add the smokey flavor not just from the coals, but from the dripping from the food that hit the coals as you are cooking it. If you can get your ventilation right to the point where the drippings do not flame up...you get a great smoke to flavor your grilled food with. Some people like to keep the flames down by squirting water on the coals. To me, that is detrimental to grilling the food. It cools the coals and suppresses the smoke from the drippings. Others like to put pans under the food to catch them. That is OK if you want to make gravy or something...but I prefer to let them smoulder on the coals and smoke up the food. It is very satisfying to me to see huge amounts of smoke rolling out of my grill.
That is effectively impossible to do with most gas grills as the cooking is done with open flame, so there is no chance of keeping the drippings from flaming up (I have heard that there are newer gas grills that are designed to stop this, but then you are still missing the charcoal smoke flavor).
My wife's grandfather would not even consider eating gas grilled food, and, interestingly, my wife prefers gas.
But anyway Badmoon, as you are learning the intricasies of getting the charcoal heat right...remember this...you can always add charcoal. So err on the side of caution (in this case...too cool on the coals). And be excessive on keeping your vent closed until you find what is right for you. That WILL cut down flare-ups considerably but that has to be used in conjunction with keeping the lid of your grill closed as very much as possible. If you are like me, you like to play with the food as it is grilling. I have to fight that urge as having the grill top open lets in all the oxygen that helps the flare-ups.
One more trick that I like to do...I grill the fat that I trim from the meat, with the meat. It adds to the drippings that smoke the meat.
You may know some or all of this already, so don't think I am trying to insult your intelligence. I just like rambling on about grilling.
