The Mantuary

BUY MANTUARY GEAR!

It’s been a rough week.  My body is slowly recovering from the near toxic levels of beer, BBQ and Primanti style subs I gorged on Super Bowl weekend.  Tuesday’s Denny incident didnt help either. Trying to stomach the harsh reality that football season is officially over is enough to send any man into a 6 week coma.  February is not the best month for The Mantuary because there is absolutely nothing in the sporting world that offers something worthwhile to watch.  UFC is too intermittent, hockey can’t hold my attention until the playoffs, college basketball really doesn’t get good until March Madness, and don’t even get me started on the sorry state of the NBA. Perhaps I’ll heed the advice of The Common Man and start watching international baseball or give Vince McMahon and professional wrestling another shot. 

Yes, these are the days when Men across the country will have to come to grips with the harsh reality that sports on the Mantuary TV can no longer provide them their much needed respite, and they must look elsewhere for suitable Manly pursuits.  With the help of my most recent windfall, I will be taking this time to pursue the most advanced cooking vessel the BBQ world has to offer.  Although I already have 3 smokers and 2 charcoal grills, I’m starting to learn that there is bigger and better equipment out there.  In the very near future, to help me get through the dark days that lie ahead, I will add yet another BBQ vessel to my arsenal.  The 3 categories of smokers/grills I will be looking at are: Pellets, Ceramics and Gravity fed smokers.

Pellet Fed -  The major player in this field is Traeger Grills.  They were the first to introduce the world to pellet fed grills a few years ago. Because of their high quality and ease of use, pellet grills and smokers have a very dedicated customer base. With the turn of a knob and flip of a switch these cookers can smoke, roast, and grill any food you can imagine. 

The pellets themselves are small, 1 in. long, 1/4 in. diameter pieces of compressed hardwood. They are easy to burn and produce very little ash, burning at about 8,500 BTUs per pound. The pellets are fed from a storage hopper to a burning box at a controlled rate. This rate is adjustable based on whether you want a high temperature for grilling or a low temperature for smoking.

Because of the automated feed of the wood pellets you can literally turn the unit on, give it 10 to 15 minutes to heat up, and be ready to grill in almost no time. This makes it as convenient as a gas grill but with the added flavor of hardwood cooking.  Pellet cookers start at about $600 and can go as high as $2,000 for beefier, stainless steel models.

Pros: All the ease and convenience of propane cooking with the beneficial flavors of real wood cooking.
Cons:  Cost and availability of pellets may be an issue.  Real BBQ authenticity is questionable with the motorized, thermostat controlled pellet feeder. 

Ceramic Cookers - The two major players in this field are Big Green Egg and Primo.  That said, Grill Dome and Komodo are 2 other viable candidates.  Simply put, ceramic cookers offer the most efficient and pure way of smoking or grilling your food.  Today’s “ceramics” are derivatives of 3000 year old cooking practices that used cooking vessels like the Indian Tandoor and the Japanese Mushikamodo.  They are made of any number of materials including “space age” ceramics, terra cotta, refractory materials and Portland cement mixed with lava rock allowing the food to cook evenly with minimal moisture loss.  The end result is an efficient cooker that can smoke a beef brisket at 250 degrees or sear a steak at 700 degrees, all with less than a chimney’s worth of charcoal and without drying your food.  Because of their efficiency, pre-heating takes less than 10 minutes and any coal that’s left over when you’re done can be snuffed out and saved for your next cook.  Unlike a metal charcoal grill or smoker, ceramic cookers use very little oxygen to burn the fuel.  Less air means you’re creating a hot and moist environment for your food without the use of a waterpan.  Many Ceramics come with lifetime warranties and are guaranteed not to crack or break even at temperatures approaching 2300º degrees Fahrenheit.  They conduct virtually no heat making the outside relatively cool to touch. Sealing in heat and keeping air out ensures your food is moist and tender. This also slows the charcoal’s burn, making ceramics cheaper to use than other grills and smokers.

Pros: The most efficient and versatile smokers/grills on the market.
Cons: Relatively expensive, heavy and tough to move. 

Gravity Fed Smokers - The two major players in this field are Stumps and Backwoods.  Gravity fed smokers claim amazingly high efficiency and very large capacities.  The cooking chamber is made of double insulated double walls which allows you to get the cooking chamber up to 400 degrees while the outside of the cooker remains cool to the touch.  The cookers vary in size and price range.  They start just under $1,000 with a capacity of 4-6 pork butts and get as large as a whole hog cooker that costs just under $10,000.  The main drawback from gravity fed smokers is that they aren’t very versatile.  While they make a perfect smoker, their ability to sear a T-bone is nonexistent. 

Pros:  Extremely efficient.  Come in several sizes.  Movable racks offer maximum capacity.
Cons:  Expensive.  Heavy and not very easy to move.  Limited to smoking at lower temperatures.  Grilling is not an option.

 I’ll keep you posted on further developments in this endeavour. Until then… 

Be A Man.

-The Founding Father

Filed under: BBQ, Grilling