Difference between cooking on a BIG GREEN EGG and a gas grill- some thoughts

Yesterday, I attended a party and was asked by the host to cook on his high-end gas grill. My assignment was to cook chicken breasts and Italian sausage.

The results were OK but compared to cooking the same items on the BGE, they were unsatisfactory to me.  Here are some thoughts:

Cooking on the gas grill involved hotspots.  So, a chicken breast that got burned and dried out was right next to one that was still raw. On the BGE, there is no such thing as a hotspot- unless of course, it's by design i.e. you contain the fire to one side.  

Flare ups- once the fat from the sausage and the chicken marinade would drip on to the burners, I couldn't contain flare ups on the gas grill. I was instinctively looking for a lower vent to close off so I could shut off air flow like I have on the BGE but no such lower vent existed, moreover, I don't think it would have been effective anyway because there were so many areas where air could enter into the grill and help fuel the grease fires that kept popping up.  So, I had to move the meat around a lot, and it was a pain trying to avoid the flare ups- I ended up shutting off one of the burners and moving most of the food to the unlit side.  It took me a LOT longer to cook this way compared to what it would have taken BGE. 

Fuel- my host informed me that he wasn't sure how much propane was left (no gauge) so I had to hope we didn't run out.  On the BGE, I've actually cut some mesquite branches off a tree in my yard and thrown them on the fire to let them burn down to a sear-friendly temp or a pizza making temperature if I was low on lump charcoal supply-but I always know how much fuel I have by looking at the bag and am never at the mercy of a propane filling place. 

Flavor- cooking over lump hardwood charcoal yields a more flavorful chicken breast or sausage than cooking over a propane burner.

Moisture- the first time I made sausages on the BGE (September of 2012) I thought they were undercooked because they were so moist.  I even considered the possibility that the meat thermometer somehow gave me a higher temperature reading than actual.  I discovered that the meat was cooked to the right temperature as I tested the meat with a second internal digital meat gauge.  On the gas grill, the chicken was rubbery and the sausage was OK but a little dried out-there was way too much loss of moisture.

Clean up- I get a hot fire in the BGE after a cook and all the stuff burns up.  the next day, I rake the ash out with the ash tool and we are as good  as new.  The gas grill didn't get hot enough to burn off the grease and the pan underneath filled with charred meat remnants and grease and it was such a mess, I had a hard time with it.  I will not be going back to a gas grill for my own uses. I used to have a Weber Summit Gold six-burner and after I got the BGE, I got rid of the gas grill.   

I've had several Weber kettle grills and a few other metal box wood burners, but the ceramics of the BIG GREEN EGG are superior to metal grills all day long for heat and moisture retention and temperature control.

Temperature Control- the gas grill never got above 350 yet the meat was too charred to eat (waste) and all the meat was too dry for what I like to have.  That being said, the temp control on BGE is so precise, I can't believe it. I  had forgotten about how important this is.

Yesterday's experience served as a reminder of things I take for granted.  I can't believe how much more enjoyable cooking on the BGE is over anything else.