Grill Competition at Home

tikigriller

BGE vs. GMG Pellet Grill

Both chickens spatchcocked. Seasoned with BGE Down and Dizzy

Egg ran at 385 with a couple chinks of Hickory for smoke. Raised direct on a rack up into the dome. 

GMG ran at 400 on the temp control with Mesquite Traeger Pellets. 

BGE was done a good 30 minutes before the GMG. 

BGE took on the smoke big time. Picture looks burned but it wasn't. Bite through skin.  Great smokey flavor but not overpowering. 



GMG Pictures Next. 


Skins was also bite through crispy  

Both extremely juicy  Pellet had less smokey taste and the rib shined through.

Interested to see what you all think between the pictures  

Ima_good_egg

I'd reach for the egged chicken, that color is amazing!

EggMcMic

I agree. Color alone I would try the BGE bird first. Interesting comparison, thanks for sharing.

Hans61

I've read other places and heard the first hand accounts of my brother in law that pellet cookers don't impart as much of a smokey flavor, never really understood why though. I like grill comparisons thanks for sharing! 

blasting

I'm with Hans.  I'm a sucker for a good experiment - thanks for posting.

I would reach for the egg bird as well - hands down.

pgprescott

Have to keep the pellet cooler temp much lower if you desire smoke flavor. Pellets are combusting too fully at 400 to exhibit strong smoke profiles. Different cookers require different approaches. Some will prefer that, others not so much. Nice post. 

onedbguru

Not much smoke on the pellet grill. 

SmokeyPitt

Yeah the egged bird wins this round hands down. It doesn't look burnt at all to me- perfect color. Interesting info on the pellet cooker @pgprescott - that makes sense.

lousubcap

Way to share a Q experiment-appreciate the desire to conduct a learning cook and post.  A never ending journey for sure.  Thanks for the effort and documentation.

tikigriller

Thanks all for the looks and comments.   When we were done eating, the Egg Chicken was completely gone.  The GMG chicken was cut up and prepped for Chicken Enchilada's which will be smoked on the Egg.

I never would have the patience with the GMG to run it as such a lo cook temp to get the smoke.  It already took almost twice as long as the Egg did running at the same temp.  GMG is basically always indirect.

If I didn't have the Egg, the GMG Chicken would be amazing.  Better then anything I have cooked before on the charcoal or gasser.  Unfortunately for the GMG, the Egg didn't come first.  Well....actually...if the Egg had come first, the GMG would not be in my back yard, so lucky for the GMG it did come first.   Heck, if I wasn't so disappointed with the GMG purchase, and would have talked them into letting me return it, I would have ended up with a Yoder and probably never would have gotten the Egg, which would have...well.....sliding doors.