BBQ, here France it is pretty boring !

[Dick Foster]

When I lived in S. France in the sixties certain restaurants had large grills and used charcoal made from fruit trees. I seem to recall they would have some parts of the grill that used indirect heat to cook large pieces of horse meat etc. Could these grills be termed BBQs in the strict sense of the term?

To a certain extent yes.
The main indicators are smoke,indirect heat,low temps and a tight smoking chamber to hold heat,smoke and moisture.
As well as good airflow so you dont get stale smoke.
Charcoal is not really used other than to start your log splits or to maintain a temp once the meat has smoked enough.

Of course you're aware that when cooking true pit cooked barbeque in the Carolinas like whole hog barbeque, where it all started only hot coals are used to cook the meat. The wood fire to produce the coals is done in a seperate burn barrel. And if you haven't ever eaten true pit cooked whole hog barbeque, then you've never really tasted true barbeque.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Yep....
I will say that as a member of many BBQ message boards the yankees are finally catching on to real BBQ.

I dunno. If I was gonna have a bbq, I'd take a Memphis bbq over a Texas bbq any day of the week.

My wife can BBQ pork.
It takes a real BBQer to make a good brisket.
Smoking Your First Brisket - Advice From Aaron Franklin

Oh its not so hard if you keep it simple.

The hardest thing about a brisket is the short window between done and over done.
With a pork butt it ain't a window it's a two car garage door.
You'd have to try and over cook it.

 

[Dick Foster]

Well as I'm a southern boy from Carolina country, I have barbeque included in my genetic code.

Yall are coded to pork no doubt!
I love the different sauces used in the Carolinas for pork!!
Being a Texan we look to the perfect cooked brisket,no rub other than S and P, and no sauce.

I can do both and my meat don't need no stinkin sauce either.

Sauce is for rank amatures that need to hide the taste of the crap they cook.

Wanna start a stick burner vs pellet pooper fight? I can play either side.

I got top of the line of both....
My Lang..


View attachment 275428
And my MAK 2 star.....
View attachment 275430

Nothing beats the traditional offset.
You cant get the true taste of BBQ on a pellet pooper.

I do with mine.
It depends a lot on the type of contoller they use. Those PID things don't allow enough smoke to develop any taste.

The smoke profile on a pellet pooper is lacking in my opinion.
They sell all the different pellets but they all taste damn near the same.
I'll use a couple of these on the MAK to give it a bit of a boost in the beginning.

The Grilla I use doesn't need one of those. I suspect your pellet rig has a PID controller and that's why it lacks the taste you're after. I can go into a long drawn out dicussion of why but this is not the place.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

When I lived in S. France in the sixties certain restaurants had large grills and used charcoal made from fruit trees. I seem to recall they would have some parts of the grill that used indirect heat to cook large pieces of horse meat etc. Could these grills be termed BBQs in the strict sense of the term?

To a certain extent yes.
The main indicators are smoke,indirect heat,low temps and a tight smoking chamber to hold heat,smoke and moisture.
As well as good airflow so you dont get stale smoke.
Charcoal is not really used other than to start your log splits or to maintain a temp once the meat has smoked enough.

Of course you're aware that when cooking true pit cooked barbeque in the Carolinas like whole hog barbeque, where it all started only hot coals are used to cook the meat. The wood fire to produce the coals is done in a seperate burn barrel. And if you haven't ever eaten true pit cooked whole hog barbeque, then you've never really tasted true barbeque.

I'll use the burn pit on occasion but the smoke profile is muted.
I mainly do it in the winter with a pot of beans hanging over it and I'll shovel coals from it and toss a split in the firebox occasionally to get a heavier profile.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Yall are coded to pork no doubt!
I love the different sauces used in the Carolinas for pork!!
Being a Texan we look to the perfect cooked brisket,no rub other than S and P, and no sauce.

I can do both and my meat don't need no stinkin sauce either.

Sauce is for rank amatures that need to hide the taste of the crap they cook.

Wanna start a stick burner vs pellet pooper fight? I can play either side.

I got top of the line of both....
My Lang..


View attachment 275428
And my MAK 2 star.....
View attachment 275430

Nothing beats the traditional offset.
You cant get the true taste of BBQ on a pellet pooper.

I do with mine.
It depends a lot on the type of contoller they use. Those PID things don't allow enough smoke to develop any taste.

The smoke profile on a pellet pooper is lacking in my opinion.
They sell all the different pellets but they all taste damn near the same.
I'll use a couple of these on the MAK to give it a bit of a boost in the beginning.

The Grilla I use doesn't need one of those. I suspect your pellet rig has a PID controller and that's why it lacks the taste you're after. I can go into a long drawn out dicussion of why but this is not the place.

The new ones have the PID controller as well as the old style controller.
My problem with pellet poopers is the flavor the pellets deliver.
It's just not the same as using splits.

 

[Dick Foster]

Profile this, profile that, it's not rocket science ya know. You sound like the member of a cult. Stop trying to complicate something that is really and trully simple. I want more people to get into it and the less hocus pokus there is, then more will try it. Maybe you've been inhaling too much smoke. LOL
I told you up front that I was from the KISS school.
Rub it, smoke it, then eat it.
I can get anyone making decent barbeque for an initial investment of a grand or less.
If they really want to go cheap but work their butts off to make great barbeque, all they need is an axe, access to wood an old barrel, some cinder blocks and something to use as a cooking grate, but buckets of sweat.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

When I lived in S. France in the sixties certain restaurants had large grills and used charcoal made from fruit trees. I seem to recall they would have some parts of the grill that used indirect heat to cook large pieces of horse meat etc. Could these grills be termed BBQs in the strict sense of the term?

To a certain extent yes.
The main indicators are smoke,indirect heat,low temps and a tight smoking chamber to hold heat,smoke and moisture.
As well as good airflow so you dont get stale smoke.
Charcoal is not really used other than to start your log splits or to maintain a temp once the meat has smoked enough.

Of course you're aware that when cooking true pit cooked barbeque in the Carolinas like whole hog barbeque, where it all started only hot coals are used to cook the meat. The wood fire to produce the coals is done in a seperate burn barrel. And if you haven't ever eaten true pit cooked whole hog barbeque, then you've never really tasted true barbeque.

With all the fat pork is very forgiving which allows you to cook over an open pitt.
Try and do a brisket that way and you'll end up with shoe leather.
Different styles for different meat.

In central Texas BBQ came with the Czech and German settlers back in the 1840's as a means to preserve meat.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Profile this, profile that, it's not rocket science ya know. You sound like the member of a cult. Stop trying to complicate something that is really and trully simple. I want more people to get into it and the less hocus pokus there is, then more will try it. Maybe you've been inhaling too much smoke. LOL
I told you up front that I was from the KISS school.
Rub it, smoke it, then eat it.
I can get anyone making decent barbeque for an initial investment of a grand or less.
If they really want to go cheap but work their butts off to make great barbeque, all they need is an axe, access to wood an old barrel, some cinder blocks and something to use as a cooking grate, but buckets of sweat.

Sure some BBQ is easy.
Chicken and pork come to mind. Brisket is a whole nother animal so to speak.
The biggest challenge is to get the point and the flat done without over cooking the flat or under cooking the point.
You'll see a lot of people separate the two to avoid that problem and I've done it myself on occasion on some really large packers or on a very expensive Wagyu or Black Angus packer that go for upwards of $200 bucks where failure is not an option.

 

[Dick Foster]

I can do both and my meat don't need no stinkin sauce either.

Sauce is for rank amatures that need to hide the taste of the crap they cook.

Wanna start a stick burner vs pellet pooper fight? I can play either side.

I got top of the line of both....
My Lang..


View attachment 275428
And my MAK 2 star.....
View attachment 275430

Nothing beats the traditional offset.
You cant get the true taste of BBQ on a pellet pooper.

I do with mine.
It depends a lot on the type of contoller they use. Those PID things don't allow enough smoke to develop any taste.

The smoke profile on a pellet pooper is lacking in my opinion.
They sell all the different pellets but they all taste damn near the same.
I'll use a couple of these on the MAK to give it a bit of a boost in the beginning.

The Grilla I use doesn't need one of those. I suspect your pellet rig has a PID controller and that's why it lacks the taste you're after. I can go into a long drawn out dicussion of why but this is not the place.

The new ones have the PID controller as well as the old style controller.
My problem with pellet poopers is the flavor the pellets deliver.
It's just not the same as using splits.

Well maybe its the pellets you're using. So far I've had great results with Grilla pellets, mostly their competition blend of oak, hickory and cherry. If you buy two or three 20 lb bags shipping is free. They run about a buck a pound so they're inline with most. But as I've said if your pellet rig has one of those PID things trying to hold temps within a degree, you're not going to get much smoke no matter who's pellets you use because of the way the pellets are being burned. At the end of the day and a pellet fire is wood fire just like sticks, lumps or anything else.
You have to make the decision if you want to be a gear whore/pimp or make good barbeque and only you can do that.
Lang makes a good stick burner but it is NOT the be all end all to making good barbeque. Good barbeque is more about the man making it. There are poor people out there with a few dollars spent in gear but who'll work hard, know what they're doing and they'll whoop yer ass every last time. Me I'm too fat, old and lazy to work that hard so I settle for decent.

 

[Dick Foster]

Profile this, profile that, it's not rocket science ya know. You sound like the member of a cult. Stop trying to complicate something that is really and trully simple. I want more people to get into it and the less hocus pokus there is, then more will try it. Maybe you've been inhaling too much smoke. LOL
I told you up front that I was from the KISS school.
Rub it, smoke it, then eat it.
I can get anyone making decent barbeque for an initial investment of a grand or less.
If they really want to go cheap but work their butts off to make great barbeque, all they need is an axe, access to wood an old barrel, some cinder blocks and something to use as a cooking grate, but buckets of sweat.

Sure some BBQ is easy.
Chicken and pork come to mind. Brisket is a whole nother animal so to speak.
The biggest challenge is to get the point and the flat done without over cooking the flat or under cooking the point.
You'll see a lot of people separate the two to avoid that problem and I've done it myself on occasion on some really large packers or on a very expensive Wagyu or Black Angus packer that go for upwards of $200 bucks where failure is not an option.

I don't find it all that hard, complicated or mysterious. It's the same rub, smoke and eat process I use for ribs, butts or briskets. I use the same pellet blend for all three. I cook to temperature except for ribs or fish. Ribs take six hours flat, fish ya gotta watch like a hawk.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

I got top of the line of both....
My Lang..


View attachment 275428
And my MAK 2 star.....
View attachment 275430

Nothing beats the traditional offset.
You cant get the true taste of BBQ on a pellet pooper.

I do with mine.
It depends a lot on the type of contoller they use. Those PID things don't allow enough smoke to develop any taste.

The smoke profile on a pellet pooper is lacking in my opinion.
They sell all the different pellets but they all taste damn near the same.
I'll use a couple of these on the MAK to give it a bit of a boost in the beginning.

The Grilla I use doesn't need one of those. I suspect your pellet rig has a PID controller and that's why it lacks the taste you're after. I can go into a long drawn out dicussion of why but this is not the place.

The new ones have the PID controller as well as the old style controller.
My problem with pellet poopers is the flavor the pellets deliver.
It's just not the same as using splits.

Well maybe its the pellets you're using. So far I've had great results with Grilla pellets, mostly their competition blend of oak, hickory and cherry. If you buy two or three 20 lb bags shipping is free. They run about a buck a pound so they're inline with most. But as I've said if your pellet rig has one of those PID things trying to hold temps within a degree, you're not going to get much smoke no matter who's pellets you use because of the way the pellets are being burned. At the end of the day and a pellet fire is wood fire just like sticks, lumps or anything else.
You have to make the decision if you want to be a gear whore/pimp or make good barbeque and only you can do that.
Lang makes a good stick burner but it is NOT the be all end all to making good barbeque. Good barbeque is more about the man making it. There are poor people out there with a few dollars spent in gear but who'll work hard, know what they're doing and they'll whoop yer ass every last time. Me I'm too fat, old and lazy to work that hard so I settle for decent.

I look at it like this.
Cooking is my thing whether inside or out.
It being my main hobby I put everything I can into it and strive for perfection.
I've spent four days just making a Demi-Glace.
I have two 15 lb bone in prime ribeyes that come out tomorrow after dry aging for forty days and a brisket that will finish at sixty days.
I enjoy the whole process and I'm always looking to outdo myself.
Some people are passionate about golf,i'm passionate about cooking.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Profile this, profile that, it's not rocket science ya know. You sound like the member of a cult. Stop trying to complicate something that is really and trully simple. I want more people to get into it and the less hocus pokus there is, then more will try it. Maybe you've been inhaling too much smoke. LOL
I told you up front that I was from the KISS school.
Rub it, smoke it, then eat it.
I can get anyone making decent barbeque for an initial investment of a grand or less.
If they really want to go cheap but work their butts off to make great barbeque, all they need is an axe, access to wood an old barrel, some cinder blocks and something to use as a cooking grate, but buckets of sweat.

Sure some BBQ is easy.
Chicken and pork come to mind. Brisket is a whole nother animal so to speak.
The biggest challenge is to get the point and the flat done without over cooking the flat or under cooking the point.
You'll see a lot of people separate the two to avoid that problem and I've done it myself on occasion on some really large packers or on a very expensive Wagyu or Black Angus packer that go for upwards of $200 bucks where failure is not an option.

I don't find it all that hard, complicated or mysterious. It's the same rub, smoke and eat process I use for ribs, butts or briskets. I use the same pellet blend for all three. I cook to temperature except for ribs or fish. Ribs take six hours flat, fish ya gotta watch like a hawk.

I generally dont use rubs on my brisket.
Just salt and pepper Central Texas style. For chicken and pork I like to experiment.
I'll have to check out those pellets,I've tried several brands and they've all performed about the same.

 

[Dick Foster]

I do with mine.
It depends a lot on the type of contoller they use. Those PID things don't allow enough smoke to develop any taste.

The smoke profile on a pellet pooper is lacking in my opinion.
They sell all the different pellets but they all taste damn near the same.
I'll use a couple of these on the MAK to give it a bit of a boost in the beginning.

The Grilla I use doesn't need one of those. I suspect your pellet rig has a PID controller and that's why it lacks the taste you're after. I can go into a long drawn out dicussion of why but this is not the place.

The new ones have the PID controller as well as the old style controller.
My problem with pellet poopers is the flavor the pellets deliver.
It's just not the same as using splits.

Well maybe its the pellets you're using. So far I've had great results with Grilla pellets, mostly their competition blend of oak, hickory and cherry. If you buy two or three 20 lb bags shipping is free. They run about a buck a pound so they're inline with most. But as I've said if your pellet rig has one of those PID things trying to hold temps within a degree, you're not going to get much smoke no matter who's pellets you use because of the way the pellets are being burned. At the end of the day and a pellet fire is wood fire just like sticks, lumps or anything else.
You have to make the decision if you want to be a gear whore/pimp or make good barbeque and only you can do that.
Lang makes a good stick burner but it is NOT the be all end all to making good barbeque. Good barbeque is more about the man making it. There are poor people out there with a few dollars spent in gear but who'll work hard, know what they're doing and they'll whoop yer ass every last time. Me I'm too fat, old and lazy to work that hard so I settle for decent.

I look at it like this.
Cooking is my thing whether inside or out.
It being my main hobby I put everything I can into it and strive for perfection.
I've spent four days just making a Demi-Glace.
I have two 15 lb bone in prime ribeyes that come out tomorrow after dry aging for forty days and a brisket that will finish at sixty days.
I enjoy the whole process and I'm always looking to outdo myself.
Some people are passionate about golf,i'm passionate about cooking.

Well it is fun too but it has to be to be any good at anything. If its a chore or work you'll never be any good at no matter what it is.

 

[Dick Foster]

Profile this, profile that, it's not rocket science ya know. You sound like the member of a cult. Stop trying to complicate something that is really and trully simple. I want more people to get into it and the less hocus pokus there is, then more will try it. Maybe you've been inhaling too much smoke. LOL
I told you up front that I was from the KISS school.
Rub it, smoke it, then eat it.
I can get anyone making decent barbeque for an initial investment of a grand or less.
If they really want to go cheap but work their butts off to make great barbeque, all they need is an axe, access to wood an old barrel, some cinder blocks and something to use as a cooking grate, but buckets of sweat.

Sure some BBQ is easy.
Chicken and pork come to mind. Brisket is a whole nother animal so to speak.
The biggest challenge is to get the point and the flat done without over cooking the flat or under cooking the point.
You'll see a lot of people separate the two to avoid that problem and I've done it myself on occasion on some really large packers or on a very expensive Wagyu or Black Angus packer that go for upwards of $200 bucks where failure is not an option.

I don't find it all that hard, complicated or mysterious. It's the same rub, smoke and eat process I use for ribs, butts or briskets. I use the same pellet blend for all three. I cook to temperature except for ribs or fish. Ribs take six hours flat, fish ya gotta watch like a hawk.

I generally dont use rubs on my brisket.
Just salt and pepper Central Texas style. For chicken and pork I like to experiment.
I'll have to check out those pellets,I've tried several brands and they've all performed about the same.

Well make sure your rig doesn't have one of those PID things because if it does I don't think it will matter. It takes a little temperature swing for a pellet rig to produce any smoke. If your rig holds temperature really tight say a degree or two, it likely has a PID loop controlling temperature and you need to address that before you go wasting your money on pellets and so called smoke generators.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Profile this, profile that, it's not rocket science ya know. You sound like the member of a cult. Stop trying to complicate something that is really and trully simple. I want more people to get into it and the less hocus pokus there is, then more will try it. Maybe you've been inhaling too much smoke. LOL
I told you up front that I was from the KISS school.
Rub it, smoke it, then eat it.
I can get anyone making decent barbeque for an initial investment of a grand or less.
If they really want to go cheap but work their butts off to make great barbeque, all they need is an axe, access to wood an old barrel, some cinder blocks and something to use as a cooking grate, but buckets of sweat.

Sure some BBQ is easy.
Chicken and pork come to mind. Brisket is a whole nother animal so to speak.
The biggest challenge is to get the point and the flat done without over cooking the flat or under cooking the point.
You'll see a lot of people separate the two to avoid that problem and I've done it myself on occasion on some really large packers or on a very expensive Wagyu or Black Angus packer that go for upwards of $200 bucks where failure is not an option.

I don't find it all that hard, complicated or mysterious. It's the same rub, smoke and eat process I use for ribs, butts or briskets. I use the same pellet blend for all three. I cook to temperature except for ribs or fish. Ribs take six hours flat, fish ya gotta watch like a hawk.

I generally dont use rubs on my brisket.
Just salt and pepper Central Texas style. For chicken and pork I like to experiment.
I'll have to check out those pellets,I've tried several brands and they've all performed about the same.

Well make sure your rig doesn't have one of those PID things because if it does I don't think it will matter. It takes a little temperature swing for a pellet rig to produce any smoke. If your rig holds temperature really tight say a degree or two, it likely has a PID loop controlling temperature and you need to address that before you go wasting your money on pellets and so called smoke generators.

I can set it on smoke and it produces a crapload of it.
It just doesnt taste the same or smell the same.
You can immediately tell the difference between a pellet smoker and a stick burner by the smell alone while they're running,and with smell being a big part of taste it just seems off a bit.

With the stick burner it's obvious with one sniff as to what wood is being used,not so much with the pellet pooper unless you're using something like mesquite.

 

[dannyboys]

This is my latest pit. And my oldest.....
This thing was a wood hog!!!
The new Lang is the SHIT!!!!!

I got too old to sit up nights tending a fire so I got myself a pellet rig and am really happy with it. I found a good home for my old stuff and got a younger guy started off in the right direction.

I'm from the KISS no wrapping or messin around school. Rub it, smoke it and eat it. It ain't rocket science.

Thats why I got the MAK 2 star.
As far as pellet poopers go ya cant beat em.
But they still dont measure up to a real offset.

Im not familiar with that one. After a lot of research I settled on a Grilla Silverbac. I'm happy with the results.

I keep thinking about getting rid of it since I mainly use the Lang offset or the Kamado Joe.
At $2800 bucks it's a pretty pricey finishing oven,which is what I mainly use for these days. I'll smoke a 20lb packer brisket on the Lang for around 8 to 10 hours and then put it on the MAK to finish.The thing holds temps perfectly and It has a remote with temp alarms so I can sleep through the finishing hours.
I feel like I'm cheating every time I do it though.
I'm just getting to damn old for those 20 hour smokes.

The word is: 'too' please. You're driving me crazy! LOL

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

This is my latest pit. And my oldest.....
This thing was a wood hog!!!
The new Lang is the SHIT!!!!!

I got too old to sit up nights tending a fire so I got myself a pellet rig and am really happy with it. I found a good home for my old stuff and got a younger guy started off in the right direction.

I'm from the KISS no wrapping or messin around school. Rub it, smoke it and eat it. It ain't rocket science.

Thats why I got the MAK 2 star.
As far as pellet poopers go ya cant beat em.
But they still dont measure up to a real offset.

Im not familiar with that one. After a lot of research I settled on a Grilla Silverbac. I'm happy with the results.

I keep thinking about getting rid of it since I mainly use the Lang offset or the Kamado Joe.
At $2800 bucks it's a pretty pricey finishing oven,which is what I mainly use for these days. I'll smoke a 20lb packer brisket on the Lang for around 8 to 10 hours and then put it on the MAK to finish.The thing holds temps perfectly and It has a remote with temp alarms so I can sleep through the finishing hours.
I feel like I'm cheating every time I do it though.
I'm just getting to damn old for those 20 hour smokes.

The word is: 'too' please. You're driving me crazy! LOL

You'll get over it.

 

[Dick Foster]

Profile this, profile that, it's not rocket science ya know. You sound like the member of a cult. Stop trying to complicate something that is really and trully simple. I want more people to get into it and the less hocus pokus there is, then more will try it. Maybe you've been inhaling too much smoke. LOL
I told you up front that I was from the KISS sochool.
Rub it, smoke it, then eat it.
I can get anyone making decent barbeque for an initial investment of a grand or less.
If they really want to go cheap but work their butts off to make great barbeque, all they need is an axe, access to wood an old barrel, some cinder blocks and something to use as a cooking grate, but buckets of sweat.

Sure some BBQ is easy.
Chicken and pork come to mind. Brisket is a whole nother animal so to speak.
The biggest challenge is to get the point and the flat done without over cooking the flat or under cooking the point.
You'll see a lot of people separate the two to avoid that problem and I've done it myself on occasion on some really large packers or on a very expensive Wagyu or Black Angus packer that go for upwards of $200 bucks where failure is not an option.

I don't find it all that hard, complicated or mysterious. It's the same rub, smoke and eat process I use for ribs, butts or briskets. I use the same pellet blend for all three. I cook to temperature except for ribs or fish. Ribs take six hours flat, fish ya gotta watch like a hawk.

I generally dont use rubs on my brisket.
Just salt and pepper Central Texas style. For chicken and pork I like to experiment.
I'll have to check out those pellets,I've tried several brands and they've all performed about the same.

Well make sure your rig doesn't have one of those PID things because if it does I don't think it will matter. It takes a little temperature swing for a pellet rig to produce any smoke. If your rig holds temperature really tight say a degree or two, it likely has a PID loop controlling temperature and you need to address that before you go wasting your money on pellets and so called smoke generators.

I can set it on smoke and it produces a crapload of it.
It just doesnt taste the same or smell the same.
You can immediately tell the difference between a pellet smoker and a stick burner by the smell alone while they're running,and with smell being a big part of taste it just seems off a bit.

With the stick burner it's obvious with one sniff as to what wood is being used,not so much with the pellet pooper unless you're using something like mesquite.

If it has a smoke setting then my guess it has a PID controller but as you know, you don't want clouds of smoke but TBS thin blue smoke. But maybe a change of pellets will help. I use the competition blend most but they have other wood choices too, apple, mesquite, pecan, cherry, hickory etc. Ive heard Lumberjack is good too but i haven't tried them because I'm happy with what I'm using. That's because they produce very little ash and there's very little sawdust. They use oak for base wood, white oak or what you texas boys call post oak.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Sure some BBQ is easy.
Chicken and pork come to mind. Brisket is a whole nother animal so to speak.
The biggest challenge is to get the point and the flat done without over cooking the flat or under cooking the point.
You'll see a lot of people separate the two to avoid that problem and I've done it myself on occasion on some really large packers or on a very expensive Wagyu or Black Angus packer that go for upwards of $200 bucks where failure is not an option.

I don't find it all that hard, complicated or mysterious. It's the same rub, smoke and eat process I use for ribs, butts or briskets. I use the same pellet blend for all three. I cook to temperature except for ribs or fish. Ribs take six hours flat, fish ya gotta watch like a hawk.

I generally dont use rubs on my brisket.
Just salt and pepper Central Texas style. For chicken and pork I like to experiment.
I'll have to check out those pellets,I've tried several brands and they've all performed about the same.

Well make sure your rig doesn't have one of those PID things because if it does I don't think it will matter. It takes a little temperature swing for a pellet rig to produce any smoke. If your rig holds temperature really tight say a degree or two, it likely has a PID loop controlling temperature and you need to address that before you go wasting your money on pellets and so called smoke generators.

I can set it on smoke and it produces a crapload of it.
It just doesnt taste the same or smell the same.
You can immediately tell the difference between a pellet smoker and a stick burner by the smell alone while they're running,and with smell being a big part of taste it just seems off a bit.

With the stick burner it's obvious with one sniff as to what wood is being used,not so much with the pellet pooper unless you're using something like mesquite.

If it has a smoke setting then my guess it has a PID controller but as you know, you don't want clouds of smoke but TBS thin blue smoke. But maybe a change of pellets will help. I use the competition blend most but they have other wood choices too, apple, mesquite, pecan, cherry, hickory etc. Ive heard Lumberjack is good too but i haven't tried them because I'm happy with what I'm using. That's because they produce very little ash and there's very little sawdust. They use oak for base wood, white oak or what you texas boys call post oak.

And there lies the quandary.
Thick billowing smoke or thin blue smoke.
If I go with a higher temp to get the thin blue smoke which is around 250 I lose smoke flavor.

The stick burner runs clean as all get out,to the point you cant see any smoke at times yet you get a great smoke profile.

Cant remember the name of the damn thing but there's a pitt out there that works like the puck smokers but uses actual logs.
Kinda the best of both worlds.

 

[Dick Foster]

I don't find it all that hard, complicated or mysterious. It's the same rub, smoke and eat process I use for ribs, butts or briskets. I use the same pellet blend for all three. I cook to temperature except for ribs or fish. Ribs take six hours flat, fish ya gotta watch like a hawk.

I generally dont use rubs on my brisket.
Just salt and pepper Central Texas style. For chicken and pork I like to experiment.
I'll have to check out those pellets,I've tried several brands and they've all performed about the same.

Well make sure your rig doesn't have one of those PID things because if it does I don't think it will matter. It takes a little temperature swing for a pellet rig to produce any smoke. If your rig holds temperature really tight say a degree or two, it likely has a PID loop controlling temperature and you need to address that before you go wasting your money on pellets and so called smoke generators.

I can set it on smoke and it produces a crapload of it.
It just doesnt taste the same or smell the same.
You can immediately tell the difference between a pellet smoker and a stick burner by the smell alone while they're running,and with smell being a big part of taste it just seems off a bit.

With the stick burner it's obvious with one sniff as to what wood is being used,not so much with the pellet pooper unless you're using something like mesquite.

If it has a smoke setting then my guess it has a PID controller but as you know, you don't want clouds of smoke but TBS thin blue smoke. But maybe a change of pellets will help. I use the competition blend most but they have other wood choices too, apple, mesquite, pecan, cherry, hickory etc. Ive heard Lumberjack is good too but i haven't tried them because I'm happy with what I'm using. That's because they produce very little ash and there's very little sawdust. They use oak for base wood, white oak or what you texas boys call post oak.

And there lies the quandary.
Thick billowing smoke or thin blue smoke.
If I go with a higher temp to get the thin blue smoke which is around 250 I lose smoke flavor.

The stick burner runs clean as all get out,to the point you cant see any smoke at times yet you get a great smoke profile.

Cant remember the name of the damn thing but there's a pitt out there that works like the puck smokers but uses actual logs.
Kinda the best of both worlds.

Well like I said I suspect your problem lies with the controller.
I said I wouldnt but I will anyway. What happens with a PID controller is that it's so intent on holding the temperature under tight control that's all it does to the expence of anything else. What it dies in order to maintain the temperature within a degree or two is to dribble a few pellets at a time into a larger blaze. As you know this doesn't allow the pellet to smoulder and smoke before it lights off and produces the heat the controller wants to maintain your target temperature.
However if you use a controller that allows a little hysteresis or swing here's what happens. The temp drops to the low setpoint and the controller feeds more pellets into a much smaller blaze in the fire pot. Of couse the larger load of pellets are going to take awhile before igniting so they smoulder and smoke a bit before lighting off and jacking the temperature up so the controller sees the high point and stops feeding pellets so the blaze dies down, the temperature drops to the low setpoint again and the cycle repeats. Overall you get more smoke of the right kind and your end results are much better.
As you know a lot of people think billowing clouds of white smoke is good but both you and I know better but maybe not the guy who programmed your temperature controller. Maybe you want to look into it.