Anytime outdoor cooks move or remodel, they’re faced with the question, “Should I buy a smoker or a grill?” Or maybe you’ve been considering an outdoor smoker, but aren’t sure what you’re getting yourself into? Although classic barbecue grills and smokers appear very similar in form and function, meat smoking is quite a different style to your typical outdoor grilling experience. Grills such as pellet smokers are especially designed to accommodate for the art of outdoor smoking, which work a little different than your average grill.
What’s the Difference between a Smoker and a BBQ?
Smokers are all about heat retention, moisture, and smoke circulation, giving your foods that thorough, juicy cooking and smokey flavor characteristic of this style of grilling.
The general principle is “low and slow,” giving even those bigger cuts of meat as robust a flavor as anything else you typically cook. Your food is cooked indirectly by the heat trapped in your grill as opposed to cooking your meat directly by your flame or fuel source, as you would normally with your traditional grill.
Wood chips or pellets – of which there’s a vast array of flavors to choose from – are burned to permeate your foods with that delicious smokey layer of flavor, signature to smoking. Nothing speaks more to the art than eating a smoked steak versus a grilled steak! The difference in wood pellets goes a long way as some are more complimentary to particular cuts of meat than others, but there’s always room for experimentation, which is very much part of the joy of meat smoking!
Your wood chip options include:
- Oak: a good wood for beginners, giving strong flavor without easily overpowering your meats. Best with lamb, beef, brisket, and sausage.
- Hickory: more of an all-purpose wood with a sweet and savory flavor (very bacon-esque), but can be bitter if you overdo it. Best with most red meat and poultry, as well as large rib cuts and pork shoulders.
- Maple: sweet and light, it adds a subtle flavor to your meats. Best with poultry, pork, and game foul.
- Mesquite: a bold flavor, where a little goes a long way (use smaller quantities). Best with red meat.
- Pecan: nutty with a very rich sweetness, recommended to be mixed with another wood for balance. Best with brisket, roast, and ribs.
- Apple: mild, mellow, and sweet, used for longer smoking (at least several hours). Best with chicken, wild foul, and pork.
- Alder: light, sweet, and delicate. Best with fish.
- Cherry: a fruity, mild flavor that does well to be mixed with other wood like hickory. Best with chicken, turkey, and pork (especially ham).
When purchasing any type of smoker, consider thicker insulation material along with tight, secure sealing for as little heat leakage as possible.
Different Types of Smokers and Grills
There are a few different types of outdoor smokers and grills with plenty of options for each to choose from.
The most common types include propane or gas, charcoal, pellet smokers, electric, and Kamado grills.
Propane or Gas: Simple to use, easy to control the temperature, and you can start grilling in about 15 minutes after you ignite. And there’s no shortage of propane, which can easily be found at a supplier near you. These types of smokers are for those who like that extra flavoring that comes with fuel combustion that’s otherwise lost with electric grills.
Charcoal: Usually mixed with pellets, charcoal is the most flavorful fuel to cook your food with.
The downside to this type of grill is prepping, cleaning up, and it can be a challenge getting consistent results in your cooking. Coal takes longer to ash over before you’re ready to start cooking, and ash is messy!
Pellet Smokers: These smokers utilize sawdust pellets for fuel, giving you a nice wood-smoked flavoring – along with your other wood chips – to your cooked meats. They’re also one of the most versatile styles of smokers, allowing you to smoke, grill, and oven-cook your foods.
Electric: Great for beginning smokers as they’re easy to use and don’t require fuel you’d have to purchase and store. Your temperature will be consistent for a reliable cooking experience.
Because your fuel source is electric, you won’t get a nice smoke ring on your meat, nor will you easily get a good crisp out of your chicken skin or ribs with all the moisture from your smoker’s water pan.
Kamado Grills: A type of charcoal grill, kamados are a ceramic, almost egg-shaped grill which masterfully retain heat and are extremely versatile for outdoor cooking, allowing you to choose from grilling, baking, roasting, and even smoking.
Should I Buy a Smoker or a BBQ?
Smoking is the art of slow cooking, giving you a wider range of options for cooking meat that wouldn’t be nearly as easy to cook with your typical outdoor grill. And not only is it simpler, your dishes will all the more benefit in plenty of ways when you get yourself a smoker.
Diversity and Depth of Flavor
Smoking gives you another layer of flavor given the vast array of wood flavors you can choose from, including more untraditional flavors such as acacia, ash, blackberry, sugar apple, peach, pair, walnut, pimento, apricot, and citrus.
With so many options for flavor, there’s plenty of room for experimenting with combinations of meats, veggies, and different types of woods.
Tender and Juicier BBQ
All that tough connective tissue, gelatin, and collagen in even the toughest meat cuts break down when slow-cooked at low temperatures for a good, long time, tenderizing and retaining moisture from all those delicious fats soaking up that flavor and waiting to be tasted.
Easy to Use
Overtime, smokers have become simpler to use, making them some of the easiest outdoor smoking appliances to date. Some smokers also utilize WiFi technology, allowing you to monitor and adjust temperature and smoke levels from an app on your smartphone, even alerting you when going above or below your set parameters.
Feed All Your Friends
Slow-cooking allows you to cook cuts of meat as big as your grill can fit, making those holiday dinners or summer parties a mouthwatering wonder for all your guests to enjoy.
It’s Fun!
Smoking is longform grilling, and if you enjoy grilling, you’ll be pleased with all the options that await you when you buy your first smoker. Given all the ways you can experiment with wood flavoring, as well as all those hunky cuts of meat you’ve been otherwise hesitant to cook, there’s so much room for creativity and so many delicious dishes that await you and your friends, it’s no wonder you didn’t start smoking sooner!
Conclusion
A new frontier of flavor awaits you in the art of outdoor smoking, and there isn’t a better or easier time to try it than now. Top of the line pellet smokers are built for convenience and top quality results every time you cook.
