Gift idea...

[betarhoalphadelta]

I have a close personal friend who just got himself ordained in order to preside over my upcoming wedding. Given that he's doing us this great service, I wanted to get him a gift.

He recently has started getting more involved with grilling & smoking, with a Weber kettle and a borrowed cheapo smoker [like a cheapo Brinkmann].

His results have been... Not stellar. He generally has relied on the owner of the cheapo smoker to guide the process, and I'm not sure they're very good with temp control.

So I was thinking of a couple of options:

1) Masterbuilt Digital Electric Smoker
2) Maverick ET-733

I kinda prefer the first option. First, his smoker is borrowed, so it may not be there forever. Second, it's a cheapo charcoal smoker and I'm not sure temp control is great on it on a good day. So I know it will up his consistency and perhaps give him more control over his food.

Only problem is that I don't want to offend him by implying that he needs to change smokers. Granted, he's not exactly the sort that would take offense. I think he'd like it. But there's a slight risk there.

The second option is something I do know he'd like. On his last smoking attempt he pulled out a thermocouple and meter he had on hand [we're all engineers] to help measure temps. But if I could provide a nice clean option--one that has wireless remote sense capability, I know he'd dig it.

What do you folks think?

 

[tdiowa]

I'd go with the Maverick ET-733. This is something that he can use forever. It will give him the option to fine tune his smoking skills until the time he decides what smoker is best for him.there.

Besides as engineers that thermometer is kind of right up your alley.

 

[yeahfairly]

The Masterbuilt digital smoker gets pretty good ratings.... I'm with you.... Having to borrow a smoker kind of Sux.... I'd go with the smoker.... Much like brewing... The more time he spends experimenting and dialing in his equipment.... the better he will get at Smoking....

 

[2eyejack]

I think either would be a nice present, but in my experience the smoker choice is a personal preference. I had an electric smoker and the set it and walk away stability was kind of nice, but I eventually upgraded to a better charcoal smoker because I like tinkering to dial in the temperatures and I prefer the taste from using charcoal as the heat source. But, the electric smoker can be a good learning platform.

If you go with the temperature probe I suggest you look at the Thermoworks version: https://www.thermoworks.com/Smoke. I have a couple of the maverick-class models over the years and the "smoke" is much better - costs a bit more, but worth it to me.

 

[mirthfuldragon]

I have a Masterbuilt and I really like it. I wish I used it more. It is about as complicated as a crock pot and I have turned out some good BBQ on it, and whatever failings exist, are mine as part of the learning curve.

As for insulting your friend, I cannot speak to that, but I do wish I would get better feedback on my bbq from folks; even when I ask for it, they don't have a lot of criticism and are generally happy, which is a good thing I guess.

Aside from that, just saying, "hey, I know you have to borrow stuff to smoke, so now you don't have to anymore!" is probably not going to be insulting.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Thanks guys. I pulled the trigger on the MES.