Charcoal or Gas?

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“It’s all regional,” says Mike Tiernan, owner and operator of Tiernan Outdoor Products, a division of Tiernan, Inc., who specializes in custom built steel outdoor cookers. “But the first two questions I ask someone when they come in to buy a cooker are: Do you want charcoal or gas? And what do you want to cook?”

How customers answer helps Mike determine what they need. Because the variety of interests is so vast – how to grill, what to grill, how long to grill, and what about barbecue? – it’s nearly impossible to hand someone a list of instructions and an oven mitt and send him on his way.

“A lot of people just want to cook good hamburgers and steaks, but then there are some who want to cook brisket, turkeys, or something bigger. It depends on how many you’re cooking for and what you want to cook,” he says. “It really comes down to an age thing. Younger guys cook brisket on charcoal all day for a party. The older folks want to cook their steak on a gas grill and be done with it.”

And Mike knows grilling. Since 1981, he’s traveled the cook-off circuit winning one award after another, usually for his barbecued ribs and brisket. The Iowa native moved to Amarillo in 1961 to continue his metal fabrication business, manufacturing grain elevator fans, but it was in 1979 that a friend asked him to build a custom metal cooker. Within a few years, he developed the Son-of-Brisket cooker. One barbecue cook-off in Dallas later, he was hooked.

“I used to do about ten a year, mostly in Texas, but I’ve been all over from California to Florida,” he says. “I have everything at home, but if I have the time, I like cooking with charcoal.”

Not only can budding-barbecue fanatics purchase top of the line metal cookers at Tiernan, they can also pick up the latest in grilling gadgets, everything from silicon basting brushes to meat thermometers, as well as sauces and dry rubs. And if you don’t know what you’re looking for, just ask.

“We get the sauce from various places, since we meet so many people in the same business. I try it before I buy it. Same goes for cookers,” says Mike. “Everybody likes their own thing. Barbecue is a seasoned product. And what you liked before you may not like now because your tastes have changed.”

And remember, men, it may be your cooker, but it’s her patio. You might want to consider a built-in island.

For more information about cookers:
Tiernan, Inc.
1722 NE 3rd
372.4051

by Jennie Treadway-Miller

Jennie was a columnist for the Chattanooga Times Free Press for eight years prior to moving to Amarillo in 2008. She is an avid reader, runner and writer.

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