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Grill Envy
Monster cookers lead the way as man explores the new frontier of the outdoor room
Jack Bettridge
From the Print Edition:
Arnold Schwarzenegger, July/Aug 03
(continued from page 4)
I would not be true to my "Q" background, if I were to ignore smoking. A truly great grill offers the choice to smoke meat. You could always pour wood chips on lava rocks or into a cast-iron box that sits on the flames. Better grills now have a built-in wood box. The best way to realize smoking potential with gas is for the box to have its own heating element located as far away from the meat as possible. This keeps temperatures down and allows for longer smoking times.
The concept of True "Q" is to cook as nearly as possible to the target temperature of the meat. For example, if you want a 180-degree chicken, leave it in an oven of smoke at that heat until it slowly reaches room temperature. The grill that does this best and easiest is actually an electric smoker called a Traeger. It employs wood pellets that are delivered to a fire pot with a hot rod by an auger that is controlled by a thermostat. The hot rod heats for four minutes to ignite the pellets. All you need to do is fill the hopper with pellets, set the thermostat and come back when the meat is finished smoking. Although the Traeger doesn't have the versatility of some other grills, it gives perfect smoking results every time.
Ironically, folks on the "Q" circuit haven't adopted the Traeger as the barbecue grill of choice. Not because it doesn't perform (I've seen competition newcomers win big contests with them), but because it's too easy. Part of the allure of barbecue is playing with fire, and grills like this one don't involve much of that. To be a true "Q," you need a big New Braunfels grill with an offset firebox and plenty of logs. Or better yet, pull out that old broken refrigerator, grab an acetylene torch and…
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