Let's Talk BBQ
Outdoor Cooking Equipment => Grills & Smokers => Stick Burners => Topic started by: veryolddog on July 06, 2013, 08:30:37 PM
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This will probably start a mild discussion, but I can't help myself. After owning a pellet smoker and a wood smoker I have had ample opportunity to make the same things on my wood smoker as I made on the pellet smoker even using the Amazing Smoker Tube with a variety of pellets.
Don't get me wrong, the pellet smoker delivers high quality smoked food and there is a positive difference between that product and the electric smoker and gas propane smoker that I had in the past. In my opinion, based upon my taste buds, I think that the food cooked on the wood smoker has the edge.
There is no question that you will work harder to smoke on wood than the pellet smoker. One of the big differences is that there is no hiding the smoke ring on this food. And, for me, I can actually taste the difference if I use a Pecan Wood or a Hickory wood on the wood Smoker. On the pellet Smoker, I cannot tell the difference no matter what flavored pellet that I use.
The pellet smoker does a few things that I am not skilled to do on a wood smoker. On the night of July 3, I cooked 3 Pork Butts on the pellet smoker on the basis of set it and forget. You cannot do that with the wood smoker. I only had to look for the 160 degrees to foil wrap and 205 degrees to remove the pork butt. I would have to watch the wood smoker more closely, and I would not be able to do this in the dark as well as I could with the pellet grill. Because my skill set is novice on the wood smoker, it is better for me to cook in the daylight hours.
This is my perception. I was wondering what you folks think especially those who now have pellet smokers who use to have wood smokers?
Ed
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I dont think anyone will disagree with you on this. I am a pellet guy, but I agree a stick burner will give you better smoke flavor than a pellet grill....under these conditions. You know what your doing, you have the time and patience to do it. Nine out of ten home cooks cannot do either. So they will have much better results with the pellet cooker.
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I really don't care for a heavy smoke flavor myself so a pellet grill suits me just fine. A pellet grill teamed up with an AMZNPS provide just the right of smoke for my pallette. I have never over smoked any food on my pellet grill. Convection cooking, grilling, and even baking. And being able to maintain temps from 180F to 600F with a push of a button... Well you just can't beat that IMHO.
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Agreed as well.
But if you want to increaase the smoke profile of any food cooked in your pellet grill.....try cold smoking them before firing up the grill I can get a nice smoke ring and a good complimentary smoke flavor in a pellet grill if II do that. Once you fireup the pellet grill the convective cooking of Iit creates too much air velocity ro obtain a similar "dwell rime" as can be achieved in a traditional wood burning pit. So the smoke has more opportunity to infuse into the meat on a traditional style cooker unless you pre or cold smoke.
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I agree 100%. Stick burners to me produce a stronger flavor and I can taste the difference in woods. On my pellet and electric I can't.
Mike
Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk
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My best cooks to date have been on a stick burner. Unfortunately, the family had enough of the coal/wood flavor after decades of Kingsford/Lump and Mini Splits. I also grew tired of being exhausted at the dinner table from sitting out by the pit for hours on end and not enjoying the fruits of my labors. I use one type of pellet blend in my poopers cause I can't tell the difference either.
I am very glad you enjoy both of your Yoders.....cause that is really all that matters at the end of the day............
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Love my pellet smoker. But never smoked with sticks so guess I can't comment
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You asked for input from stick burner users so here goes . . .I cooked on a stick burner for many years (owned several brands) and frequently had problems with oversmoking and maintaining temperatures reliably. Thus, I was one of the first to try pellet cookers when they appeared. I almost gave up because my first, a used Traeger, was a basket case but I didn't know it. Kept at it. Now I'm hooked on pellets but occasionally still use my charcoalers, too (because I like charcoal flavor).
If you like heavy smoke flavor, you're never going to be happy with a pellet cooker unless you augment it with a smoke generator of some type. Even then, if you have to have really heavy smoke you won't be satisfied. See my articles here on that subject.
The kind of barbeque we like is a matter of personal taste and one should have the equipment that produces it. There's nothing wrong with heavy smoke if that is what you like. As a judge I dread it because I know I'll be tasting it the rest of the day and there's no getting rid of it -- the water and crackers won't cleanse it from the palate. Oversmoking is a deal-killer in competition where the goal is to produce a unique, positive blend of flavors from all the components). If I get a heavily smoked sample (doesn't happen too often) early I'll have trouble clearing the smoke influence from my tastebuds for the next entries. Same goes with super hot (extremely rare in competition) and over-sauced (fairly common).
A smoke ring on meat is a chemical reaction, not an indication of flavor or flavor intensity. If you like smoke rings, get a box of Morton's Tender Quick and rub a little on the meat or use it as a component in your rub recipe (careful, it is quite salty). It'll produce a real halo.
As to tasting the difference between or among wood types on a stick burner vs. a pellet cooker that's probably a function of smoke intensity. I have found it depends, to a degree, on the meat. Chicken, for instance, will offer up a different flavor profile when cooked with sharp/strong pellet types (hickory or mesquite) vs. lighter, sweeter woods like apple or cherry. Meats with a more distinct and stronger natural flavor will not alter their flavor profile much due to smoke type. Heavy smoke application (of any wood type) should "reinforce" that flavor enough that you can tell the difference, maybe even by just the smell of the meat alone.
Cook what you like! There are lots of different outdoor cooking fuels and methods and somewhere among them is the perfect method for everybody ;D
Hub
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For this back yard cook it is simple.
As I look back over many years and think about the number
of cooks with different types of cookers
with an offset:
Not many cooks in a year 2 or 3 maybe
With a gasser:
Maybe 20 cooks a year, mainly burgers and steaks
With electric smoker:
6-10 cooks a year
With a pellet grill:
A Conservative 100 + a year
Again, I'm just a back yard cook, but my bride and family agree
The pellet grill was the best, most used Fathers Day present
I ever received. It has offered me much enjoyment, good meals
and the opportunity to share that enjoyment with family
and friends by way of some good food.
The reasons are varied for me personally and I suspect for everyone,
as will numbers and the percentage of increase be different. But
I believe everyone with a pellet grill or a pellet smoker would be able to
look back and think about their number of cooks and see the same trend.
The same will hold true I believe for any future converts to what some say, is
"the dark side."
Doug
PS
What Hub said in his last paragraph
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No argument here. Wood is king.
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Like Muebe I don't really care for a strong smoke flavor, but your are correct the stick burner will produce a much heaver smoke flavor than a pellet grill.
Kimmie like the lite smoke flavor of m pellet grill an SRG's so I'll stick with that. :D :D
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I smoked one yesterday on the offset using only pecan wood for fuel. I cooked it for 3 1/2 hours nekkid, then wrapped in foil so that it got no more smoke. THAT is the way I will manage my smoke flavor from now on...we had much more of the pork flavor this way and a deep smoke ring without all the heavy smoke taste.
B T W, to allow the bark to set, we let the butt rest under a foil tent until it we could handle it without hot gloves.
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My $0.02.
My favorate BBQ (BBQ is whole hog) is cooked over coals. It produces a far superior flavor of any method of cooking. Never over smoked. It is also the most labor intensive method, where logs are burnt down to coals and just the coals are placed under the food for direct heat cooking. There is never a flame in the cooking chamber nor is the smoke produced by a live flame fire every routed through the cooking chamber. It is this low oxygen enviroment that produces this amazing flavor.
Unless I am wrong, there is no cooker on the market that has automated this process. When someone builds one it will be the next game changer.
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it is easy to over smoke foods. not all food takes smoke the same either. I had a electric smoker for awhile and the family hated the food coming off of it. even when I used very little wood the food still came out over smoked. I believe that since my whole live I have cooked on weber kettles and WSM's and I believe the family is use to a certain about of smoke and the electrics just gave me to much of it. I love my mak pellets grills. love the smoke flavor on my foods that the pellet grill gives. I believe my mak makes a better rib than my WSM but my WSM will give my more of a smoke profile. I have found for me a WSM, weber kettle and a mak pellet grill gives me the best of all worlds. is there another smoker I want? I have been looking at the Memphis advantage and the elite. I like the fact that a pellet grill gets to 600 or so. plus up at the cabin in the winter I believe I will use less pellets in a Memphis'. my wife thinks otherwise. :'(