So I was in Cabela's up in Hamburg, PA this past Saturday and I was checking out what they had for grills and smokers. They had one charcoal smoker I really liked. Really heavy duty steel construction for $1000. Someday... this wasn't the day. They had two or three gas grills (but that's me.) What struck me was about a dozen different types of pellet smoker/grills out on the floor. Kinda piqued interest. Anybody use one? Thoughts?
I do not have one, but have a few friends that use pellet grills / smokers. One friend cooks for his firehouse, church functions, kids hockey teams, and pretty much any chance he gets. He loves it and it puts out good food. It is a no nonsense, set it and forget it type thing. No fiddling with the fire, temp, etc... just make sure you have fuel and power to the unit and you are good. I don't have a use for one and am trying to simplify my grill life. Grills like razors can multiply. I mostly cook for 1 or 2 people and have my kamado technique dialed. Over the last 10 years, I easily have a couple thousand cooks on my primary grill. If you have the room and would use it, go for it. I bet you could find some lightly used ones on craigslist or FB marketplace for the fraction of the cost of something new.
When it comes to smokers, I prefer simple. We have a Brinkmann Smoke 'N Grill, which is as basic as it gets. We have 25 lbs of pork to smoke for a wedding, so we picked up another off Craigslist for $25. My grill is a 3 Embers 4 burner propane grill. Had it for 3 years, with no issues. But I also store it during the winter, and clean it every 3rd or 4th grilling session. Or after doing BBQ chicken, whichever comes first. I now prefer stainless grills with viewing windows, and would find it hard to go back to a black grill. It's one of those $400-500 grills with some features that you normally only see on $1,000 grills. My cousin has a pellet feeder grill/smoker and he likes it. I think it was around $700-800. I don't understand why some people just let their grills rust away, when a few minutes of basic maintenance will keep that from happening. Must be the disposable mindset world we live in these days.
Reviving an old thread here but I own both a wood fired smoker and a Traeger pellet smoker. I’m a bit of a traditionalist and prefer the “event” of getting up early to build a fire and dial in the temp and smoke for an all-day cook… but I cannot deny the convenience of deciding to smoke dinner in the middle of the afternoon and just turning the pellet smoker on to do it’s thing. I find that the pellet smoker is more like a smoke filled oven so you’ll get perfectly cooked food but the smoke is weaker and will not penetrate as far into the meat even if kept at the same temp for the same amount of time. I’ve done a few garage hacks to increase the smoke for things like ribs or pork butts but the Traeger is awesome as-is for wood firing pizzas and seafood. I built my stick smoker but if you’re buying I think it’s well worth having both if your budget allows.
All details are in the pictures, worth a thousand words. The smoker can be found on sale and is a great value. After that, let the fun begin. Start with a beer and finish with a scotch. The last picture is of a deboned chicken done in the smoker. It was outstanding. I have done pork, chicken and fish so far.
It is a Bradley Original Smoker in green that I purchased from Cabela's in 2015, on sale for $199CAD. I see now they almost doubled in price.
