Pellet Cooker, glorified oven or BBQ Pit, reposted

[bluesman250]

Hello all. i posted this yesterday, and it disappeared. I emailed the ring, and Gerry said it must have got lost in the transition to the new server.

Anyway, with out upsetting anyone, what are your thoughts on pellet cookers. are they real Q? Are they cheating? Does setting a dial and walking away constitute BBQ, or do you need to get your hands dirty with wood or charcoal? Let me know what you think!

[Jeff Hughes]

It's the cook, not the cooker. I'm an offset guy, but I'll use a charcoal basket in a flash to get some sleep. The pellet guys have to check their cookers and meat at least every four hour just like me, so I don't care what they use.

Stickburners, pellet burners, Backwoods, Stumps, ceramics, Weber Grill, or whatever, a good cook can turn out good food. It's the cook, not the cooker...
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[CrazyChef]

[SmokinOkie]

Bluesman,

[Jeff Hughes]

Russ buddy, I was wondering how long it would take you to get to this one...
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[CrazyChef]

Wow, SmokinOkie...
This is meant to be a FUN discussion/debate/whatever...
Don't take things so darned personal!
Good Q is good Q. No matter how it starts out, it is the end result that matters...
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[Jeff Hughes]

In the context of competition bbq, the implication of cheating is a very serious charge.

Bluesman posted this topic on another forum earlier this week, he appears to be trolling.

Also, this subject has been beaten to death, so bringing it up is just stirring the sh*t pot...
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[SmokinOkie]

[OKBBQEA]

Well I can pretty much fire up my WSM's and walk away from them too.

Guess that makes me a cheater.... What was the point of starting such a subjective thread anyway?

Next you'll be telling me that beans belong in chili....
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[zilla]

Okie, I hear ya bro and your right.

Now far be it from me to stir a pot or add to a conversation that might escalate into a s**t storm as I have never done such a thing on a BBQ forum before but.....

Personally I don't care what kind of cooker a guy might smoke on. Whether its a gravity feed stumps or a cabinet smoker with a charcoal basket or a pellet smoker we would still win with our heavy offset burning sticks because we are better cookers than everyone else.

Now, I fully understand why the pellet guys are getting sick of being set upon by the other guys, especially the stick burners. Stick burners are like the cowboys of the BBQ world and the southern "dig a hole and smoke a whole pig" BBQ pit guys are the cavemen, and we do get judgmental at times... it's just not good form and I apologize for my barbarian brethren.

This original post was formed as a question though so lets answer it. Yes? No?

I think that automatic cookers of all types cause debate. The Crock pot, The bread machine, The rice cooker, The Fondue Master. The food purists alway get their panties in a bunch over stuff like this.

Look at it this way. How does the baker who does all his baking by hand and cooks in a coal fired oven that has studied bread making for years feel about bread machines? He probably thinks that it not real bread or at the very least not equal to his bread that took more overall skill to produce. I would agree with him too but the other is still bread and still has a place in the world of bread making.


If a guy takes a brisket out of the cryovac, injects it with chemicals to force it to retain moisture and adds artificial flavors, rubs it down with rub he didn't even make then throws it into an automatic smoker that feeds the fuel, regulates temps and smoke via a thermostat and fan (info from the Treager site) he goes to bed, rolls around with his ole lady for a while, then gets two 4 hour naps back to back and turns out BBQ that wins and he hasn't crossed any lines of the sanctioning body that is overseeing the competition then congratulations to that team!! Period. I could do the same thing if I want to. Right?

Is the playing field of BBQ level? No, I don't think it is, but I have made a choice to play in the sandbox with the Treager guys so it is what it is.

If and when I decide that I have had enough of Techno Que I'll collect my toys and go home to my horses and cows and play with them instead.

But for now I'll take two hours of sleep and the GC throphy and have fun talking chit to all the losers.

Your truly, the stick burning yahoo from Texas....ZILLA

P.S. I don't really have any horses or cows.
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Zilla

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[adolpho]

It's never cheating when it's allowed by the rules. Like Zilla, I choose to compete against a guy even if I have an offset and he has a pellet smoker. That's it, why complain?

When I was at MIM, I loved seeing the Stumps in action from Swinebuck's GF smoker and Big Tom's GF Hog cooker. I then saw a team with a Fat 50 and liked it too. But next door to us was Willingham and he has those custom pellet smokers he designs and one of the team members gave me the run through of one and I was very impressed. Seeing the pellets basically burn like an offset firebox from their own combustion (once it was initially started) made me think of a regular old pit at work. Basically, the electric auger is you fire tender instead of using a buddy, brother or wife to feed the fire while you sleep for a few hours. What's wrong with that? A while back I would have had a problem with it, but not anymore.

It is all about the cook and not the cooker. Last month, I took 4th out of 34 teams in chicken using my ECB. Now that's relying on my cooking abilities and not my cooker.
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[BBQMAN]

Nice Russ, go get em'!

The only problem I have with your post is that you ride a Harley, and drive a car!

I also wholeheartedly agree with Zilla about the level playing field. I use logs, and a log lighter. The log lighter is used for convienence, not for heat. I don't use charcoal. Why should I have to remove my log lighter at comps? Sure, I can cook without it. My new (to me) Stumps works real well without one, but the charcoal PITA thing won't last for long. IMHO this is no different from the pellet guys using electricity to provide the fuel source, but that's just me!

Like Zilla, I also agree if you want to play in the sandbox, you have to abide by the (given) rules.

As far as the set-and-forget aspect of pellet cookers, I don't believe that is true either. From what I've read (I don't own a Traeger) there are/was some issues with the temp contollers, hot spots, etc. For that kind of money, I would expect the temp contoller to do it's job.................

As far as being "real" Q, I believe you can get that from just about any form of outdoor cooking. When pressed into it, I cook some pretty good grub on my sisters gasser when I visit her family in Ca. (still have not found a way to get the airline to allow stowing my rig!) I also prefer to use her Webber Kettle.

Drums, Kettles, Offsets, Uprights, Gas, Charcoal, Pellets. Bring em' on, and we'll cook on em"!
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[Lewis & Herschel]

If you look at the history of BBQ in the US. You will find it has been heavily influenced by left over pieces of meat that no one else wanted and cooked on any manner of pit or cooker.

I think if you actually think about it, then the use of left over sawdust, which in many cases where pellets come from, goes right to the heart of the waste nothing attitude of BBQ.

At the end of the day, pellet cookers are self automated stick burner.

Any thing else is hypocrisy, original BBQ was cooked on or in the ground. Pull behind offsets were at one time, probably considered cheating as well by the folks that cooked directly in simple pits.

I have no issue with their use. I only want to see the Sanctioning Bodies continuing to only allow wood and charcoal as fuel. If they meet those criteria, cook away. That said, got nothing against Gassers, own one myself, I just draw the line there.
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[Doc1680]

I don't know much about pellet smokers and I've only done 3 comps in my 3 years of low-n-slow'in so you guys' knowledge is vastly superior to mine. From what I understand pellet burners plug into an outlet. Correct?

If we're talking at home. You can do it anyway you like. As long as it's outside the house. I don't care. But if we're talking comps. I don't think they should be allowed. Any smoker that plugs in shouldn't be allowed. That's my take.

Is it cheating? No. As Zilla said. There are no rules against it so you know what you're up against. Hell we cook on chargriller and brinkman offsets so everybody gets more sleep than us! The way I look at it. Master what you cook on. Don't worry about the next guy.

THERE'S NO CRYING IN BBQ!

Now is he talking purely technique? If so the you must ask. Is plug, load and smoke true pitmastery?


By the way we'll by in Madison, IN for the Ribberfest next week.
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[BBQMAN]

[SmokinOkie]

See, now that's a thread,

Good discourse, well thoughtout and you guys are all wrong

Guess I could equate some of it to, how come most and I do mean most Stick Burners don't know how to use their burners.

I think we ought to outlaw dark smoke at contests. If you're a PITMASTER, you won't have anything but Blue Smoke when your food is on. If you have gray/dark smoke you're disqualified.

On, and a Stick Burner isn't a Pit. A pit is a hole in the ground.

And bluesman had a Weber and now a WSM and he's talking about stick burners?

Good thread! Teasing included

Now as for the poll, it's okay, Well except for the 8 people calling it an oven.

[BBQMAN]

Well, either way, it's good to see you back here Russ!

I think we have heard more from you on this one post than the entire last year..............
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[SmokinOkie]

Good to be noticed I was gone. Problem was work was 60 hours or more a week in front of a PC and last thing I did at home was work on the Internet. That role is changing, so I'll have more time to be harassed and respond

[bluesman250]

[bluesman250]