Grill and Barrel

Hang on to your hats luddites and BBQ purists, this new fangled electric smokehouse will give your stickburners and colored eggs a run for your money!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I had seriously considered buying one of these electric smokers for the last two seasons and took the plunge while planning a weekend BBQ for friends last month.  Since that day I have smoked more meat and had better results than all last season (four racks of ribs, 3 pork butts, dozen ABTs, two chickens, six breasts, pork steaks and even a couple ribeyes).

To be honest, my BBQ experience pales in comparison to Braddog’s and is limited to traditional charcoal grills, gas grills, an electric bullet smoker, charcoal bullet and a propane cabinet smoker.  For me, this cooker has delivered the best results by far for slow and low cooks.

Pros:  Temp Control, Moist, Efficient 

Temperature control is the clear advantage of an electric smoker.  This unit seals tightly, is well insulated and comes up to cooking temp quickly and maintains it effortlessly.  I’ve maintained three 12-13 hour cooks now with so little effort that I feel guilty over the compliments I’ve received from friends and family over the results.

Aside from temp control, this cooker also keeps the moisture in with beads of moisture building up on the walls and window throughout the cook.  I’ve maintained a water/drip pan for each of the long cooks, but only considered adding water after 8 hours or more and it was still far from dry.  Thanks to the window in the door, built-in meat probe, and side load for wood chips there’s really no need to open the cabinet other than to load and unload food!

I’ve found that a small amount of wood for smoke goes much further in this smoker than others I have owned.   I like smoke flavor, but I’ve had to back off the amount of smoked wood chips I’ve used to keep from adding too much flavor.  I’ve over smoked chicken by using less than three cups of soaked hickory chips over a three hour smoke.  My last pork butt used about 4 cups spread over a 12 hour smoke and had plenty of smoke flavor throughout after pulling it.

Cons:  Electric Stigma, Poor LED display, Messy window

Its still electric so I don’t expect to convert any purists, but I got over that with the results of my first cook and I wouldn’t turn back now.

The control panel leaves a lot to be desired.  Controls are simple enough with inputs to set cook temp and time (auto shutoff at end of cook).  There’s a button to turn on/off the internal light and another to view the temperature registered by the meat probe.  This is awesome for overnight cooks because I could check on the grate temp just by looking out the patio window.  In daylight however it is nearly impossible to see without cupping your hand over the display to block the glare.  It would be really nice to have a wireless remote to take inside with an alarm that sounded when your meat reaches a target temp  (maybe this has made me too lazy).

The window is awesome for watching the progress of your cook, but as you can imaging it can get pretty nasty with the smoke residue etc form the cook.  Gives you a whole new perspective to “seasoning” your cooker!

Overall, this is BBQ Genius for us casual weekend cooks.  Just one month in, I couldn’t recommend it high enough and assuming it holds up, plan to use this cooker year round!  I’m ready for a throwdown with Braddog now!

Cheers,

-D