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Years ago, I had a small smoker and we enjoyed the food, but there are much more convenient devices now available.

Many on here have years of experience in this realm, so I would love to learn whatever you have to share.

We currently have a small gas-fired grill. We have had it for 7 or 8 years and I have never used it. My wife uses it occasionally because she likes the flavor of food cooked on it.

I have a lot to learn.

Where to start.....For grilling, traditionalists will tell you that real charcoal is the only way. I was one of "those" guys for years, too, until I got a gas grill. Gas is so much more convenient, cleaner, and quicker, I never use charcoal any more. Once a gas grill gets well "seasoned", I don't find any flavor difference between the two.

As for grilling methods, generally speaking hotter and faster is better for most steaks and burgers. We like a nice crusty, bordering on burnt, exterior with a juicy slightly rare interior. My wife likes hers slightly more well done than I do. My rule of thumb for your typical 1"-1.5" thick steaks is 4 minutes per side at 450-500 degrees. Add a minute for each additional .5" of steak thickness, and reduce the heat 25-50 degrees. That prevents burning the outside while allowing time for the inside to cook thoroughly on the thicker cuts.

There are so many different foods, and various ways to cook them on a grill, that it would be impossible to touch on all of it, here. My suggestion is to buy a few grilling only recipe books and start trying out the recipes that sound good to you and your family.

As for smoking, others here have more experience than I do. I'll look forward to reading their advice with you.

Matt

You want to constantly monitor temps, adjust lower vents (you NEVER adjust the top from 100% open), add smoke when you want to? Get yourself a charcoal smoker.

You want to pull out your hair have an awesome time, and be 100% involved in the ENTIRE smoking process and be prepared to ruin a lot of meat or change the way you like your food? Build your own.

I’ve done all 3 ways, and settled on the Weber Smokey Mountain 22” charcoal smoker. It does exactly what I want, and everyone enjoys the meals that come off of it. Wanna really impress your company, smoke some sweet potatoes with ribs. Simple and amazing. They will be wanting to come over every weekend, so make sure they are good friends before you cook it for them.

If there is one thing I cannot recommend enough, it is a good reliable thermometer. There are LOTS of options out there. I use the iGrill 2 Bluetooth thermometer. This way I can monitor up to 4 different probes at the same time, and it is all on my iPad screen. Even got my wife one for the inside oven, and now chicken breasts are not dry (read that as over cooked), and same for roasts. With a proper thermometer, you know what is going on at all times inside the meat, and at the cooking level.

As for grilling, hands down, it’s a Weber for me. I’ve had the same one for 10-12years now. Just replaced the flavor bars this past spring, and gave it a deep cleaning. That’s it for the maintenance I’ve done to it. Fires up every time I go out, as long as there is propane in the tank (who hasn’t been there before? Be honest).

A subject I can give a good bit of advice on. Any questions, please ask. I love to talk (read that as DO) smoking/cooking.

If you want to get into smoking, from a simplicity standpoint an electric smoker is the way to go. You don't have to fuss much with controlling temperature and can get the hang of smoking meat fairly easily.

From a versatility standpoint, I love my Green Egg. You can get temperatures way hotter than a typical gas or Weber grill in my experience (700-800 deg+), which is great for things like putting a sear on a steak or doing a pizza. But you can also set it to cook at 200-225 degrees for cooking low and slow. When coupled with a controller like the Rock's BBQ Stoker you can dial in the temperature, set-it, and forget it for those long smokes.

We grill and smoke a lot of meat at my house- hundreds of lbs every year. Just last friday I smoked up 7 wild boar quarters.

I have 2 words for you that will have your friends thinking you're a meat guru-

pellet smoker...

My Brother in law has a Traeger pellet grill and he swears by it. It does cook up a nice brisket. The're pricey at $800.

Experiment a lot and write everything down from prep notes to times and temps. You'll get better and better over time.

if you guys are on facebook smoking low and slow is a good group

I currently have the following, and each has their advantages:

Gas grill- Mister Steak brand (3 regular burners, 1 infrared burner, 1 side burner) Nice to have when I want a quick flame. Grilled vegetable kabobs yesterday, marinated in Italian dressing, sprinkled with steak seasoning.

Pellet grill - Teeton brand (parts are interchangeable w/Traeger) This thing excels with chicken and pork ribs.

Electric smoker - Bradley 6 rack Use this for brisket (20 hours, gets great smoke ring) and home cured bacon slabs.

Big Green Egg - XL size Kids bought this for me for Christmas last year, it is amazing, cooks anything extremely well. Has a bit of a learning curve, and takes time to get to high heat. I love pizza made from scratch (crust & toppings), especially deep dish in a 12" cast iron skillet.

Homemade whole hog/deer smoker - made from 300 gal fuel tank

I always use lump charcoal vs briquettes.

Be very careful..................it's extremely addictive. I plan to add a covered area to my deck next spring to get everything under one roof.

I really like the traeger. In the few months I've had it I've smoked a lot of meat. I have the pro 34 and the digital controls make the whole process pretty simple.

The cons of the traeger-. I can only get it up to the low 430's. To low imho to sear meat properly . The traeger does low and slow very well, but not hot and fast.

Someone else posted grilling is addicting. They are right. I've been researching for another grill to sear at high temps and do high temp pizzas. I looked at the BGE, kamado Joe and the Weber summit. I'm probably going to buy a kamado Joe next year.

I was talking about buying a new grill and my wife's response was perhaps you should only buy one one-thousand dollar grill a year. Makes sense to me.

Get a really good thermometer, preferably an instant read one. This is what I use. Experiment a lot, and have fun with it.

I know people who make an insulated box for the big chief and it does ok.

The kamado pots make the best smoked turkey.

havent had time to enter anymore but go to several rib fests every year and see many guys running pellet grills.

I'd put my pellet grill up against any electric smoker- any day

1) 10 plus year old Phoenix gas grill with stainless expanded metal grill. Use for everyday grilling. Can grill vegetables directly on the expanded metal grill surface. Use for steaks, as I grill those high temp (550).

2) Green mountain pellet grill. Use this for smoking smaller quantities of meat such as ribs, pork shoulder, whole chicken. It has an app for my phone where I can program time and temp. Has temp probes for the oven and the meat. This is the newest one of the 3, but so far really like it.

3) Smoker kit from "The Sausage Maker". This is a gas kit that we put into an old style fridge (door has a latch). Has an external smoke generator (think cold smoking) and thermostatically control gas burner. I have since modified it to add a thermostatically controlled electric burner (works great when warm outside). I use this for large quantities of meat, like when we process deer for summer sausage, ring bologna, snack sticks, etc. It will handle 25 - 30 lb batches.

Here is a pick of the leg quarters from the turkey I killed this spring. I smoked them for several hours and then braised them for three hours. I always read how people hate turkey legs because they're so tough. These were flavorful and tender.

You can not control the smoke of a pellet grill like you can with a cookshack smoker/oven, it's not even close.

Yesterday a smoked a pork butt for a couple hours with 1 ounce of cherry for flavoring before I put it in the pressure cooker...mmmmmmmmmgood

For simple grilling, I like gas. Not a snowball's chance I could look a man straight-faced and say the flavor is the same as charcoal, but for the convenience of volume grilling LP is the ticket. I grill probably 3-5 times a week in summer and once or twice a week in winter. Nobody with a life is doing that with charcoal.

Yes they are much more expensive and I've got over $1200 or so into this one with my cold smoker attachment, but well worth it. If I want to smoke at 225 degrees I punch it into the keypad and walk away. It won't fluctuate from 225 more than a degree or two.

there is a great selection of different types of wood available and if I want to keep it economical I can run hardwood home heating pellets at $4 per 40 pounds.

The other thing is versatility. I smoked ribs and pork butts last year at 20 below zero. I've not seen an electric that can produce heat in any real amounts without insulating and shielding them in even mildly cool weather.

Pellet grills are the crossbows of the grilling world.

This would be fun if you need a steak in the next two minutes.