Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew
Smoker time soon. Probablymac budget of 1000-1500
Still debating
Know a few traeger? Know 2 or 3 Owners
Do I want charcoal or woodchip?
Hmm
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IMO, $1000-1500 is only necessary as a consideration if you're planning to do parties where you grill for 3-4+ families simultaneously on a regular basis with BBQ being the only food for the whole event. Most times, you'll get a grill with excess capacity that you don't need to use.
Less than that or combinations of food other than BBQ food (ie: Potluck, take out, oven, stove etc.) and <$1000 for sure is enough without very little compromise on bells and whistles.
For as much as I want a Big Green Egg, it's way overkill for me. I have a smaller Kamado and charcoal gets really hot really fast, so food cooks fast. I like it that way since the moment I pull it out it cools fast too. I could get a Big Green egg and cook more on a slightly lower temp (slightly easier to control temps too I guess), but it's not really necessary for a set up that's 2-3x more than my current one.
Same thing for a BBQ. A $500-800 will get me a damn good option for top brands. Sure it's probably a little smaller at a 2 burner width vs 3, but paying 50% more for 50% more grill space and barely any extra in terms of features is just silly IMO. You can get a cheap 3-4 burner from a lower tier brand, but having had BBQ last for 10-20 years vs those ones that basically fall apart in 3-4 years, I do not recommend a big cheap one. I'd recommend a small quality one. Maybe there's that handful of times per year where the extra size was nice for a slab of ribs or fish that was long enough to essentially extend across the entire width of a 3 burner, but they're rare and you can easily just grab a knife to get it to fit. I also like alternating charcoal vs gas or sometimes I do both.
If my current BBQ dies, I might consider going down to a slightly smaller BBQ like a Weber Genesis or something. My dream is having a good value trifecta of pellet smoker + Kamado charcoal + nat gas BBQ all in the same relative BBQ area. (The boss doesn't like having "appliances everywhere" taking up space and being underutilized).
Caveat for "smaller BBQ" though. Probably make sure it can fit the size of pizza you like making, if you make pizza in the BBQ in a pinch.