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12 replies

open this can of worms if you dare....

FM Former Member
Ok, I will, but understand that I'm a CS owner and I absolutely love it.

I've been debating with some folks about the quality of Q made on a CS, vs, Q made in a pit or offset.

The other CS owner and I believe you can get just a fine a product from the CS as any other way of cooking, but I have several Q Snob buddies who say you need to really work at good Q by having a pit or an offset.

They go on to say that private folks just want a CS because they like pretty good Q, but not great Q, and are not willing to put in all the effort for great Q. Plus they say the reason restaurants use a CS is to meet air pollution standards, and that the owners can train anybody to make good, not great Q, in 10 minutes.

Funny, none of them mentioned the cost of operation of a CS vs pit / offset.

Now, here in Philly, we don't have Q joints all over the place like you do in the south and midwest. I think I make excellent Q, but I can't easily compare it to a lot a places.

The last time I ate Q in a restaurant was September 2003, in either Charlotte NC, or Myrtle Beach SC, neither known as a hot spot for finding the best Q ( and I have always wondered why not in Charlotte since NC is known for its pulled pork ).

So, I'm on the CS side. But how mch do you agree or disagree with the other side of the discussion?
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FM Former Member
The wood-burning argument seems to reflect the good old Puritan/American idea that results come in proportion to effort. Mr. Lay, Ms. Stewart, etc. etc. are muy grateful to those who still believe that.

But to get back to cooking and off the social criticism soapbox, it seems that there are many factors in making good BBQ, fuel being only one of them. I've had excellent, mediocre, and not-so-good made on both wood-burning and non-wood-burning apparatus. Spicing, meat selection, cooking technique all factor in.

Now, if you're trying to make the absolutely finest on earth, where you would travel around the world collecting your own spices for the rub, carefully nurture a sty of hogs, grow the trees to burn, raise the barley to brew the beer to drink with it, etc. etc., maybe a wood fire would be best. Maybe not. The big contests won't help you find out, either, because they don't "pit" electric vs. wood.

In the end, for most CS owners, it's better to enjoy the food you have time to make than dream about what you would make if you had time to fiddle with a fire.
FM Former Member
I agree with tjr. I think you have to just learn how to work with what you've got, within reason. If I did all the steps to making historically correct bbq listed in his reply, I'd never get around to preparing the food. I'd be too tired, probably drunk on the beer I made, forget how to find the stuff to start the fire, and I doubt I'd turn out anything good.
The good reason to bbq is to enjoy yourself. I think your food shows whether you enjoyed yourself or not.
Peggy
2 Greyhounds....SMOKIN!!!!
FM Former Member
Okay, Bodacious, I'll bite. I am master of an offset smoker...known, derisively by insensitive people as ECB. (El Cheapo Brinkman! Can you believe it?)

I didn't know there was an argument. The whole idea is that the CS-cooked product is as good as the product cooked in the traditional way (i.e., wood; charcoal; combination of the 2.) The CS upside is the set-it-and-forget-it capability. That's all. That's a lot, but that's the selling point. Right? The electric heat source, the fabulous insulation, stabilizing both temps and humidities.

It's a matter of getting a night's sleep. With the Brinkman, you don't sleep. And that, my friends, has to do with what Tom calls "graciousness." CS owners are gracious! Brinkman owners are................
Cool
FM Former Member
I would like to see those same folks that say wood is better than a CS do a blind taste test. To compare different meats Q'ed and see if they can REALLY tell the difference.

My CS has taken a decent Q'er and made him a great Q'er. And my family & friends wont bite the hand that feeds them so well. Smiler

bob
FM Former Member
ok i'm in!!!!
myself it is like watching 2 chefs argue over wether wustoff or global knife are the best(and we all know sabatiers rule). the question is really are you in it for the name gadgets or just good food. myself i cant wait to pit my sm150 against my fec100 if trailer tech will finally deliever my trailer but thats a whole nother story. but to be honest i will still take my brinkmens bullet to all competitions just because it is my security blanket ( and i need something to fritz with)
jack
2 Greyhounds....SMOKIN!!!!
FM Former Member
I think cadillac is right. In all our years of manufacturing and marketing smokers, we have seen this come up over and over. If it wasn't made in a big locomotive-looking smoker it can't be that good. (Some of those "experts" cook on Cookshacks at home, by the way. Those big pits are a pain to fire up for one chicken.) Sometimes, it's more like a "my smoker is bigger than your smoker" thing. You guys wouldn't know anything about that, I am sure. Smiler

In a blind taste test, I wonder if they can tell the difference. Maybe we need to do that sometime. Like the coke/pepsi thing.

Cookshack smokers use electricity and wood, Fast Eddy's by Cookshack pits use only wood. To me this is as close as you can get without making yourself crazy trying to replicate a purist way of doing it.

The difference I can taste is when a smoker uses gas. I can taste the mercaptans that the gas company puts in the gas to make it smell bad, so you won't breathe it and die. Now I am sure there are people who will go to the mat with me over this one, but it's the same reason I don't much like grilled food -- I can taste the charcoal.

My two cents.

Donna
FM Former Member
Donna,
I agree with you on the gas taste. It gives me awful heartburn, too. I know I don't want to dig a pit or haul around a big old smoker that I don't think improves the taste. I think having something that fits what I want to do as far as learning to operate it, getting a consistent tasty product, and feeling comfortable enough to not stress out over the whole end result will help me love the cookshack smokers. I'll let you know when I get there.

I've had bbq prepared over all the mentioned methods. I have been fed many great meals from all of them. With the exception of the LP gas, I feel that whatever someone puts their heart into, usually tastes just wonderful. You can taste the love.

Peggy
FM Former Member
OK I have to jump in.

Before I purchased my CS smoker 6 weeks ago I did all my smoking the old fashion way (long hours drinking beer and adding wood) and I turned out some absolutly great Q! the problem? in one word TIME. With all the time involved I maybe got arround to making Q 6-8 times a year max. since getting my CS 6 weeks ago I have made the following.

Buckboard bacon (twice)
turkey breasts
whole chickens (twice)
ribs (twice)
pulled pork
pork loin
smoked sausage
smoked wild duck
goose jerkey (twice)

In 6 short weeks I have smoked more than I have in 2 years before the CS.

What I believe it comes down to is any loss of so call authentic Q favor (and as stated above this is still open for debate) is more than made up for by the convenience of being able to enjoy the wonderfull taste of smoked foods on a regular basis.

Gooseman
FM Former Member
Meat cannot tell the difference in smoke and heat be it from an offset or an electric like Cookshack. I continually compare BBQ ribs etc and
it all comes down to what you put on the meat and
how long you cook it. Tender is tender and tough is tough. I have had both types of Cookers and
prefer my 008..

PRF8
FM Former Member
prf8,

I beg to differ with you on the point that heat is heat. There is dry heat and moist heat, and different foods benifit more from one or the other. eg. brisket prefers a moist heat to retain the small amount of moisture present naturaly in the meat and in my humble opinion a very fatty cut of meat say a picnic benifits from a drier heat. Also A drier heat will tend to help form a more pronounced "bark" on the finished product.
Cooking 101 "lean cuts moist heat, fatty cuts dry heat" This is not to say you cannot have excelent results using either dry or moist heat on any cut of meat it is only to say if done correctly there will be a difference in the finished product.

But, all this said you couldn't pry my CS out of my cold dead hands.
FM Former Member
goose,
from your 1st post 7/21/04.
this is the exact reason i am taking my brinkmans bullet to contests. it will make me leave the food in my fec100 alone and that i feel will be to my benefit Big Grin . to make the argument even more absurd i have had people tell me (while standing beside a southern pride running on lp gas) that they can taste the binders in pellets. either they are a better chef than me or are just full of it doesnt matter people are nuts in the end and i think it all falls back to the knife argument if it is yours its the best because you made a decision no matter how faulty it was lol Razzer .
i do agree with you on the moist dry thing but sometimes i break those rules too (just gotta don't know why)
jack
FM Former Member
The CS is a womans dream. NO mess in the kitchen and not a lot of trouble to have Q when you want it. You can even cook and sleep at the same time and not have to worry about the house catching on fire. The Q comes out perfect as can be expected every time. Man amd woman is happy and full of delicious Q. A mans dream come true - easy Q!!!
Now if you want to worry about the fire and all that other stuff that can go wrong, go ahead and cook on those other things. In the end you will be tired, smoky, and sleepy and some will be drunk. That is just to much trouble when there are smokers like the fabulous CS.

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