Outdoor grills advice: pellet vs. gas vs. charcoal

One thing that has changed thecwas I smoke meat is sous vide. Generally sous vide first then smoking.

Really gives you firm control of texture. Sometimes I would over cook when smoking briskets and even ribs and just trying to control temp at 220.

finish it for 3 hours or so. Go 5 if you want a smokier brisket. The only thing that seems to suffer here ends up being the texture of the bark but if you smoke it a little bit longer combined with just a couple minutes over direct heat to kind of char it up I’ve got it down pretty good.

I have a 13 lb Tajima competition brisket in my freezer for July 4.

 

I use an offset for smoking (when I want to do large amount of stuff that I'm particular about).

But I recently purchased a masterbuilt gravity series 900, and so far I'm really enjoying it. It's basically a smart charcoal grill/smoker, similar to a pellet grill minus the rabbit pellets.

 

Right now I just have a Weber propane grill but at some point I want to have both a smoker of some kind and a griddle grill. Blackstone makes many of those and people seem to love them, but my favorite one I've seen so far is the all stainless steel one at Sam's Club. It's their house brand but it's really well made and looks better than the Blackstones IMO.

 

I bought a 4 burner blackstone earlier this year. Smash burgers are incredible. Totally worth it.

 

I was thinking of following the same pattern, I currently use an offset but am thinking about adding the Masterbuilt Gravity. As an offset guy if you are happy with how the Masterbuilt performs that's encouraging.

 

Why not just buy a griddle you can use on your current gas grill?

 

I actually have a cast iron griddle insert for my Weber. It replaces 1 of the 2 grill grates. I like it.

But...

I want to have a griddle that is much, much bigger. Which is why I want the griddle grill.

I get that there's a more practical way to handle this, but hey, I'm just fantasizing here.

 

Yeah, so far I've done some simple stuff on it. Reverse seared steaks, smoked country style ribs, some chicken.

I'll still use my offset for the larger smokes, like sister ribs, spatchcock turkey and chicken, brisket etc. I am half tempted to try a brisket in the masterbuilt though.

But for how hot it's been outside lately.... I'm glad I'm not having to stand outside to baby sit the fire... Which is where the gravity series has been great. Going to do some wings on it this weekend, along with some burger patties.

I have the 900 series which is basically the 800 with the pizza oven included. I want to give that a go soon, haven't tried a pizza in it yet.

 

Yeah I'm looking into the 800 (vs the 1050). I don't need a huge cooking area, I usually don't make a large volume of meat. Plus I have read the 800 is way more fuel efficient than the 1050, and the 800 comes with the flat top griddle accessory too.

 

What's the opinion on driveway and aluminum foil right now in Texas?

 

I got an electric smoker and had the brisket prepped for it. Plug it in and turn it on. It starts to heat up. Then, the breaker trips. All subsequent attempts resulted in immediate breaker trip. Brand new. Obviously, it's either faulty or a big power draw. It's useless as it is. It was a gift and, albeit new, is several years old. Researched it and apparently lots of people have had similar problems with electric smokers in general. I can't use it...but it is shiny.

 

Looking to get a pellet grill to replace my Weber natural gas grill. Was leaning towards Traeger but now leaning towards the ReqTeq RT-590. How much of a compromise is it between the RT-590 and RT-700 besides grilling area? Will the absence of the smoke stack make a difference?

 

Yep. The Costco version, which they call the 900, is an 800 with the pizza oven instead of the griddle top. And I think I paid like $600 for it.

 

RT has forums you can check out on this. I have the 700 and love it.

 

Thanks... seen a few videos and review sites. I'll go with the RT-590 and down the road get a griddle and/or pizza oven.