I love the idea of smoking meats, fish and vegetables. What is the best type of grill smoker I should be looking to purchase?

cucina di mammina
  • 3944 views
  • 4 Comments

4 Comments

aargersi August 15, 2013
Oh yeah on smoked tomatoes - whenever we have it cranked up I smoke some and then use them 1/2 n 1/2 with non smoked to make marinara, OR hatch chili ranchero sauce. Or any number of deliciously smoked goodness. Corn is great too. And garlic.
 
pierino August 15, 2013
No specific brand, but one with a hinged door that you can feed more wood through. I use various types of wood (often soaked) and even wine barrel staves for flavor. My preferred woods are hickory and cherry. It also helps to have a grill apparatus that you can easily raise and lower. BTW Hatch chiles are now hitting the market. Great for smoking.
 
cucina D. August 15, 2013
Thank you Abbie! I have both a gas grill and charcoal grill as I prefer to cook both methods for different recipes. I like the idea of an offset smoker, I will defintely look into these before I purchase. I want to experiment with smoking tomatoes and also potatoes, two vegetables that I have tasted smoked and fell in love with. Grazie!
 
aargersi August 15, 2013
This is really going to depend on how much space and money you want to dedicate to smoking! I feel (like most Texans) that an offset smoker is the home smokers best bet - this allows you to grill on direct heat if you want, but we create heat, smoke in the firebox and put everything else in the big barrel. Google offset smoker and you will see tons.
If you want to smoke on your existing grill it can be as simple as tossing wood chips onto the charcoal or if you have a gas grill, make a foil pouch, fill with soaked wood chips, poke holes and put on the hottest part of the grill. Option three is a stovetop smoker, and we have one of those too. They are great for "small batch" smoking - just be sure to release the smoke outside not in the kitchen! You can buy one or pretty easily hack one too.
Hope this helps! Smoke on!
 
Recommended by Food52