For these of you who keep in mind my Caribbean Sticky Wings recipe from final 12 months, I jumped into the world of pellet grills about 18 months in the past. Earlier than then, my longtime grilling setup had been three-fold: a charcoal grill for direct-heat grilling, an electrical smoker for low-and-slow BBQ, and a fuel grill for constant temperatures with minimal effort. After getting acquainted with that first pellet grill, I made a decision to promote my electrical smoker and fuel grill as a result of the pellet grill offered the constant temperature I wish to depend on throughout recipe improvement, in addition to low-and-slow temperatures for distinctive BBQ (see: my 3-2-1 Smoked Ribs recipe); I stored the charcoal grill available for high-heat direct grilling.
Lately, the crew at Camp Chef provided to ship me one in every of their new Woodwind 24 WiFi pellet grills, which appeared to be a big improve to my present grill. So I believed I’d take a second and run you thru my impressions.
Right here’s a shot of the entire shebang, so you may get an thought of what I’ll be describing within the following paragraphs. The grill itself feels good and durable, and placing it collectively took lower than an hour on a cold, cloudy December afternoon in Virginia. The included bottle opener makes the meeting course of a bit extra thrilling.
Pellet grills are comparatively easy; they feed pellets from a hopper (on the left of the grill chamber) by an auger — consider it like a giant corkscrew — on the backside of the grill. The pellets ignite inside a firepot, which heats the grill and gives wooden smoke. The firepot is tented by a warmth diffuser pan, which distributes the warmth evenly all through the grill. The grill temperature is regulated by that auger: the quicker the pellets are added to the firepot, the warmer the grill will get. This course of means that you can impart a smoky taste with out having to are likely to a charcoal or wooden fireplace.
There are a selection of pellets you should buy, together with hickory, maple, or fruit woods like cherry or apple. Camp Chef additionally affords a “competitors” mix of maple, hickory, and cherry pellets. Additionally new to the lineup are “charwood” (charcoal and wooden mix) pellets, which you’ll see above. This charwood mix works rather well for prime warmth grilling, like burgers or the Tandoori Rooster pictured close to the tip of this overview.
One side value noting is that the hopper on this Woodwind 24 holds 22 lbs of pellets, which is an ideal measurement since most baggage are available 20-lb portions. If you wish to swap out pellets for several types of cooking initiatives, the method is simple: there’s a hopper cleanout chamber that permits you to empty the hopper at any time.
The grill chamber itself is comparatively tall, which gives a surprisingly giant cooking house (800 sq. inches throughout two racks); a pair weeks in the past, I match 4 (10 lbs every) picnic pork shoulders on the principle (backside) rack alone, which made sufficient pulled pork to feed about 50 individuals. The louvered drip pan that sits beneath the underside rack has little slits in it to assist with airflow (extra on that in a bit).
One other factor that impressed me about Camp Chef’s pellet grill household is that they provide elective propane attachments. I acquired the “Sidekick” attachment, which is mainly a robust propane burner and a detachable griddle (pictured above). This offers you plenty of choices–you would use griddle to make eggs and bacon, or just use the burner and a cast-iron skillet to sauté veggies, sear steaks, or blacken fish outside with out smoking up the entire home. The pellet grill positively will get bulkier with an added propane tank, which will be a difficulty since this grill already weighs 150 lbs with out the tank. Camp Chef additionally affords a “Searbox” attachment, which mainly features as a mini fuel grill (however seems to be to be helpful when you actually need good sear/grill marks).
The up to date interface is de facto what units this grill aside. Because the identify implies, the grill has WiFi connectivity, so you’ll be able to monitor (and alter) the grill temperature out of your cellphone. It additionally has Bluetooth connectivity, and you’ll hook up with each without delay to ensure you don’t drop the connection. Its companion app is comparatively barebones, however will get the job finished; it sends me push notifications when my grill has completed warming up, and as soon as it has reached my desired temperature. This mannequin additionally helps 4 temperature probes (simply to the precise of the display screen within the photograph above) which will be monitored on the display screen and the app (you too can set goal temperature for the probes, and get a notification when the probe has reached that desired temperature).
The warmth settings are customizable from 160F to 450F in 5 diploma increments, which is simply mind-boggling. However maybe my favourite choice is that you would be able to alter the quantity of smoke the grill imparts, from a default of “1” to a most of “8”. The upper the smoke setting, the extra pellets you’ll burn, and the temperature will fluctuate a bit extra as properly. However I’ve discovered {that a} smoke setting of “3” is ideal for BBQ, so I’ve by no means adjusted it to greater than “3”.
There’s a knob within the image to the left that means that you can transfer the warmth diffuser in order that the firepot (heating ingredient) interacts straight with the grill racks, simulating a direct-heat grilling expertise with temperatures as much as 650F. They name it a “Slide and Grill” characteristic. Whereas this feels like a good suggestion, in observe it grew to become my one gripe with this grill.
I realized that I’m not a fan of these little slits within the drip pan, that are supposed to assist with airflow; as a substitute, I discovered that they simply make a giant mess, because the meals juices drip straight onto this pan and may leak onto the warmth diffuser, or straight into the firepot when utilizing the “Slide and Grill” characteristic. As an alternative, I’ve been protecting the drip pan with a layer of heavy obligation foil. This has immensely improved my cleanup and total cooking expertise, and has stored the grill in pristine situation, though it does inhibit the “Slide and Grill” choice. I feel it’s a needed trade-off to keep up the grill for years to come back.
One other characteristic I admire is their “Ash Kickin’ Cleanout System”, which is a detachable cup that collects all the ashes from the firepot. This enables me to scrub up the firepot in a couple of seconds, and with out having to take away the grill grates, drip pan, and warmth diffuser.
I’ve loads of recipes I’ve developed utilizing this pellet grill, and I’ll share them within the coming weeks. For now, get pleasure from a couple of teaser pics. First up: Smoked Standing Rib Roast (recipe coming subsequent week, simply in time to your large vacation celebration).
Pictured right here is Texas-style Smoked Turkey Breast.
Right here is Tandoori Rooster, which cooked up rather well utilizing charwood pellets and the Woodwind 24’s highest warmth setting.
And eventually, some Smoked Salmon, ready equally to how I grew up consuming it within the Pacific Northwest.
General, the Woodwind 24 WiFi pellet grill is a keeper. After two weeks of use, I’ve already gifted my different pellet grill to a good friend, and determined to make use of this Camp Chef product as my major grill. I feel my minor quibbles with the drip pan are simply overcome with a little bit of foil, which I’ve already included into my grilling routine. What actually offered me on the grill is its insane customizability; grilling meals at 5 diploma increments, to not point out manually controlling the quantity of smoke, are each actual game-changers for my yard BBQ adventures.
The Woodwind’s WiFi connectivity additionally affords a pleasant piece of thoughts, saving me frequent journeys to the yard whereas I’m whipping up different creations within the kitchen. I admire the Sidekick accent, however I’m unsure it’s a day-one buy; you would at all times initially spend money on the distinctive pellet grill by itself, and add a Sidekick later (and delay that hefty $265 price ticket till you’re certain you’re going to make use of it).
For those who’re fascinated about diving into the world of pellet grilling, or wish to exchange your present grill, this Woodwind 24 WiFi pellet grill has my vote. I look ahead to displaying you a few of my new creations quickly! Let me know when you have any questions within the feedback beneath.
Word: Camp Chef offered this grill for overview, and all opinions are my very own. If you are going to buy one thing by way of the hyperlinks to Camp Chef above, I’ll earn a small fee of the sale.
