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10 replies

Pellet vs Electric

FM Former Member
Seeking advice on a new smoker from you pellet users. I am a long time griller and have gas and charcoal grills. I have been smoking on a small charbroil electric but don't like it for many reasons and have been seriously looking at a cookshack smokette or 50 as well as the Traeger pellet smokers (I do not need the capacity of an FEC 100 and I do not compete or cater). Any opinions on "smoke" flavor or performance of pellets vs electric? Is one better/more authentic than the other? I mainly want a "set it and forget it" way to do butts and briskets overnight without tending. Thanks
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FM Former Member
quote:
Originally posted by sacmer:
[qb] Seeking advice on a new smoker from you pellet users. I am a long time griller and have gas and charcoal grills. I have been smoking on a small charbroil electric but don't like it for many reasons and have been seriously looking at a cookshack smokette or 50 as well as the Traeger smokers (I do not need the capacity of an FEC 100 and I do not compete or cater). Any opinions on "smoke" flavor or performance of pellets vs electric? Is one better/more authentic than the other? I mainly want a "set it and forget it"
way to do butts and briskets overnight without tending. Thanks [/qb]
For Butts and Brisket you cannot beat a Cookshack, it truely is "set it and forget it". They come out excellent, you will get rave reviews, especially when using Smokin's basting sauce. However, I had better results with the old Brinkman for ribs and chicken as it did not retain humidity nearly as well as a Cookshack (Hence, the great Butt and Brisket). I was hoping that Cookshack had future plans for a smaller FE/CS 100, but alas, I've been informed this will not happpen. Get the Cookshack
FM Former Member
The smokette is a good little electric. These aren't made anymore, but sometimes you might find a past dealer or see one on ebay. Look for a Nomad pellet grill. It's got no bells & whistles, you've got to start it manually. It's a fine little pellet burning grill. Reliant Pellet Stoves manufactured them. There were two sizes, a tailgate, tabletop model and one on legs. Wouldn't trade mine for anything.
T tomMember
The Traeger is not well insulated,so your fuel use can go up in cold or windy conditions.

It can bring you higher temps quick,which is good for finishing chicken.

It will also work as your grill.

The smokette should have a shorter learning curve and much lower fuel consumption.

It is somewhat easier on overnight cooks.


It cooks somewhat more moist than the Traeger.

I find them comparable in taste,bark,etc.

Both are a real pleasure to operate.

Hope this helps a little,

Tom-Fl
FM Former Member
Thanks for the responses. I have a Traeger dealer near me and was not impressed with the construction of these units for the price. Metal was thin and I could believe an insulation problem for cold weather users. I also have other "grills". I think I am going to get the Cookshack 50 as it should meet my neads nicely.
FM Former Member
sacmer,
to be honest the reason we got both an fec100 and an sm150 is so i can compete as the sm is not allowed. at the nbbqa convention in atlanta we tasted products from both of them and i really could not taste any difference. the product was good and since my wife was very comfortable with the sm controls decided to get both kinds. the only real advantage is see to the fec for us is that you can really crank the heat up and since chicken is popular in the south we will use it for finishing them when we do catering work but we really see the sm as being our work horse.
hope this helps
jack
FM Former Member
quote:
Originally posted by LJ:
[qb] Craig,

I have seen the lack of smoke thing elsewhere. [/qb]
Having had mine a while now, I think the problem is that indeed cooking at higher temps, since it will cook faster, doesn't give the meat long enough in the smoke to do enough smoke flavor.

For me, I spend a lot of time in the smoke setting and on mine, that runs about 180. That is more in line with how I cooked back in the 1980's when I left my briskets and whatever in that temp zone for a LONG time. I'm all about "low and slow" not "hot and fast".

SlowSmokin'
FM Former Member
I do not use the Traeger at a high temp. 225-250.
No smoke flavor. I have also used the 'smoke' setting for hours at a time when doing brisket, pork butts, and whole chickens. It doesn't seem to make a difference. I also can't tell one bit of difference between the different pellets. It's just my personal opinion. I like the CS a whole lot better.

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