by Tiny » 01 Mar 2017, 17:51
Hi Roger, Forums a bit quiet at the moment but I will try and answer an eternal question......
First question
Grilling or slow smoking?
2nd Question
Charcoal gas or something different?
Third question
Sorry to sully this with pricetaggery, budget?
The following opinions are my own, I am not a competition BBQist but have been at it for a fair old while so take this at face value and then have a mooch around for other opinions.....
Just buy one.....
The Weber 57cm kettle. Eeveryone will own one, I was very anti Weber as they are so pricey but I got drunk and ordered one at the end of the season. When Mrs Tiny insisted 9 BBQs were too many this one I insisted on keeping.
You can grill on it, look on you tube for videos, you can roast a whole chicken on it and start on the cooking large chunks of meat. They are bullet proof and last forever so I would herartily reccoment It will cost you about £150 but will last forever.
I want charcoal and versatility
Then an egg, monolith or Komado, bloody expensive but work fantastically and will of course last you an eternity. They are proper expensive though and using any charcoal BBQ does involve the investment of time
I want to smoke and slow cook meats.
On a budget? Make an ugly drum smoker for under £100, it will do lovely for you, some say they work better than there pricier branded competition but they are ugly so you might not get this approach approved.
If you have more loot and want something more aesthetically pleasing look for Bristol Drum Smokers, Weber smokey mountain or ProQ Excel. Which is best? No one knows, like asking which are prettier blondes, brunettes or redheads, there is no right answer, all a matter of taste.
The convenience of gas
Would recommend buying a hooded barbecue as these can be used for conventional grilling or offset smoking. For the latter large chunk of meat goes up on the warming rack and one burner is turned on often with a tray of wood chips over it to produce more smoke.
Weber and Napolean are excellent but both are pretty pricey, but if you go too cheap as you have found to your cost they will disintegrate. I owned several outback gas BBQs and would recommend them as a more budget friendly alternative.
Don’t touch
Anything cheap, especially cheap offset smokers. They will look great but will be made of thin steel, rust like a bastard and you will have a nightmare on them and give the game up for good.
Something different
A pellet smoker, these are electrically started and then burn special wood pellets to either slow smoke or grill your food. I am a huge fan and own a Green Mountain Grill Daniel boon. These are not cheap but I love mine, use it 2-5 times a week in the warmer months and still fire it up during winter, cooked the Christmas Turkey on mine. You can look at other models like treacher but I am a huge GMG fan.
There are of course excellent US imports if your budget runs to £000s but for the sake of this I have excluded these as I have no experience of them.
Hopefully this helps, I would always recommend a Weber kettle as I don’t know anyone who has had a bad experience with one, after that it really is up to you, happy cooking chum.
Cheers
Tiny