It finally happened, SWMBO encouragement to smoke!

GymB

Picking it up slowly.
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Stopped at a little bbq place today, I get ribs w/o sauce, wife gets chicken salad of all things. Well the chicken salad is made with smoked chicken and she likes it so much that she says we need to get a smoker.

Being rather smart I start talking about an UDS, which she quickly equates to the fire pit which she dislikes. Her alternative is a green egg.

Now I don’t especially want a green egg, but it means that there is really no budget for this project.

So, assuming that I want to buy instead of build, what are the pros and cons of the various offerings.

Electric boxes seem to have good insulation and standard electronic controls. The Weber kettle smoker gets rave reviews, and I like the idea of charcoal over electric heat, but for no good reason. Or Heck, the big green egg and similar have cult-like followings.

Also, I’m totally new to this, so need recommendations for other tools, the only one I can think of is a remote meat thermometer.

So, I’ve got the green light to backyard manhood, please help me with the plan to get there!
 
I'm a Weber fan boy so I can't give an unbiased opinion. I know that we have some BGE users on here. @Sandman_NC and @rantingredneck are a couple of them. I believe.
 
You will find "die-hards" who will ademantly argue gas v. charcoal. We have both and have found precious little difference in the finished product. The wood used for the smoking process is the largest flavor component. That said, electric is an abonination. We were gifted an electric smoker. Used once, then sold in the next neihborhood yard sale.
 
I have a uds, Weber kettle, offset smoker, and a pellet grill. Absolutely love the green mountain pellet grill. Best grill I've ever owned by far. I do like the eggs, but never saw the price being worth it when Weber kettles are so inexpensive and so good. Check out claycort accessories if you end up with a Weber.
 
the only one I can think of is a remote meat thermometer.
Btw... the GMG pellet grill with wifi have all that built in.. I can check on the temp of my pit and brisket while cooking while away from the house... makes those long overnight smokes a breeze!
Many brands of pellet grills habe wifi control.

Imho the best remotes are Fireboard or thermoworks- you will want the temp of your pit also
 
IMO it depends on what kind of cooking and how much cooking you want to do. I have a BGE at home. Love it for the versatility and super low effort clean up. Low maintenance option that can cook lots of different things, lots of different ways. I've had mine about 9 years. It is a solid choice. But a Kamodo Joe or similar quality egg-type cooker would work just as well. It's the style and cook.

Now up on the mountains I have something called THE GOOD ONE. It is better than the BGE at most things, but it is more work and maintenance. IMO it smokes better than the Egg. And it it is easy to do reverse sears and multiple foods and techniques at the same time.

There is an endless supply of grills and cookers. Figure out what you want to do first, then pick the grill that matches that.

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Some more background. Years ago I cooked on a Weber kettle, even had the rotisserie ring and motor/spit and all was good. Then marriage and children and a small fire on the deck. Now we have a Weber gas grill that is adequate I suppose. It is able to get plenty hot as an oven, but it doesn’t sear hardly at all, the grate is too far from the heat. It has a side burner, so I can sear in a cast iron pan. I tend to grill on high and keep things moving.

We use the grill maybe 3 times a week, but we don’t make bbq. We have a variety of ways of making meat with sauce that is acceptable, but it isn’t bbq.

Some of you may know that we’re down to just the two of us, at least for a few years, both girls are at college, so we have a bit of extra time. Maybe she is suggesting this because it will give us something to do together over wine, she can be crafty like that.

The gas grill is on the covered back porch, not sure about putting a smoker in the same place. Maybe build a cart for it and keep it in the garage.

I have made charcoal as an experiment, it is easy enough to make that I may do that instead of buying, we’ll see.

For food I think meat and vegetables. Would love to do some colder smoking for fish and cheese, but that may require different equipment and for now I’m thinking bbq stuff, brisket, shoulder, ribs.

Will look at the GMG pellet grill.

Also saw that there is a gas conversion for the Weber which is kinda interesting.

Off to more google!
 
You can see by my avatar which I prefer. I looked pretty hard at all the options out there before I pulled the trigger on my Kamado Joe. I have absolutely NO regrets. There are just so many things you can do with it. Everything from smoking low and slow, 500 degrees for searing steaks, to 650 degrees with a pizza stone. It's a bit expensive on the front end but I plan to have it for many years. There's nothing wrong with a Big Green Egg either I just felt that for the money you get more options out of the box with a Kamado. I looked pretty hard at the pellet smokers but I don't think you can really get them hot enough for searing steaks and such. Keep us posted.
 
I went with a TRAEGER, the tailgater model, it actually fits in the trunk of our fusion and can tow it and the car with the Motorhome :D Or take it anywhere in the car or truck.
I'd imagine any pellet grill will have the same effect at Smoking meats though. I can crank up the heat to *450 and get a good sear on a steak too.
All in all, After using every kind of meat cooker, I'd still go with pellets.
I got rave reviews on the pork butt I smoked the night before the WNC Shoot and Meetup. It was set it and forget it all night long.
Good luck with your choice, Well be waiting for your BBQ Invite ;)
 
Some more background. Years ago I cooked on a Weber kettle, even had the rotisserie ring and motor/spit and all was good. Then marriage and children and a small fire on the deck. Now we have a Weber gas grill that is adequate I suppose. It is able to get plenty hot as an oven, but it doesn’t sear hardly at all, the grate is too far from the heat. It has a side burner, so I can sear in a cast iron pan. I tend to grill on high and keep things moving.

We use the grill maybe 3 times a week, but we don’t make bbq. We have a variety of ways of making meat with sauce that is acceptable, but it isn’t bbq.

Some of you may know that we’re down to just the two of us, at least for a few years, both girls are at college, so we have a bit of extra time. Maybe she is suggesting this because it will give us something to do together over wine, she can be crafty like that.

The gas grill is on the covered back porch, not sure about putting a smoker in the same place. Maybe build a cart for it and keep it in the garage.

I have made charcoal as an experiment, it is easy enough to make that I may do that instead of buying, we’ll see.

For food I think meat and vegetables. Would love to do some colder smoking for fish and cheese, but that may require different equipment and for now I’m thinking bbq stuff, brisket, shoulder, ribs.

Will look at the GMG pellet grill.

Also saw that there is a gas conversion for the Weber which is kinda interesting.

Off to more google!
For what you describe... sounds like a pellet grill is the way to go. There are many good brands. Trager started it all, but many have come along and improved on the Trager design... even Trager has a newer timberline series. I love my GMG.. and if your ever in the Newton area, stop in a check it out.
Look at the cheap "amazin tube" for cold smoking. This will work even on your Weber gas grill.
 
I researched pellet grills, and they are a great easy way to smoke, but almost all of them can't really get hot enough for a good sear. There might have been one that could in my research, but if there was it was in a price range beyond my abilitiies. Once things got over $2k I ruled them out. Had to draw a line somewhere. I like to do reverse sears on some things so a grill that can get to at least 600 degrees was important to me. And the higher I can get over the 600 the better.
 
I’ll read up on pellet grills, but to be clear this new contraption will supplement the barely adequate Weber gas grill, not replace it.

As for building a smokehouse, more capacity than I need and I have an HOA.
 
I researched pellet grills, and they are a great easy way to smoke, but almost all of them can't really get hot enough for a good sear. There might have been one that could in my research, but if there was it was in a price range beyond my abilitiies. Once things got over $2k I ruled them out. Had to draw a line somewhere. I like to do reverse sears on some things so a grill that can get to at least 600 degrees was important to me. And the higher I can get over the 600 the better.
CZFool is right... but pop that steak right out of your pellet grill onto your waiting hot gas weber... or on a hot iron skillet for the ultimate reverse sear. I use a built in iron skillet on my gas stove or an 18" Weber kettle for reverse sears.
 
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CZFool is right... but pop that steak right out of your pellet grill onto your waiting hot gas weber... or on a hot iron skillet for the ultimate reverse sear. I use a built in iron skillet on my gas stove or an 18" Weber kettle for reverse sears.

I bought a rectangular cast iron skillet just to sear meats even on the charcoal grill. You don't get the pretty grill marks, but you get a better sear, and at in my feeble mind you get a better hunk of meat with better taste. But that could just be a mental thing on my part.
 
I’ll read up on pellet grills, but to be clear this new contraption will supplement the barely adequate Weber gas grill, not replace it.

As for building a smokehouse, more capacity than I need and I have an HOA.

Ha, a smoke house! That would be cool, but not likely for most of us.

The grill I pictured above has 3 cooking grates. 2 in the smoke chamber and 1 over the coals. That's why I choose that one. I wanted to be able to have ribs, pork or brisket smoking, but still be able to throw a burger or something on for a quick lunch. Like guns I like cookers that allow you to do a bunch pf different things. But if you have a gas grill you could go pure smoker and simplify things. I am a bit old school, so I'd go with a charcoal or wood smoker with the thickest, heaviest guage steel I could afford. Better heat retention for cooking and won't fail you in a few years like some of the flimsy crap from China you see in Cabelas, Bass Pro or the local hardware store. Check out Yoder and grills like that. They are beasts.
 
We have the Saffire grill. Does everything I want it to do.... only drawback I can see is the cost. If you are on a budget, get a weber and a vortex and you will be set to do most anything.

http://saffiregrills.com

https://www.weber.com/US/en/grills/master-touch-charcoal-grill

https://vortexbbq.com

I've looked at one of those. Pretty cool with some improvements over the BGE and Kamodo Joe. Buy with the name you should get a pretty blue Kimber with the purchase. :D
 
I bought a rectangular cast iron skillet just to sear meats even on the charcoal grill. You don't get the pretty grill marks, but you get a better sear, and at in my feeble mind you get a better hunk of meat with better taste. But that could just be a mental thing on my part.
Yep... nothing beats cast iron!
 
Getting ready to some some chicken leg quarters for supper.
 
I researched pellet grills, and they are a great easy way to smoke, but almost all of them can't really get hot enough for a good sear. There might have been one that could in my research, but if there was it was in a price range beyond my abilitiies. Once things got over $2k I ruled them out. Had to draw a line somewhere. I like to do reverse sears on some things so a grill that can get to at least 600 degrees was important to me. And the higher I can get over the 600 the better.


That's why I ended up getting a Camp Chef Wood Wind with Sear box. Basically a pellet smoker with a small gas grill on the side for super hot grilling.

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Jim, I've got a BGE and it's been great. The advantage over many grills is how well it holds temp. You just set and forget, use a remote thermometer and watch that while you turn a bowl or load ammo. ;) Also, you can get them nice and hot for absolutely amazing wood fired pizza. Most of my steaks are done sous vide these days but I do a lot of pulled pork on the egg. I'd recommend a large, my medium is a bit small sometimes for my taste.
 
3-4 hrs for a steak??.. that just goes against the grain. :confused:
1 hour... And it is perfect every single time. Heck I can throw a frozen steak in and be eating 2 hours later. I can cook a steak on a grill just fine but you simply can't beat sous vide for perfect temp and it'll hold it at that temp without over cooking while you prepare the rest of a meal.
 
Most of my steaks are done sous vide these days
Sear them after cooking? When I’ve needed to do batches of steak I’ve baked and then seared, the only reason I grill most is because different folks want different temps, do you just plop them in the water at different times to accommodate this with sous vide?
 
Oh yea, always sear after cooking. The solution to your problem is demand people stop ruining their meat! ;) But for my inlaws, who prefer well done, what I do is typically cook sirloin steaks and I'll slice them after the sous vide and sear the strips on a cast iron pan in a bit of a sauce so that it's more done for them. Leaving things in the water for different amounts of time does nothing because the water is a set temp. You could leave the meat in there forever and while the texture would break down, it wouldn't get any more done. I typically will pull out anyone's steak that I have to ruin and commence with ruining on the cast iron. I've finished on the grill too but it's a hassle for not much in the way of improved flavor. Just cheat and use smoked salt for the same flavor...

When you sear after sous vide it's all about having a hot pan and you only need very little time. You typically don't WANT to change the cook of the steak, just get a bit of texture/flavor on the outside. You can however leave them on the pan a bit longer and they'll cook through. If you do that, you pull the ones out first that need more cooking and then do the proper ones last with only a minute or so per side.
 
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