Porcelain Smoker / Grills

[YosemiteSam]

Anyone have one of these?

I ordered one a couple of weeks ago. It's supposed to arrive a week from Saturday. I used to smoke stuff with a cheap metal spoke several years ago, but now that I have purchased a home again. I felt it was time to buy a real smoker. (not to mention grill and even wood fired pizza oven they are so damn versatile)

Anyhow, anyone else have one of these? I'm sure I will be watching a lot of Youtube and stuff getting up to speed on how to use them properly.

 

[CF74]

Are u trying to be fancy and say ya got one of the green eggs?

 

[Hardline]

Are u trying to be fancy and say ya got one of the green eggs?

That's what I was thinking also.

 

[CF74]

That's what I was thinking also.

Maybe he bought one of them knockoffs...

 

[Tabascocat]

I need the brand and model to tell you if it is a real smoker or not

 

[Hardline]

If you are referring to the Green Egg then i tell you I have a friend that has one and he absolutely loves it.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I bought the Kamado Joe Classic III, not the Big Green Egg.

I was just looking for others that had one for tips and tricks as this will be my first.

 

[CouchCoach]

Anyone have one of these?

I ordered one a couple of weeks ago. It's supposed to arrive a week from Saturday. I used to smoke stuff with a cheap metal spoke several years ago, but now that I have purchased a home again. I felt it was time to buy a real smoker. (not to mention grill and even wood fired pizza oven they are so damn versatile)

Anyhow, anyone else have one of these? I'm sure I will be watching a lot of Youtube and stuff getting up to speed on how to use them properly.

You mean a ceramic smoker?

If you're talking about Big Green Egg type of cooker, I had one and broke it moving it but it did a nice job of smoking. The first thing I would recommend is only use hardwood charcoal, no briquettes, and a good brand of it. The second suggestion is an electric wand starter.

 

[Tabascocat]

I bought the Kamado Joe Classic III, not the Big Green Egg.

I was just looking for others that had one for tips and tricks as this will be my first.

Get a heat deflector plate if you plan on smoking. Oh, don’t soak the wood or put water in the drip pan, you don’t want to steam the meat

 

[CouchCoach]

I bought the Kamado Joe Classic III, not the Big Green Egg.

I was just looking for others that had one for tips and tricks as this will be my first.

The Big Green Egg is mostly marketing, the principle of the smokers is all the same but the coolest one I've seen was the horizontal one on Steve Raichlen's Project Fire on PBS, highly recommend that series. I also recommend his latest two cookbooks, Project Fire and Project Smoke over anyone else's that I've read.

Another good source for recipes is Meatwave, a great little cookout blog, and BBQBrethren.

It will take a little trial and error to get your fire like you want it but once you do, it's easy to maintain it once you get your vents set. I could hold my Egg at 225 for 6 hours without it wavering.

 

[CouchCoach]

Get a heat deflector plate if you plan on smoking. Oh, don’t soak the wood or put water in the drip pan, you don’t want to steam the meat

Does that have a water pan? Mine didn't but you're right about soaking the chips, it makes no difference in the flavor but it will make a difference in the temp in the cooker depending on how much chips are put in there.

 

[Tabascocat]

Does that have a water pan? Mine didn't but you're right about soaking the chips, it makes no difference in the flavor but it will make a difference in the temp in the cooker depending on how much chips are put in there.

I don’t think it is part of the apparatus, just get something to collect the drippings. I use disposable tin pans but I don’t have this kind of smoker. Mine is a side stick burner.

 

[CouchCoach]

I don’t think it is part of the apparatus, just get something to collect the drippings. I use disposable tin pans but I don’t have this kind of smoker. Mine is a side stick burner.

After breaking Humpty, I went back to a gas smoker, Dyna-Glo, and the seal on it is excellent and I prefer a front load.

Man, I've had them all, beginning with the water smoker years ago, and tried my hand with the offset wood smoker and screw that, I don't want cooking out as a job. Got a couple of buds that have those really nice electric set it and forget it smokers but I, at least, want to feel like I've done something.

One thing I did like about the Egg, I could get that rascal up to 800 to put a Deathstar sear on a fat steak.

 

[Rockport]

The Big Green Egg is mostly marketing, the principle of the smokers is all the same but the coolest one I've seen was the horizontal one on Steve Raichlen's Project Fire on PBS, highly recommend that series. I also recommend his latest two cookbooks, Project Fire and Project Smoke over anyone else's that I've read.

Another good source for recipes is Meatwave, a great little cookout blog, and BBQBrethren.

It will take a little trial and error to get your fire like you want it but once you do, it's easy to maintain it once you get your vents set. I could hold my Egg at 225 for 6 hours without it wavering.

The hardware on the knock offs are cheap and flimsy. That’s the big difference and it’sa big one.

 

[yimyammer]

funny you ask, I have a Green Egg knock off and just made this tonight:

 

[YosemiteSam]

Get a heat deflector plate if you plan on smoking. Oh, don’t soak the wood or put water in the drip pan, you don’t want to steam the meat

The Joe comes with a smoke ring that acts both as a heat deflector and kind of a smoke tornado. As for not soaking the wood. The reason you soak the wood is so it provides more smoke before burning up. Dry wood just burns up quickly.

I did get a drip pan due to the difficulty in remove grease droppings. You pretty much have to burn them off.

Either way, I will experiment with it when I get it. Thanks for the tips!

 

[YosemiteSam]

The Big Green Egg is mostly marketing, the principle of the smokers is all the same but the coolest one I've seen was the horizontal one on Steve Raichlen's Project Fire on PBS, highly recommend that series. I also recommend his latest two cookbooks, Project Fire and Project Smoke over anyone else's that I've read.

Another good source for recipes is Meatwave, a great little cookout blog, and BBQBrethren.

It will take a little trial and error to get your fire like you want it but once you do, it's easy to maintain it once you get your vents set. I could hold my Egg at 225 for 6 hours without it wavering.

It was between the Big Green Egg and the Kamado Joe Classic III. While I suppose people can call the Kamado Joe a knock off since the Big Green Egg was first to market. (ceramic grills have been around for way longer than the Green Egg though) It certainly cannot be called a cheap knock off.

The main reason I went with the Kamado Joe over the Big Green Egg is because they just seemed to have innovated further than the Green Egg has lately. They had better get moving, or Kamado Joe is going to own the market. They even still sell their Kamado Joe Classic 1 for the lower end market.

 

[YosemiteSam]

One thing I did like about the Egg, I could get that rascal up to 800 to put a Deathstar sear on a fat steak.

That's the main reason I went with a ceramic grill. It's very versatile. I was watching guys smoke, grill, and even cook wood fired pizza! I love wood fired pizza!

 

[Tabascocat]

The Joe comes with a smoke ring that acts both as a heat deflector and kind of a smoke tornado. As for not soaking the wood. The reason you soak the wood is so it provides more smoke before burning up. Dry wood just burns up quickly.

I did get a drip pan due to the difficulty in remove grease droppings. You pretty much have to burn them off.

Either way, I will experiment with it when I get it. Thanks for the tips!

Wet wood gives the wrong kind of smoke. I suppose it is okay to do the chips but never chunks.

https://amazingribs.com/more-technique-and-science/more-cooking-science/myth-soak-your-wood-first

 

[CouchCoach]

The Joe comes with a smoke ring that acts both as a heat deflector and kind of a smoke tornado. As for not soaking the wood. The reason you soak the wood is so it provides more smoke before burning up. Dry wood just burns up quickly.

I did get a drip pan due to the difficulty in remove grease droppings. You pretty much have to burn them off.

Either way, I will experiment with it when I get it. Thanks for the tips!

I have experimented with soaking and not soaking and I do not soak them because I do not want to over smoke the meat. However, on an enclosed ceramic cooker, dry chips can jack your heat level up really fast if you are going for low and slow. First time I did ribs on mine, it took me too long to get the temp down and the little bones were already sticking out the end after 15 minutes. They looked so sad.

One drawback to those cookers is brisket, if you are a 200-225 18 hour guy. To add charcoal, you have to take too many pieces off the smoker and hitting that magic spot again is difficult so it's best to go with the new approach that Aaron Franklin developed and cook it higher for a shorter period of time and you get the nice bark. And go with the packer trimmed brisket and trim it up yourself, the flats and points do not have enough fat for the higher temp. You can cover them with bacon but you don't get bark and that's my favorite part.