Rant: Why do competition cooks act like offset smokers are the only way to go?

Last weekend I went to a BBQ competition in Kansas City and watched a guy use a pellet smoker win second place in brisket. The offset purists around me were practically screaming it was a fluke. Three years ago I bought a cheap offset and spent 6 hours babysitting a fire just to get bark that barely formed. Switched to a kamado last year and my ribs have been consistent every single cook since. I get the tradition argument but is the extra effort really worth it when most folks can't tell the difference in a blind taste test? Has anyone else had luck with non-traditional setups at a contest?

3 comments

3 Comments

gavinw4518d ago

Bet you can guess how many of those offset purists have actually tried cooking on a kamado for a comp. Did they have any actual critique of the pellet guy's brisket or were they just mad it wasn't their way?

danielw8818d ago

...and what nobody's talking about is how those offset guys would probably lose their minds if they actually tried cooking on a charcoal basket with a fan controller. I've seen it happen. You get a guy who's been running an offset for twenty years, he's all about tending the fire every hour, splitting logs by hand, and he tries a kamado with a blower and it sits at 250 degrees for twelve hours without touching it. He gets this look on his face like he just found out his wife's been lying about her age. The real kicker is the flavor difference. A well set up kamado with good lump charcoal and some wood chunks is gonna put out bark that's damn near as good as any offset, and it's not even close to a pellet grill. But they won't hear it because they're married to the ritual.

ryanh5618d ago

Nah man, I gotta say I see it kind of different. That kamado bark thing is real, sure, but in a blind taste test I've run at home with friends, my offset brisket beat my kamado brisket nine times out of ten. The smoke ring was deeper, the fat rendered cleaner, and the crust had this crunchy texture the kamado just couldn't match. I get the convenience argument, but there's something about how an offset pulls air through the firebox and over the meat that creates a flavor profile a kamado just can't replicate. Those purists might be annoying about how they say it, but their point about wood vs. lump charcoal isn't totally wrong.