JulesRules Posted May 4, 2020 Share Posted May 4, 2020 Sorry everyone, I'm one of those lockdown newbies.. With the nice weather I was originally looking just to replace our gas BBQ with a charcoal grill. My other half lives the convenience of gas, but i hanker for the taste of charcoal. When I was looking at Charcoal BBQs quite a few offset smokers came up which got my interest and I suddenly decided I couldn't live without a smoker 😂 Having done a bit more research it seems to get a decent offset I'd either have to spend big bucks or do a lot of modification so I thought maybe looking at the bullet smokers might be a better option and I could just get a seperate charcoal barbeque. I know we will use the BBQ but the smoking side is an unknown quantity right now. It will mostly be for just the 2 of is, but occasionally for entertaining. In terms of meat I'm just interested in experimenting and having a bit of fun. I don't want to spend too much on a smoker in case it turns out to be a short lived interest, but on the other hand I don't want to put myself off by buying something awful. Is there a 2nd hand market at all? It seems like the type of thing people might buy, use a few times and then put in the shed never to be seen again. In terms of location I'm in sunny Warwickshire if that makes any difference. Any advice would be hugely appreciated as I'm a total novice. Cheers Jules Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotv Posted May 4, 2020 Share Posted May 4, 2020 Hi Jules, welcome to the forum. There is a second hand market, but mostly it's right place, right time. Worth checking Facebook market and Gumtree to see if anything local to you for sale. Alternatively if the budget stretches to £100 then something like the callow bullet smoker, may be a good starting point, to see if smoking suits you. Plenty of users on here who can offer advice on it for you. As with most smokers in the lower price ranges everywhere seem to be out of stock at the moment. But maybe worth contacting Callow directly and asking them when they expect further stock to become available, if it interests you and worth waiting for one to become available. I've never used one, but read lots of accounts of the cheaper offset smokers being very hard work and not all that efficient, unless your happy to do some mods to it yourself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesRules Posted May 4, 2020 Author Share Posted May 4, 2020 Thank you and £100 is within budget. 😀 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesRules Posted May 6, 2020 Author Share Posted May 6, 2020 Just a quick update I've looked at the Callow bullet which seems a good bet, but as mentioned by @sotv they all seem to be out of stock. In the meantime I've ordered a kettle bbq so that I can use it for a bit of direct and indirect cooking to tide me over and get me started. I went for the Landmann one which looks similar to the Weber but a cheaper version. The reviews are decent so I shall just have to see! Does anyone have any experience using one? I have a birthday next week and family who always want to know what I want, so I've set up an Amazon wish list including a chimney starter and thermometer amongst other bits to get me going, and grabbed some hickory woodchips in passing on my weekly shop to Morrison's. I have some Weber briquettes on order so I just need to wait for the BBQ to arrive now to get going.... Oh, and get some meat of course. I know we have a load of rib eye and sausages in the freezer as our local commercial butcher was selling to the public and the OH popped down there a couple of weeks ago but in terms of smoking and indirect cooking I think the only possibility is a couple of stray cuts of lamb floating around the bottom of the freezer from a half a lamb we bought. I will have to see what I can conjour up in Morrison's or maybe a trip to our local farm shop is in order where they have a very good butcher. Probably best to work up to that after some test runs on cheaper cuts. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotv Posted May 6, 2020 Share Posted May 6, 2020 (edited) Most supermarkets sell already flavoured spatchcock chickens now, for about a £1 extra than a normal one. They're always good for learning on new equipment and are a very forgiving piece of meat to cook with, if you don't want to mess about with rubs and marinades and cutting it yourself. If your in Morrisons I noticed the Pork Shoulder was on offer at about £2.70 a kg this week, at the butchers counter and if a butcher is on duty, they will cut the rind off for you, if you don't want to do it yourself. Their chicken wings they sell for about £3 a kg on the shelves aren't too bad either and easy enough to cook on a kettle. Edited May 6, 2020 by sotv 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flearider Posted May 6, 2020 Share Posted May 6, 2020 chicken wings go to aldi .. they also do thick steaks cheap .. prepacked but 16 oz for £4.99 cook it slow all's good .. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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