Back in August while on vacation in the 1000 island NY area, we came across a local farm. On way up we stopped and picked up some local Delmonico steaks, local cheese curd, and homemade gelato. Boy was that a treat, o my word!! On way home we called and stopped back it was so good and picked up more steaks and also a brisket. Over the xmas break I smoked that brisket and turned out pretty good, although I would have liked the fat to have render a bit more. This brisket was not like any other I cooked, was a bit smaller for one, and did not have much if any of a fat cap. Am not world renowned when it comes to smoking briskets but can hold my own on my Okie Joe. I think temps got away from me a bit and cooked it a little to hot and fast and I was rushed to serve it, didn't let it rest as long as I'd like.
What fun is that? Might as well rub your protein with liquid smoke and stick in the oven.....Pellets are good but they don't give enough smoke flavor......! Plus they cost $$....
Speaking from the experience of someone who cut his teeth on an offset stick burner…. Nope, way off the mark, sir.
Good friend of mine has a food truck business selling que. They use pellets. For me, it's not the same/good as using sticks of wood. I'm not saying it's bad by any means, just personal preference. Crazy Heifer Smokehouse | Dover PA
Looks great, they make good BBQ but sorry they just don't give the smoke flavor I prefer. I've had much BBQ on pellets, but it's not the same as open fire smoke flavor, sorry but we agree to disagree my friend This is nothing against pellets grills/smokers or owners of them, they are great just not my preference for me personally
Agreed, they are very good but just not the same IMO. I enjoy stick burning, just like I enjoying burning firewood in an stove vs. a pellet stove. Just something I like and find therapeutic identically to finding processing firewood therapeutic. And again my wood is free, pellets cost $$, my brother in law runs through them quick he said gets about 14-18hrs on a 20lb bag.
When I was shopping for a smoker I seriously considered a pellet style smoker for the long cook times that can be obtained since it sort of a set cruise control and let it run. After a lot of thinking I decided to go stick burner. After all this is truly traditional BBQ , yes a lot of work and constant tending of a fire for hours but the final product is amazing.
It sounds like you guys have sampled pellet smoked meats by folks who maybe didn’t come from a stick burner background like I did… having said that, I set my pellet smokers to produce constant TBS, at a lower, stable temperature- no different from a stick fire… I just don’t need to tend to it after “go.” All of my local and some not so local stick burner BBQ friends and their significant others/family members, my in laws & friends of in law’s families etc.- none can tell my smoked meats came off a pellet smoker. It’s all in the setup of the machine.
Maybe they were just being nice I think there is certainly something to pellets vs. real firewood smoke flavor. I actually run mine a bit dirty like a lot of BBQ joints, get that extra smoke flavor I am talking about. Not entire cook but in the beginning when your proteins are most susceptible to adhering smoke flavor. And I am sure there are levels of quality to pellets and pellet grills err I mean pellet smokers To each as own enjoy my friend!
By that same token, as I mentioned above- maybe what y’all have been exposed to was amateur use of a pellet smoker, at best. My ability to bring a pellet smoker to the same level as a stick burner is based on the solid principle of adaptation… a skill set that applies to a wiiiide range of possible scenarios. Take the notion of burning pine, for example….
Or vice versa.... Could it be we've been hoodwinked and all of us in the stick burning world have been exposed amateur pellet grill cookers, err smokers...
