I have not tired it but I might just do that this weekend. I like the perceived convenience of it but I am not sold that it will taste like charcoal. If using a smoker plate could do that, every gas grill would have one. It should however make tailgating and boat grilling easier. We shall see.

I grew up near an ethanol plant, and basically the whole town smelled. On a bad day there was a strong rotten egg odor. That experience would definitely make me weary to use ethanol anywhere near food, but hopefully the smell isn't an issue with this product.

Re: the "environmental friendliness" of ethanol...it isn't.

While it's true that it burns cleaner than fossil fuels, the overall manufacturing process and environmental impact is actually dirtier than fossil fuels. Ethanol is contributing to worldwide deforestation, rising food prices, and poverty & starvation.

Here's an interesting look at the total cost: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1931780,00.html?iid=sphere-inline-sidebar

It might make more smoke, but charcoal is likely the "cleanest" grill fuel.

Hello all,

I actually work for the creators of the FlameDisk, and we thought about a lot of the things you're saying when we designed the FlameDisk. First, the flavor of the product is really good - we worked with an independent 3rd party to conduct blind taste tests, and in the test participants could not tell the difference between the flavor of food grilled over charcoal and the food grilled over the FlameDisk. Everyone's tastes vary, but overall we've found there to be very little difference in flavor.

Next, there is no foul smell associated with the product or its creation. It's an extremely clean and simple process to produce. Our marketing and sales staff is all a doorway away from the full manufacturing process. There are no production smells or emissions and when you open the FlameDisk is smells like vodka because it's essentially the same thing (corn based/grain alcohol).

Finally, the creation of charcoal is extremely dirty, expensive to haul, and burns unclean as well. In fact, many of the charcoal producing plants are on the EPAs watch list for producing up to 8 times the nitrogen oxide as what's typically allowed. I think it's also important to remember that the economics of using ethanol in a vehicle and using it to replace a truly ancient fossil fuel used for cooking are two totally different things.

I'd be happy to send some samples to re-nest, so you don't have to take my word for it. In the meantime, check out some other reviews that address your concerns:

http://www.bostonmamas.com/2009/07/fast_ecofriendly_grilling.html
http://www.yesyoucangrill.com/flamedisk.php
http://www.cooking-outdoors.com/flamedisk-fast-easy-and-clean-grilling-heat

Feel free to ask any other questions you have for me - I'd love to answer them.

Thanks.