BBQ: Weber Smokey Mountain

As I have mentioned elsewhere, I grew up on summers of BBQ, and with very fond memories. Not sitting outside with the British summer weather eating suspect looking sausages and burgers for me, we had BBQs with chops, cutlets, fish, butchers sausages (award winning, of course, but what butcher doesn't have award winning sausages?) along with a wealth of sides - potatoes, ratatouille, salads, breads. 

Then, I think it might have been my 30th birthday that my wife bought be a Barbeskew - it was a traditional hot-n-fast BBQ (its not a kettle setup, and not really practical to setup for indirect cooking) but its unique selling point was it had a rotisserie (hence the skew in the name), but that was the first step towards my journey to a Weber Smokey Mountain (WSM).

These BBQs are not cheap, and you should expect to spend £200-500 depending on the size and sale you get, but they are a cornerstone of the BBQ market, and you probably won't get a more synonymous brand in the UK with BBQ than Weber (Traeger is growing in popularity, but still doesn't have the market penetration), and with good reason. They are good, reliable pieces of kit - they can hold a steady temperature for prolonged periods of time, have good customer support (and replacements/garden centre stock). It was my first foray into smoking, and whilst I am now looking at getting an additional BBQ to supplement it, I'd still not hesitate to recommend it as a smoker for someone who wants to get started.

There are easier options for BBQing (the aforementioned Traeger grills offer much more convenience and a set-and-forget option) but its easy enough to get started, and helps get a decent understanding of what is going on, and how to bbq. 

There are also a range of additional gadgets that you will want to get, such as thermometer probes (for both meat and smoker temperature, rather than relying on the lid) and mods such as a hinge for the lid, and a better door.