As part of motivating me to redo our yard/patio area, I'm thinking of getting a smoker, or at least something that I can smoke meat with. Mostly thinking of brisket/rib type stuff. but I could also see doing fish or chicken. Bonus points for needing minimal tending. It's not that I won't put the effort in. It's more that if there is a way to avoid getting up every hour at night to check a brisket, I'd prefer that.
I know that pellet smokers have the reputation for being the easiest to wrangle. But I also hear that you don't get much of that "smoke" flavor to foods cooked in them. Which seems like it defeats the point. A wood fired stick/offset smoker seems pretty classic. But also tough to find something at a decent price that isn't a cheap POS and requires the most attention. Char-Grill has some awesome looking auto temp charcoal options. But Reddit chatter seems to indicate a decent chunk of QC issues (though a lot of love from people who don't have issues). The Weber smokey mountain seems to get a lot of love and there seem to be options to help with automated temp control? And of course I know thatmany people have smoked lots of meat on the old standby Weber Kettle. I'm sure there are many others out there.
Who has thoughts?
I know that pellet smokers have the reputation for being the easiest to wrangle. But I also hear that you don't get much of that "smoke" flavor to foods cooked in them. Which seems like it defeats the point. A wood fired stick/offset smoker seems pretty classic. But also tough to find something at a decent price that isn't a cheap POS and requires the most attention. Char-Grill has some awesome looking auto temp charcoal options. But Reddit chatter seems to indicate a decent chunk of QC issues (though a lot of love from people who don't have issues). The Weber smokey mountain seems to get a lot of love and there seem to be options to help with automated temp control? And of course I know thatmany people have smoked lots of meat on the old standby Weber Kettle. I'm sure there are many others out there.
Who has thoughts?