Grill types

   So, many people own a grill or a smoker, and everyone has the best of intentions when buying it. Unfortunately, the few times you did fire it up, while the results looked good, the meat was either rare, overcooked, or just had no flavor period. So then it sat and collected dust for a few years. I am here to help. I am not saying I am the best, I am not even saying I am better than you. What I am saying is, I know how to make it not only taste good, but look good as well.

  Today I am going to talk about grills and smokers. I use 2 different smokers, and each provides different results. My home smoker is a barrel smoker with an offset firebox. Great for doing small briskets, a Boston pork butt, maybe a slab of ribs. My work smoker is a BBQ Guru Onyx Oven. This thing is pure bliss. It can be a water smoker, or just a simple vertical smoker.

   Really? You don't know what a water smoker is? Well, let me help you, and I will do so in simple terms so you can understand just a bit better. A water smoker has a water bowl right above the fire. What this does is provide a certain amount of water in the air that will help keep your food moist. It is also known as a bullet smoker. See above photo.

   A barrel smoker, which has grown in popularity around the home, can be either direct heat, or indirect heat (we will talk about that at a later time). The small offset firebox allows us to keep the flame off the meat and only allow the smoke to hit it. Some models can have a fire in the large cooking chamber for direct heat for grilling things like burgers brats and hot dogs. The choice is up to you. I will help you however I can.


   The things we will talk about in this blog will be mostly relevant to charcoal/wood grills. I am not real familiar with propane as I have never used one. We will later go into different meats and how to get the best out of them, rubs, smoking techniques and sauces. Follow me and we can explore together. These will be available weekly.