How to successfully cook with a pellet BBQ

A pellet BBQ is more than a smoker.

Yes, you can cook and smoke food with it, but in most cases (at least, in the pellet BBQs sold at BBQ Québec), you can also grill it!

And because pellet BBQs are machines that make me dream, I thought I would tell you a little more about how they work so that you can prepare meals "on the mark". 😎

The granules

A pellet BBQ, it says it, it's a BBQ that works with pellets. But... you may be wondering if you can put another type of fuel in your BBQ to make it work. Well... no. BUT! There are pellets for almost every type of wood, so there's no shortage of choice! Apple wood pellets, maple, hickory, oak... we look at that and we feel like we're dreaming because it's so beautiful to have so many options! 🤩

If you're a "little wise guy", you can even mix several types of pellets to create something unique. Smoked pork with a touch of apple wood and maple, for example, it's sure to taste like heaven. 😏

Once you find a good supplier, the advantage of pellets is that they are always the same size, always have the same weight and will always burn at the same temperature. In other words, I would say to think of them as mini logs, which are always the same and always stay at the same heat level. That's really life and you can't go wrong with that.

Smoke intensity

Some pellet grill models have an adjustable smoke intensity level. The thing to know is that just because you select level 10 doesn't mean you're going to get 10 times more smoke. No, technically, there's only about 2-3 times more smoke.

“HUH!? What do you mean!? 😧” Because that’s the secret to how smoke works. 😎 If it’s more intense, it’s because the pellets are off (yes, once they’re off, the pellets smoke more, therefore creating more smoke). And, because they’re off, the temperature inside the BBQ also drops. So, if you choose a smoke intensity level of 1, you should expect the internal temperature of the appliance to vary by plus or minus 1°F. Then, if you increase the smoke level, the temperature variation gap will be even more pronounced.

What I mean by this is that as soon as the BBQ senses that the temperature in the BBQ is different from what you have "set up" it to, the PID controller will kick in to get the temperature back to normal. For example, if it is 5°F cooler than expected, the BBQ will "fire" more pellets to get to the right temperature. Be careful though! The higher the smoke level, the more the controller will wait until there is a bigger temperature difference before getting to work.

If, at level 1, the BBQ waited for there to be a 2 degree difference to adjust, for example, at level 10 it will wait until the difference is 10, 15 or even 20 degrees before reacting and, as long as this number of degrees is not reached, the BBQ will let the pellets go out and smoke more and more (because, remember, a pellet on fire does not smoke, it leaves a flame, unlike an extinguished pellet, which smokes). This is often, in fact, the reason why people tell me that their BBQ has trouble keeping its temperature and that it varies a lot; it's because they set the smoke level to 10.

In short, you can set the smoke level you want, but be aware that the more the pellets smoke, the longer they will be extinguished and the more the temperature in your BBQ will "swing". By selecting the smoke level, you then automatically choose the intensity of the temperature difference in your appliance. (Obviously, the more smoke there is, the more you will also taste it through your food; so make sure you have a nice smoke and not smoke so that your meal tastes good.)

If it can help you contextualize a little, personally, it is very rare that I use a level other than 1 or 10. 1 is not bad for my everyday cooking, then 10 is for when I am at an event and I want to make a big smoke show and it does not bother me that the temperature curve fluctuates by 10-15 °F. The other numbers, I do not play with well well.

In fact, keep in mind that the secret to cooking with pellets is to keep them burning constantly to have a nice flame. The more the flame is fed and constant, the better the meat will taste. Be careful! If your pellet BBQ is relatively heavy, it must consume more pellets to maintain its heat. So, in this case, there is little smoke coming out, but the meat is excellent.

The smoke

Now… I’ve been talking about smoke for a while now, but it’s important that I describe to you the kind of smoke you want to have. When you’re cooking, you want the smoke coming out of your BBQ to be clear, smell good, not sting your eyes, and barely noticeable in thickness. If you have all of that, you’re well on your way to a killer meal.

Smoking

Next, who says smoke says smoking, so maybe some of you are wondering if you can cold smoke and hot smoke with a pellet BBQ. The answer is no, most of these BBQs cannot cold smoke.

On the other hand, it can be possible with Camp Chef BBQs . Let me explain. To cold smoke, air must be able to enter your BBQ naturally. In the case of most pellet BBQs, however, there is no air circulating in the BBQ, because it is a blower that brings its air to it when it is off (which is necessary for cold smoking) and the pellets do not burn. The pellets would then only go out if you wanted to cold smoke.

Where the Camp Chefs come in is that they have a built-in ash dump system. If you open the hatch at the bottom of your BBQ, dump out the ashes and remove the bucket that contained them, you will then create a hole in the base of your appliance that will act as an air inlet/outlet and allow you to slowly cold smoke your food. Warning! You must light a Smoker Labyrinth à fumée BBQ Québec in your BBQ beforehand for it to work (you can read this article to learn more about how it works). Well yes, simple as that! 😉 (The Camp Chefs are practically the only machines that can do this on the market; they really are dream BBQs!)

The winning combinations

Now that I've told you about the types of pellets, explained how smoking works, and told you what you can do to smoke your food, I think it wouldn't hurt to give you some recommendations for combinations, right? 😜

Here are some winning feed/pellet combinations:

• Smoked ham with maple wood pellets (and brush the meat with maple syrup too for a totally awesome result 😍);
• Smoked pork with apple wood pellets;
• Hickory wood pellet smoked brisket;
• Beef smoked with hickory, oak or mesquite wood pellets;
• Chicken smoked with apple, maple or cherry wood pellets;
• Smoked sugar pie with maple wood pellets;
• Apple and bacon pie smoked with maple wood pellets; etc.

Even so, if you want to prepare something crazy for competition, I advise you to mix pellets that give a full-bodied taste with others that give a mild taste. Smoke pork with oak and apple wood pellets, for example, and it will be "watatatow"! 👌

The first use

Otherwise… if you ever decided to read my tips and advice before using your pellet BBQ for the first time, I take this opportunity to remind you to season/season your grill. It's not mandatory, but you'd better give your BBQ a little bacon flavor right away so that your future meals will be even more incredible. 🥰

You do the "bacon ceremony", that is to say you quietly cook your pound of bacon slices in your appliance ( all the details are here ) and let them give flavor to the grills, to the tank... You can even treat yourself and eat the slices when they are ready if you want. 😉

On that note, I think you're ready to do some solid cooking on your beautiful pellet BBQ! 🤘

Happy BBQ! 🔥