Stick burner/Electric/Egg/Charcoal

My favorite cooking style is an ole fashioned stick burner, followed by charcoal with some wood chips tossed on top


1. Stick burner
2. Charcoal
3. Cast iron

What’s yalls?

Btw, I had a Masterbuilt electric smoker years ago. I had it for maybe a year and could never get the slightest smoke flavor. I gave it away

I’ve heard great things about the Egg style cookers

I love an old school stick burner but after using my traeger, I’m a convert. That thing can plain cook. Not just for smoking but I crank it up and grill with it as well. Just like anything it has its place, I use charcoal, gas and a skillet as well. Just depends on what I’m cooking.

Wood, cast, and gas....

I haven’t had gas in 10 years, I kinda miss it

I forgot griddle, I have one of those.

Steaks on the griddle are always good too

The art of BBQ is running a fire. Stick burner all the way.

I agree, everything else is a little easier and less tasteful

Nothing replaces a fire

I prefer oak

Pellet (Traeger) lets me use a variety of wood for grilling/smoking different things. Used Alder yesterday for Salmon and Bacon wrapped Scallops.
Gasser (Weber Genesis) with side burner for grilling at a hotter temp and the side burner works great for Cast iron cooking. Did Blackened Shrimp yesterday to go with the Salmon and Scallops.

Yes mam!!!

Only gas for me. Life is too short......................

FIFY

Wood, cast, charcoal, gas if I have to.

If I ever start vaping and wearing skinny jeans I'll go buy a pellet pooper and a 6.5 Creedmoor..

LOL

I only grill twice a week except for the exceptions. That amounts to a total of about 15 minutes per week of actual grilling. No way will I ever spend 2 hours getting my coals ready..

Wood then charcoal. I bought the Mrs. a propane patio grill a couple years ago, its fine for chicken, hot dogs and hamburgers.

It’s the trip not the destination Bill

A good pile of hot coals is nice

Add a small oak log and choke the damper down and bingo, roll coal

I understand that but its so sad to watch perfect coals go to waste after you are done.

It has to be born in you; for Bill it’s not. It’s like a great hobby, either you like it or you don’t. No big deal either way, but I think my wood fired food will beat the taste of any other method, especially gas. And I can get a cooking fire going in 3 minutes.

There’s no comparison as far as flavor, wood/coals always wins....and Bill you don’t have to waste your coals. Using wood or lump charcoal, just hit the coals with a water hose and use what’s left the next time.

It was a Mother’s Day meal, my wife and mom said they loved it

I don’t claim it was the best ever but I think it passed the test

I’m not afraid to cook it again

That’s pile #2, they about cleaned up pile #1

You get the idea

Looks awesome!

Thanks, it seems to be a very forgiving cut

For 10 lbs of pork belly

I did about 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup standard seasoning of choice and right at 250° for 3 1/2 hours

Then I pulled and sauced a sweet bbq sauce in a pan for another 30

I mowed about 3 acres in that time and wasn’t just on it the whole time, so it’s not a difficult cook

Next time, I’d like to make some spicy, some sweet

I really wanted to like the Treager for its simplicity for doing small cooks and not having to fire up the stick burner. Never could get any smoke or flavor from it

Surprising to hear. I think it turns out just as good if not better than running my traditional smoker. I cook more steaks/chicken on the traeger than anything. Really noticeable difference in flavor.

my main go too is using charcoal as heat base and then adding wood, mainly live oak or pecan depending on what I'm cooking. I use a gas grill when I need something done quickly, like burgers, hotdogs, etc. but I still prefer those over hot coals. I use cast iron a lot on the stove top and in the oven... I've had friends with various types of pellet smokers that do a pretty good job but tend to not have the same flavor of smoke, at least to me. My wife really likes that type of stuff but she is not much of a smoke flavor type.

That's pretty much how I roll.

Offset stick burner all day everyday

I have a Traeger and an offset stick burner. The Traeger can't touch the stick burner in terms of quality. I smoke quite a bit of meat. The Traeger has been regulated to grilling only for a while now. It's great to throw burgers, fajitas, etc. on it. But, if I'm smoking a brisket, pork belly, chuck roast, or something like that, it's a stick burner all the way. Maybe the really high end Traegers or other pellet smokers produce enough smoke for my liking, but mine sure doesn't.

Biggest difference to me is the thickness of the smoke. Which, albeit, does result in less smoke flavor.

Traeger won't win any BBQ Competitions but Traeger can also be at temp in 15 minutes by dialing a knob... and stay exactly there for hours and hours...

The time it takes to get to temperature is exactly why I use it for grilling. I gave away my charcoal grill after I had my Traeger for a while. I do use the Traeger to smoke occasionally for short smokes. Things that smoke for under an hour like fruit, deviled eggs, and garlic. But, if I am going to smoke something for 16 hours the start time seems negligible. If I put that much time into something I want it to be perfect. Traeger can definitely produce a tender, juicy, and perfectly cooked piece of meat. But not with the flavor I want it to have.

Also, on occasion I have made pulled pork or chopped beef for family gatherings on my Traeger. I catch all the drippings from the meat, Start a small fire in my stick burner once the meat is almost ready, then after a pull or chop the meat I add the meat and juices to a pan. Then I put that pan on the stick burner for about 20-45 minutes to get a smoke flavor into every bit. That comes out really well.

So I started smoking on an Ugly Drum Smoker and my buddies offset. After a few years I thought I would "upgrade" to a Rec Tec so I didn't have to babysit the grill. The thing was built like a tank and worked, fine, but the flavor in long cooks just wasn't there. I did like it for chicken, hotdogs and the smoking steaks, but I missed dealing with live fire and the flavor that came with it. To compensate its shortcoming in flabor I bought an Akorn and a weber kettle and found myself using those more often so I sold my RecTec. I bought a small Green Mountain Grill Davy Crocket for weeknight grilling and smoking, but it doesn't get touched on the weekends. With the remaining money I'm in the market for an offset smoker.

So to answer the OP

Stick Burner
Charcoal/Egg
Pellets/Electric

I've tried them all. electric, gas/propane, pellet...nothing beats a stickburner in quality.

I have been stick burning for years. Wife bought me a pellet grill last week.
This thing can cook. I have been amazed at how good the food is that comes off of it.
Did a tri tip on Fri that was hands down the best thing that I have ever cooked. I have a pork butt on it right now

Stick burner for my smoker and gas for my grill. To me smoking meat with a stick burner takes a ton of effort, but the payoff when you get it right is awesome.

I like a stick burner, but the BGE is too easy and versatile. Over the last few years 100% of my smoking and grilling has been on various size BGE and Primo's cookers. Using a propane torch to get it up to temp makes it heat up basically just as fast as a full gas grill.