How do I keep the wood chips from burning up in my propane smoker?
I've got a smoky mountain smker. The smoke only last for about 30 minutes before the wood chips are burned up and I have to add more. I'm keeping the burner down on LOW. I've removed the steel wood chip box that came with it and replaced it with a bread pan. I've tried chips and chunks and getting a little frustrated as the chunks just char.
Should I buy a charcoal smoker or an electric smoker?
Get an electric smoker that has a thermostat and can autofeed the wood. Bradely top of the line or masterbuilt WITH the cold smoker attachment are decent choices.The whole smoke ring thing isn't really about flavor, just appearance. The source of the heat doesn't matter. What matters is smoke flavor.There just isn't any real/enough benefit to messing around with tending a fire.Here is some science on the smoke ring.http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_...
Is cooking on a propane or electric grill outside still considered BBQ or is it grilling?
It’s grilling. Barbecuing is the art of cooking meat slowly over low, indirect heat created by burning charcoal or (preferred) hardwoods. Propane is only used to get the charcoal or wood burning. Accept no substitutes.
Is it bad to eat charcoal cooked food?
Not at all. Charcoal is simply the heat source which does the cooking. The food does not care were the heat comes from. One caveat: charcoal in the US is NOT the same as charcoal used in many foreign countries for home heating as well as cooking. Charcoal in the US is simply partially burned wood scraps and sawdust compressed into a briquette. As such, charcoal in the US gives off carbon monoxide, a colorless, odorless invisible gas. If used indoors, it can and will KILL you. Carbon monoxide displaces the oxygen carried by the blood and you literally suffocate because CO has filled up the O2 carrying sites in the red blood cells. Your blood LOVES CO and if available, will preferentially take on CO rather than O2! CO is the active ingredient in people committing suicide in a garage with a car motor running. I live in the Pacific Northwest. We frequently have power outages during the stormy winter as trees tend to fall on power lines. Every year, I read about people, sometimes whole families, being killed by carbon monoxide from using US made charcoal indoors and simply being ignorant that US charcoal is NOT what they are used to in the country they came from. Sad, but true...
Can I use a PROPANE Grill in a sunroom.?
I have a large sunroom, it has large screens all the way around except for the part where it connects to my house. There is a roof over my head. I was thinking about putting an outdoor kitchen inside my sunroom, I think it would look nice but didnt know if I needed a certain level of being outdoors to avoid Carbon Monoxide exposure. I would think that with the screens, any and all gasses would escape outside. Thanks for any help or suggestions.
What is the biggest problem with a pellet grill smoker? Is it not as quick as a gas or charcoal grill or is the food taste too dry? Is it something else?
So you want to become a pellet-head, do you? There is not a problem if you use them as a smoker. That’s what they are designed to do. Set. Forget. They are really more akin to an oven than a grill (with a light element of smoke to the flavor). The smoke also isn’t the coveted “blue smoke” that all ninja smokers work so hard to get. (The pellets essentially smolder so you get white smoke, which is OK, but not the ultimate…)You can’t really sear off a steak or put some char and color on burgers, chops or veggies. Most hard-core smoking fanatics feel that they don’t put enough smoke flavor into the food, and most hard core grillers feel that they don’t really “grill” in the accepted sense of the term. But they’re easy, and foolproof enough, and you are guaranteed to get “acceptable” food. And you can always put it on Craig’s list after you outgrow it.
Which charcoal BBQ grill do you prefer - Kettle or Barrel?
Your question is really two questions: which BBQ do you prefer and which grill do you prefer. The answer is, respectively, barrel and kettle.Barbecuing is cooking slowly (3 hrs +) using low indirect heat in an enclosed chamber. Barrel cookers (like a Brinkman Pitmaster) typically have an offset firebox at one end and chimney at the other, which has the effect of circulating heat through the cooking chamber. With a few mods you can keep the entire chamber within a few degrees end to end. You can try to achieve the same effect with a kettle, but it will be harder to control, and you will have a much smaller cooking space. You will not be doing a packer brisket in a kettle.Grilling is cooking quickly (<30 min) over high radiant heat in an open or closed chamber. Kettles are set up to do this well. You can also do this in the main chamber of a barrel cooker, but clean up (ash, drippings) is harder.Bottom line: different tools for different jobs. If I had to choose one for both jobs, however, the barrel would have an edge.
Is it possible to cook corndogs on a grill?
Corn dogs over direct heat will burn the corn bread very quickly, and I am sure the pre made ones you are buying are frozen, so here are some options you can try. First thing is to try to be sure they are thawed completely, this will shorten the time to cook them. One method would be to wrap them in foil completely (including the wooden stick) and place on grill, but under a lower temperature, again direct heat and corn bread not a good combo. Another option, and I have used this before to make cobbler on a grill is to by 2 aluminum foil pans, place corn dogs in pan, then invert other pan and put on top of bottom pan (this will make a sort of oven on the grill) then just frequently slide pan back and forth to roll the corn dogs around in pan so all sides are getting heated evenly. The top aluminum pan with make sort of like a convection oven out of this set up and help cook the corn dogs faster and more evenly. Hope this helps, let us know how it turns out....
Should I get a gas grill or charcoal grill during end of season sales?
Depends on your likes:Gas grill:convenient - swap out HEAVY propane tank once or twice a year (or more if a large family and entertain)more expensiveeasier to clean - just scrape with wire brush before cookingcheap - $20 for a tank of propane (get a spare propane tank so you are not caught with a dead tank in the middle of cooking 20 chicken thighs)last a long time - the body of a gas grill is 10 times thicker than a typical charcoal grill and don’t normally rust - the grates and some other part might rust someCharcoal:some people like the taste of that the charcoal imparts on the food but you can get wood kits to put in a gas grill to simulate smoking the foodevery time you cook you have to fill with briquettes and use dangerous lighter fluid to startneed to plan ahead and time consuming - once you light the lighter fluid soaked briquettes and start the slame, you have to wait a long time before the briquettes become hot coalsclean up is a bitch - you have to somehow empty the remaining ashes once everything is cooled downdirty - briquettes are charcoal and leave your hands black if you need to touch them and ashes make a mess no matter how hard you trydangerous - when you light the briquettes soaked with lighter fluid there is a scary, loud whoosh sound and a high initial flame - not good if on a deck with a low roofcheaper - initially - to buy - but generally wear out (rust) quicker than heavy duty gas grills. And charcoal and starter need replacing every few times so maybe it is a wash