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Done with the stick burners

bcm1947 said:
This whole idea of trying to get the authentic taste that a stick burner offers has led me to use lump charcoal instead of briquettes in my WSM. I wanted the purest form of wood char that I could get. As stated above briquettes could be used, but I chose to go with lump for the entire smoking process.

I don't own a stick burner, but I get great bbq taste by using B&B Oak lump and adding small chunks of hickory & white oak for smoke taste during the cook on my WSM.
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I moved off a wsm and to a stick burner as i preferred the cleaner light smoke. I figured its a factor of the minion burn and did consider adding lit fuel only. Lately if i want a no fuss cook its on the kettle with a snake setup and that silly wood infused charcoal. Gives that lighter flavor.
 
smoke ninja said:
I moved off a wsm and to a stick burner as i preferred the cleaner light smoke. I figured its a factor of the minion burn and did consider adding lit fuel only. Lately if i want a no fuss cook its on the kettle with a snake setup and that silly wood infused charcoal. Gives that lighter flavor.
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I appreciate your comment, and I totally agree with you concerning the Minion method
I have friends that use briquettes and I like their bbq, but I prefer the taste of bbq cooked with a clean burning fire.
 
smoke ninja said:
I moved off a wsm and to a stick burner as i preferred the cleaner light smoke. I figured its a factor of the minion burn and did consider adding lit fuel only. Lately if i want a no fuss cook its on the kettle with a snake setup and that silly wood infused charcoal. Gives that lighter flavor.
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I submit that it is a factor of both the minion method and the use of briquettes.

Since I was starting my stick burner with briquettes, I would light them up in the chimney. white, hard smelling smoke for days!

having that in a charcoal smoker and having cold briquettes slowly light off and give off that smoke, is not a good thing in my book.

Royal oak lump gives off almost zero smoke from the get go, and almost no dirty wood smell either.
 
I would use RO if B&B was not available at my local Walmart. I can usually get 3 cooks from a 20 lb bag. I don't know that it is better than RO though.
 
has anyone tried to minion with lump in a wsm and how long of a burn time did u get?
 
longhair75 said:
I do so enjoy the process. Even cooking inside, I enjoy the long cooks. Spaghetti day at my house starts in the early morning and lasts most of the day
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Boy you must really like overcooked pasta! :grin:
 
Eric In STL said:
has anyone tried to minion with lump in a wsm and how long of a burn time did u get?
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Lumps a different animal. Burn times vary due to irregularities in the pieces. When using lump in a wsm try and pack tightly, breaking large pieces if needed. Burn times are slighty less per volume but comparable if done properly
 
Reading through this thread, I am amazed at the stick burner snobbery. It is the cook, not the cooker that truly matters. I would put Harry Soo and his WSM's up against anyone and their $10,000 Shirleys (not a knock on Shirley's, just making a point).
 
ChrisBarb said:
Reading through this thread, I am amazed at the stick burner snobbery. It is the cook, not the cooker that truly matters. I would put Harry Soo and his WSM's up against anyone and their $10,000 Shirleys (not a knock on Shirley's, just making a point).
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Wow. I I've read this thread differnt. Lots of open minds. Many have stated they think wood beats charcoal without being a snob about it. Im a wood guy but it was cold last night and i was lazy so ran charcoal. I doubt my brisket will be my personal favorite but it was a compromise to me. Ive considered that Harry soo and the likes are just better at running a wsm on charcoal then me. Ill make up my short coming by burning sticks until i can get on their level

And yes that was a jab at Shirley owners. Actually they are priced fairly i think a patio model could be had for under $2000. They are a deal when you consider how well they hold value. The go for retail and above on the secondary market, probably a factor of wait times
 
ChrisBarb said:
Reading through this thread, I am amazed at the stick burner snobbery.
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It's funny how different people can read through the same thread and get a totally different takeaway. I didn't sense any snobbery on behalf of stick burners. I got the impression, along with my own personal experience, that if you are willing and able to take the time to tend to a wood fire, you can achieve results that the majority of people in the BBQ world would concede are, at a minimum, a little bit better than any other type of cooker available and in some cases, quite a bit better. That overall belief from numerous sources is what enticed me to invest in an offset and now that I own one, I'm convinced it's true even more. My other takeaway is that a well designed stick burner is easier to maintain temps than a poorly designed one, which I already knew.
 
Maybe I shouldn't have said "snobbery". My point was that stick burners are not inherently better than charcoal burners. It always comes down to the skill of the cook.
 
ChrisBarb said:
Maybe I shouldn't have said "snobbery". My point was that stick burners are not inherently better than charcoal burners. It always comes down to the skill of the cook.
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Dont back pedal too fast.

i think a # of us do have the opinion that for our tastes all things being equal wood is better.

One plus for charcoal is being able to focus more on things instead of fire management, something that can help in comp settings where true wood bbq flavor may not be the most important.

These are of couse opinions. I feel that stick burners with indirect heat are better for certain types/styles of bbq. Same goes for pits with direct fire heat. The pit is imperative to the style. Im not making texas brisket the same on a weber or carolina pork shoulder on an egg. Many say its the cook not the cooker but the cooker has an effect on the bbq.......imho
 
Charcoal is for heat and wood is for flavor. Having said that, the quality of the raw food and the seasonings are far more important than the heat source and the biggest thing is getting the food off of the heat at the right internal temperature.
 
Brew Crew said:
Be it as may, but you just can't beat a stick burner. Out of most of my fellow bbq buddies I am the only sticker left. Funny how they love my q...
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I wonder if they would still love your Q if you used a charcoal burner. my guess would be yes :wink:

ChrisBarb said:
Maybe I shouldn't have said "snobbery". My point was that stick burners are not inherently better than charcoal burners. It always comes down to the skill of the cook.
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I think I understood where you were coming from. the thread has been positive so far but one could get the impression that the general consensus is that wood is a better flavor than charcoal. I would agree that wood is probably better than charcoal briquettes, but maybe not better than roaring embers.

smoke ninja said:
Dont back pedal too fast.

i think a # of us do have the opinion that for our tastes all things being equal wood is better.

One plus for charcoal is being able to focus more on things instead of fire management, something that can help in comp settings where true wood bbq flavor may not be the most important.

These are of couse opinions. I feel that stick burners with indirect heat are better for certain types/styles of bbq. Same goes for pits with direct fire heat. The pit is imperative to the style. Im not making texas brisket the same on a weber or carolina pork shoulder on an egg. Many say its the cook not the cooker but the cooker has an effect on the bbq.......imho
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of the five esses that make up smoked food (salty, spicy, savory, sweet, smoky) I think you are saying that the smoky flavor of wood burners is better than charcoal burners. many agree with you and its a valid opinion.

here is my thinking- the holy grail of smoked food is to be barely able to taste the smoke. wood burners win this battle vs briquettes( which make up 95% of the charcoal sold in the US)
but it also seems that, while it is a lot of work, pure burning wood embers have a better flavor than using wood.

Ive always found it interesting that a lot of the global smoked food in other parts of the world use charcoal and not wood. could it be that wood smoked food is an acquired taste?
 
smoke ninja said:
Dont back pedal too fast.

i think a # of us do have the opinion that for our tastes all things being equal wood is better.

One plus for charcoal is being able to focus more on things instead of fire management, something that can help in comp settings where true wood bbq flavor may not be the most important.

These are of couse opinions. I feel that stick burners with indirect heat are better for certain types/styles of bbq. Same goes for pits with direct fire heat. The pit is imperative to the style. Im not making texas brisket the same on a weber or carolina pork shoulder on an egg. Many say its the cook not the cooker but the cooker has an effect on the bbq.......imho
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I couldn't agree more, Ninja. ssv3 really got my curiosity piqued when he told me the flavor profile he got from his stickburner was totally different than that from a drum or kamado. This led me to purchase an Oklahoma Joe Highland that I made some mods to. First cook was ribs, and I can say the flavor was indeed different than my other cookers, in addition to being significantly better, IMHO.

After reading through enough threads about stickbuners, I've come to the realization that a stickburner simply won't provide the kind of temp control that other cookers do, and that's not only OK, but part of the fun. I like the intimacy I get from tending a fire regularly vs a set and forget kind of cooker.
 
ChrisBarb said:
Maybe I shouldn't have said "snobbery". My point was that stick burners are not inherently better than charcoal burners. It always comes down to the skill of the cook.
Click to expand...


You said "Its the cook, not the cooker" and "It ALWAYS comes down to the skill of the cook".


Everyone is going to cheerlead for whatever cooker they have and claim their smoker is just as goos as an offset. I get that. But the fact is nobody is lining up for BBQ at 3AM at any place that does not use offsets. And thats for a reason.
 
This entire conversation make me wonder if we will see more Hybrid Cookers, like the M1 and Ironside Smokers. Not sure if there are any other pit builders making them yet. Then again some pellet units sound like they are producing some amazing and easier Q.
 
I'll add my experience...
I've owned nearly every type of charcoal cooker and I always will. They produce some really good stuff. That being said the most compliments I get come off my stick burner. Nobody has ever complained about food from any cooker though.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
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