Smokers / Grills

That's a great article. I don't think I should be as impressed as I am about how that guy managed to write a fair article about something he admittedly doesn't like. I've been consuming too much media I guess.

Can we put meathead goldwyn in charge of the news?

Hoss_sl said:

Speaking of electric smokers, anyone got an opinion on them? My wife wants one to do the roasts she normally does in the oven. I've never had or ran a real smoker, so I'm clueless.

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Like BrutulTM said BBQ Snobs will try to tell you that electric smokers are not as good manual smokers, to me the difference is minimal at best and virtually non-existent. I compare it to people reading books on a Kindle vs. Hardback, Hardback readers claim to have a better experience....OKAY! The work vs reward is really where electric smokers shine. Manual Smokers require way more work/management to keep your temp consistent and consistent temp is what effects your meat more than anything. I will admit that I am not able to achieve as heavy of a smoke as I would like on my GMG Pellet Smoker, but I have found a work around for that. I use my old Brinkmann Smoker for the 1st hour to achieve a heavy smoke and then I transfer it to my GMG. I have done that with Brisket and Pork Shoulder and it has been fantastic.

Also for those that disagree electric pellet smokers can't get the job done as well, Sterling Smith of Loot N' Booty took 1st in Chicken using a GMG and 2nd overall at the American Royal Open.


Interview With Pitmaster Sterling Smith - Green Mountain Grills BlogGreen Mountain Grills Blog



You cannot beat the entry level price of about $100 when you buy something like this and a small bag of wood chips.

Brinkmann Gourmet Electric Smoker-810-7090-S - The Home Depot $79.99

I smoked meat on this style of smoker for the better part of a decade before I stepped up and bought my GMG. Minimal dollars out of pocket and minimal cleanup after use.

I might be confused. Is an electric smoker the same as a pellet smoker?

The Brinkmann I suggested for you is electric and has a metal bar/coil in the bottom with lava rocks. That bottom burner area is where you add the wood chips. Typically I would just add wood chips once at the very beginning of the cook, but sometimes for 10+ hour cooks I would add some at the halfway point. It also really helps if you soak your wood chips in water over night.

Pellet Smokers like my GMG (also electric) have a big holding bin on the side that you dump the pellets into. At the bottom of that holding bin is an auger that automatically feeds the pellets to the burner.

When I say manual smokers I mean any smoker that is not gas or electric that you manually feed wood and or charcoal to keep the temp going.

I love shopping at Costco so I tried to find a reason to buy a Traegar over the GMG. In a head to head comparison my GMG smoked (pun intended) the equivalent Traegar in every way.

Had a champeen BBQer tell me that's the way to get the best flavor from your meat anyway. Cook the night before, wrap in tin foil and freeze overnight, then just warm it up the next day. Someone explained the science behind it to me once, but I forgot. Had something to do with how fat freezes and it locking in the juices.

Kedwyn_sl said:

I've been skipping the high heat on my steaks now and doing them low and slow the whole time and I like that even better than sear or reverse sear.

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I too like steaks low and slow, however I usually do a one side sear first to help keep the juices in.

I got one of those knock off green egg things from Amazon this summer and its been awesome, I think its called the akorn grill or some shit. $300 free shipping. Put the thing together and did a few butts, some ribs, etc. But the best thing about it is you can use the thing as an oven in the summer so you dont heat the shit out of your house. I did a couple of braises in there covered in aluminum foil and its amazing. Works pretty well to control the temp too. I have it pretty much nailed down. Longest smoke was a butt I did for 12 hours and it consistently kept it at 250Fish the whole time. This past sat, I did up a pork roast in wine at 350F for 4 hours and it was amazing.

They do have little controllers for it, aftermarket. You set up a little 10cfm fan in the lower air baffle and hook it up to a controller, its like $150. It has wi-fi so you can connect to the computer and shit, pretty nice. I think I will get this next year for it. Then it will truly be set it and forget it. just set the temp on the controller and it does the rest.

I also bought a pizza stone for it and did a few pizza nights for the kids on it. I got the thing scorching to 600F its like real fire oven pizza. 5 min and the thing is done.

Next step is to get me a real steel wok, about 20in in diameter. You put the thing right over the coals and cook up some real ass asian.

It does not replace my weber gas grill for the day to day grilling, but its nice to whip the thing out every once in a while and do up some special shit. Very versatile.