smokefire smoke flavor?
- Thread starter AlfonzoW
- Start date
Shane - glitchy
TVWBB Super Fan
I've had several pellet grills and will say in my experience the SmokeFire imparts more smoke flavor than all of the others I've tried. It makes sense with the flavorizer bars and the burn pot design that it would create more smoke and allow more contact of the smoke with the food. It also continues to provide smoke flavor at higher temps than other pellet grills. I can still taste fairly strong smoke on frozen pizza at 425-450 where on other grills you had to search for a very faint smoke taste.
Shane - glitchy
TVWBB Super Fan
I would say that's trading flavor for convenience, I definitely feel no pellet grill will provide the flavor of a stick burner and the ability to get as many distinctly identifiable smoke flavors. Most people cannot distinguish the difference in pellet flavors in a blind test outside of mesquite. A pellet grill forum of the past did a blind taste test using a wide variety of pellets a number of years ago. The SmokeFire might do better than the grills they had at that time, but is still not going to match slinging various log species. If you only sling one or two species, it might not matter as much. You definitely aren't going to get that same meteorite type bark very easily on a pellet grill.
When talking to friends about pellet grills, I always ask people what they plan to cook and what they want in a grill. Pellet grills aren't the greatest cookers, you could pick an arsenal of grills and outperform a pellet grill for all aspects, but they are a mixture of better than gas for flavor and better than charcoal and wood for convenience. I became a die hard pellet pooper fan when my son played soccer 10 months a year and I could fire up the pellet grill whenever we actually got a day at home and cook a bunch of food (to eat then and have leftovers on the busy days) while catching up on chores. I tried to get a offset and used it a couple times and realized that I've trained myself for the convenience of pellets and sold the offset after a couple cooks. We've also developed palates for the more subtle smoke taste. Smoke as a seasoning, not the main seasoning.
When talking to friends about pellet grills, I always ask people what they plan to cook and what they want in a grill. Pellet grills aren't the greatest cookers, you could pick an arsenal of grills and outperform a pellet grill for all aspects, but they are a mixture of better than gas for flavor and better than charcoal and wood for convenience. I became a die hard pellet pooper fan when my son played soccer 10 months a year and I could fire up the pellet grill whenever we actually got a day at home and cook a bunch of food (to eat then and have leftovers on the busy days) while catching up on chores. I tried to get a offset and used it a couple times and realized that I've trained myself for the convenience of pellets and sold the offset after a couple cooks. We've also developed palates for the more subtle smoke taste. Smoke as a seasoning, not the main seasoning.
Jon Tofte
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
I have a Rec Tec, not a SmokeFire, but one advantage it has given me is that my wife is more tolerant of food from it than barbecue from a kettle or kamado. I am sure she would reject stick burner bbq. That's her, not me! Still, I have been very happy with my bbq from my pellet grill. I think it is a good balance of convenience and also flavor. LOVE Weber's GrillMaster pellets. Maybe I would fail the blind test, too, but it sure makes a great smell for your neighbors to envy!