I know there are a lot of BBQ experts here. I am a complete beginner but would like to get into smoking. Do you think an electric smoker would be a good option for someone just getting their feet wet? Seems electric would be less work which would be good for me with young kids around. Or, would the taste difference of electric smoked meat be so much that it wouldn't be worth it? Any opinions welcomed -- thanks!
This should help https://bbs.clutchfans.net/threads/outdoor-grills-advice-pellet-vs-gas-vs-charcoal.305207/
With the vast amount of "set it and forget it" pellet smokers, I'm not sure electric is really any easier, and you'd get more "real" smoke. I've even seen chargriller has a gravity fed charcoal smoker that has a fan to set temps.
Agreed. If you want easy, pellet grill is the way to go. You don't get the depth of flavor as real hardwood smoker ...but that is 10x harder. In the past, I've used the vertical smoker boxes and they are great. I went with gas. Those get better flavor cause you use real wood, IMO, but are probably 3x harder than a pellet grill. I've never used an electric smoker box but if you are using real wood, you'll get real flavor so should be fine.
I've got one of these that's great for small batches of jerky and dried sausage when I don't want to fire up the actual smokehouse. They say you can do ribs/butts/brisket in them but I've never tried it.
I was a Big Green Egg owner for years. Sold it when I moved 8 years later and got back almost everything I had paid for it. Best grill/smoker I ever had. Due to wildfires we're not allowed to have open fires or charcoal grills in the Ruidoso village limits so a couple months back I replaced the built in grill on my patio with a 36" blackstone griddle which I love... but because the BBQ around here sucks (Unless I want to drive an hour to CloudCroft and wait in line at Mad Jacks) Yesterday I bought one of the last Z Grills blind box pellet smokers. With the blind box they do yearly you pay $399 and get a new smoker valued between $479 - $749. being living alone I couldn't justify in my mind the cost of Trager but wanted to try out a pellet smoker. Excited to see which smoker shows up.
I use lump, but lump doesnt work too well with a snake method being its all different shapes and sizes.
Kingsford is the only brand you should buy when smoking. Readily available and can be bought at a good price at hardware stores and Sams/Costco
I have seen electric win cookoffs. Right now, barrel smokers are the rage. I am sticking with my green egg. It is hard to mess anything up on in it and really keeps moisture in the meat. Sous vide is my new go-to for most cooking.
Thanks amigos, for the inspiration, I've got 2 lbs of beef and 2 lbs of venison getting ready to by sliced and marinaded and smoked in the morning. It's jerky time...
Two issues with Electric- -Really Really difficult to get any crunch on skin or bark with poultry. It's just too moist even if you don't put a ton in the water pan. That moisture is both a blessing and a curse to smoking meat. -The clean up is straight up nasty. The electric smokers built up so much gunk it's beyond disgusting. Any bit of easy of setup advantage you have going electric goes out the window on the backend. If you are new to smoking Pellet smokers are a great easy way to get into BBQ. It's a bit more expensive that an electric, and takes up a bit more space, but you can do so much more with it. Mine can get up to 450 degrees so it's possible to cook steaks on it, grill chicken, or burgers. Not idea for searing, but you can still get by with some tricks. So in my opinion, I would only use an electric if maybe someone gave it to me for free, I had space for it, and only was going to use it for items that are not going to drip fat. Offset wood smokers are still the varsity game for smoking, with Kamado (green egg) coming in 2nd, and then it's Pellet smokers in 3rd with Pellet probably being the most popular now because of the versatility & ease of clean up.
this hasn't been our experience, we've done wings, chicken, turkey, everything, with great results--here's a Christmas turkey from a couple of years ago smoked in a Bradley cleanup doesn't seem like a big deal, no worse than roasting something in the oven. and we do a lot of pulled porks and ribs. we use the Bradley just for smoking, have a Weber propane grill for grilling. works for us.
Currently smoking 2 racks of baby backs on my new Z grills pellet smoker. First smoke on there so I wanted something that I knew from experience how long it would take. Going to employ the 3/2/1 method between 225-250 (I set it at 225 and it seems to be fluctuating between 225 and 240)
