Warning: I just found out a major competition pitmaster uses a gas assist smoker for the first 12 hours

Read it in a Texas Monthly profile, which completely changed how I view the 'all wood' purist argument. Anyone else run into a similar detail that made you rethink a rule?

4 comments

4 Comments

hollyl251mo agoMost Upvoted

Saw a guy win a local rib fest with a pellet grill. He just kept it real quiet. Totally blew my mind. Made me stop side-eyeing anything that wasn't a stick burner.

jade5171mo ago

Guess I'll stop judging my neighbor's pellet smoker.

michael6691mo ago

Right? It's like people getting mad about instant coffee. Sometimes the easier way just works, and we're all just out here trying to enjoy some ribs.

anderson.piper4d ago

Hold up now, I gotta push back hard on this one. Seeing one pro use a gas assist isn't a good enough reason to throw out the whole "wood only" rule for competition barbecue. That's like saying because a Michelin star chef microwaves a side dish sometimes, microwaves should be standard in fine dining. A pellet or gas assist takes away the single hardest part of barbecue which is managing your fire and your smoke profile. @hollyl25 mentioned a guy winning with a pellet grill and keeping it quiet, and that's exactly the issue right? He kept it quiet because he knows the judges expect that real smoke ring and bark that only comes from burning splits. I've tasted ribs off a gas assisted rig and they had that slightly metallic, too clean smoke flavor that tells on itself. You can win with it sure, but you're cutting a corner that directly changes the end product, and the purists aren't wrong for calling that out.