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Unpopular opinion: offset stick burners beat pellet grills and it isn't close
Last weekend I cooked two pork butts side by side for my neighbor's 50th birthday party in Austin, one on my old offset stick burner and one on a borrowed pellet grill. The pellet butt came out fine but flat, while the stick burner one had bark you could hear from the porch and a smoke ring about a quarter inch deep. The difference came down to the fire itself, real wood and real temp swings push flavor into the meat in a way a controller just can't copy. My pellet guy swears his 12 hour overnight cook beats my 4am tending routine though, so I want to hear it. Do you give up the sleep for better cue, or is that just nostalgia talking?
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caleb_ross121mo ago
Buddy of mine did almost the same test last summer, two racks of ribs, one on his stick burner and one on his buddy's pellet rig, and he said the pellet ones tasted like they came out of an oven with a little smoke blown on them. Not bad, just missing that layer that builds up when the fire is actually breathing, you know? His wife made him sell the pellet grill after that party because she said she wasn't waking up at 5am for ribs that tasted worse. Now he complains about tending the fire every single time we talk, but he never complains about the food. That tradeoff is real, but the sleep thing is temporary and the bark is forever.
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