re: Charcoal or Gas grill

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I would love to know how the smoke from the oils and sugars dripping down effect the flavor in 7-10 minutes, yet the smoke from the charcoal magically does not.

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If you cant taste the difference between something thats been cooked over charcoal vs something that's been cooked over gas, then I truly feel sorry for you.

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Charcoal purists will try to tell you that their preferred fuel leads to better flavor. This is, well, nonsense.

Your food doesn't know what's creating the heat below it, and once charcoal is hot, there aren't any aromatic compounds left in the coals. According to the food science bible Modernist Cuisine, "Carbon is carbon; as it burns, it imparts no flavor of its own to the food being grilled."

The characteristic flavor of grilled food comes from the drippings, not the fuel. When those drippings hit the heat source below, the oils, sugars, and proteins burst into smoke and flame. That heat creates new complex molecules that rise in the smoke and warm air to coat the food you're grilling.

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What charcoal brings to the party is a healthy heaping of aroma compounds, the other half of the power couple that is flavor. In fact, aroma might be the super starlet in that relationship, because our tongues are actually pretty limited. “There are only five taste receptors that are well-agreed-upon to exist within your taste buds,” Sacks says. He’s referring to sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and the new kid: umami.

Anything else you perceive while eating—that smoky deliciousness, for example—is courtesy of aroma.

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