Wood-fired cooking is getting very popular for good reason. Slow-smoked meat is great eating, so why wouldn’t you want to be able to produce it in your own backyard? If you’re new to the craft though, it would be easy to be put off by the learning curve associated with a traditional offset smoker. Even using a charcoal kettle BBQ to smoke in can be fiddly to the point where some people try it and don’t continue down the track of smoking at home.

Maybe you have learnt to use an offset smoker or charcoal kettle but find the amount of set up and work to maintain the BBQ during the cook isn’t what you enjoy doing. Maybe you struggle to find the time and just don’t get do it as much as you’d like. Maybe you just want the food without the cooking experience.

None of the above should stop you from cooking low and slow at home if you enjoy the food. You have options that give you all the eating with minimal fire watching, prodding and stoking.

Consider a pellet smoker
Pellet smokers use real wood pellets in a hopper on the side of the smoker. Your job is to pour in the pellets, set your desired cooking temperature and put the food in the smoker. The smoker controls cooking temperature and smoke with the pellets throughout the cook. You may occasionally need to put your drink down and check the hopper isn’t running out of pellets but otherwise, you just wait for the food to be done and you eat it. Pretty straight forward.
Check out Traeger Pellet Grills

Bullet smokers
Bullet smokers are another option for more manageable smoking. The fire is at the bottom of the smoker and you have the option of using a water bath above it. This helps you keep the temperature more steady during cooking. Bullet smokers are a little more work than pellet smokers, but they’re still a more straightforward option than a larger smoker.
Check out Pro Q Bullet Smokers.

Products to help you manage your cook
If you already have an offset or charcoal kettle BBQ that you are committed to using, you can find some great help from products designed to make the cooking process easier.

Flaming Coals Tempmaster Pro
The Tempmaster Pro attaches to the air vents on most smokers and uses a temperature sensor inside the smoker to control a fan that pushes air to the fire at different rates - raising and lowering the cooking temperature as required. Having the Tempmaster Pro controlling the smoker temperature makes cooking much easier.

JG Offset Plates
An offset plate allows you to use your charcoal kettle BBQ as a low and slow smoker without finickity minion and snake methods. By keeping the fire to one side away from the meat on the rack above, the plate creates an offset effect inside your kettle.

Flaming Coals HotRods
HotRods provide a hotter, longer burning alternative to charcoal. By being a more predictable heat source, they allow you to spend less time managing the fire during your cooks and you can still add wood chunks for smoke flavour.

Need a hand getting set up or using your smoking gear? Check out our Learning Centre or give us a call - we’re happy to help.

Check Out our range BBQ Smoker