In search of Barbeque Device...

[seawasp]

My old grill, bought a few years ago, is giving up the ghost (several metal parts are literally falling apart). With that in mind, I'm looking for a step up in barbeque and grilling.

Specifically, I'm looking for:

• A grill/smoker (that is, it functions as both a regular grilling device AND as a smoker so I can make things like brisket, real slow-smoked ribs, etc.)
• Not TOO expensive (I know the top end ones -- in reasonable sizes -- can surpass $800 )
• Easy to use, with the latter meaning
  • Doesn't take long to get cooking
  • Doesn't require me to stand there re-filling it in the middle of the night when I'm smoking something for 14 hours
• Good-sized -- if I'm going to be smokin' stuff, I want lots of it left over.

The "easy to use" part seems to imply to me that I want a gas or electric-based smoker, especially since I can't imagine something using wood or charcoal running nicely at a stable temperature that I don't have to tweak for 8 hours on no additional fuel or poking. I did a search for such things and thought I'd found one, the Smokey Mountain from Weber, but despite it showing up on several gas grill pages it appears to be solely a wood/charcoal affair.

Anyone have suggestions? I'm not ENTIRELY opposed to wood -- it's actually obviously the best way to do good barbeque -- but I don't have the time to tend a fire, nor is wood cheap or easy to get around here. I can get good wood CHIPS for smoking, etc., but real wood for good barbeque would, I'm pretty sure, cost me a lot more even than the gas I'd be using.

Comments

[xpioti.livejournal.com]

America's Test Kitchen, my go-to for cooking and equipment, is really no help; they've got a review for a no-frills charcoal grill, and that's it. (They like the Weber One-Touch Gold grill. They did review smokers, and highly recommend the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker, 18.5") One recommendation that I remember from when we were grill shopping is to take a magnet with you; if the magnet doesn't stick to the grill cover, it's a higher-quality appliance. (More carbon in the steel makes it less magnetic and has other benefits that I don't remember.)

We have a (gas) Char-Grill that is magnetic, and I'm totally un-thrilled with how well it holds in the heat; frankly, it doesn't. Closed, it can usually maintain 350°... if it's warm out. The Char-Grill has not fallen apart, though, so maybe a better model would be satisfactory. (Ours was $250ish about 3 years ago.) We've never run it for more than an hour.

I'm just curious: Is charcoal an option? Or does that count as wood? My dad uses a charcoal kettle to smoke turkey every fall, and once he gets it going he only needs to check it once an hour.

If you're interested, here's what they said about the Smokey Mountain:
Save for its lack of handles, this model literally smoked the competition: Plenty of cooking space, a water pan, and multiple vents that allowed for precise temperature control added up to meat that came off the fire consistently moist and smoky with little tending necessary.

Good luck!

[k-kinnison.livejournal.com]

you can use any gas grill to smoke as long as it has at least 2 burners. Get one with a Temp gauge on the lid. even better is to get a remote thermometer. Size is dependent on how much you are going to be cooking at any one time.

Get the grill temp around 225. PLace a pan of water under the meat on the side of the burner you will not use (either on a pan with a grate over it, or in a pan under the grate). Take a couple handfuls of smoker chips and wrap them in foil to be placed over the burner that is providing the heat. I suggest stop smoking the meat once it gets up to around 140

you are rarely going to be cooking meat longer then 8 hours unless you got a whole pig or turkey.

But be sure to get a grill that can accommodate a Rotisserie attachment, for whole chickens NOM NOM NOM

[scott-sanford.livejournal.com]

Eye-catching but impractical here.

[scott-sanford.livejournal.com]

Also, more grills here. Practicality, not so much.