The Offset Versus the Big Green Egg

Convenience versus pure play

By my own admission, I'm a smoking snob. Of meat that is. I love smoked ribs, smoked brisket, smoked chicken, smoked turkey, smoked fish ... you get the point. When I travel I look for BBQ joints. I enjoy all of them, or at least have an appreciation for what they all bring to the table. It's a passion that I can't let go of.

Probably eight years ago we bought a Big Green Egg and for me I thought "I have arrived" in the smoking world. The Big Green Egg is a culture. It's a following. Trust me, there is an exceptionally good reason why. 

A few years ago our neighbors bought me "Franklin BBQ A Meat Smoking Manifesto" and it changed my whole perspective on smoking. My confession is that I had either looked up something on the internet or looked at info around the Big Green Egg and just went with it. Franklin showed me how to take my thinking on the subject to a whole new level.

The Franklin book had me immediately needing to buy an offset smoker and shortly after reading it I did. As regular readers know Sheryl and I have downsized significantly in house size recently and I'm sad to report the offset had to go away. We smoked on the Big Green Egg this last summer. The neat thing about all of it is that I smoked on the Egg for a couple of years, the offset for a couple of years, and then returned to the Egg due to the housing situation. So I actually felt like I had a clear picture on the benefits of both.

Here's my take on all of it. The offset smoker is where it's at for me if you want purity in the process, a cleaner taste as it relates to the smoke flavor, and certainly being more involved in the whole process. If I had unlimited time or smoking was all I did or if I won the lottery and didn't have to work any longer my strong suspicion is that I would get another offset and that would be my primary smoking methodology. In another article I'll walk through the fun I've had with woods, temperatures, and techniques smoking with an offset. The truth is though it is a definite commitment. Smoking ribs on an offset means setting aside four hours to just smoke. A brisket is easily 12-16 hours of smoking. 

This is where the Big Green Egg comes in. For one, the flavor is still incredible. There is no denying it. With some meats we think it produces a better product. Pork ribs for example seem to come off juicier. You take all of that and you add in the fact that smoking on a Big Green Egg is just easier. You set your temp with air flow. You certainly regulate it. In general though once you get that temp where you want it you can let it smoke (and smoke damn well I might add). A noted benefit I've noticed is less time in the smoke. The times I've done a brisket for 14 hours with an offset it is a simple function of the situation that I inhale smoke. The next day has always been rough as a result. I notice this dynamic much less with the Egg simply because I don't have to maintenance the smoker as much.

I love them both. I like the process, tradition, flavor and experience of the offset. I like the ease and convenience of the Big Green Egg with an end product that is still pretty awesome.

My last thought though is this.  We don't currently have an offset and that's been fine. The Egg has been awesome. However I have learned that Franklin is going to be making an offset smoker for sale. Given my love for the offset I may just have to get one. We'll see how the chips fall but I feel a connection to Franklin BBQ and would be honored to own an offset built by him. If interested you can get updates here. Of note I have not ever had his brisket and that is a condition that must be remedied.