Brinkmann Smoke 'n Grill Double Grill Charcoal 810-5301-C--An Effortless Way To Smoke Meats

I've always loved the taste of smoked food, especially when the food is cooked on a water smoker fueled by charcoal. I purchased the Brinkman Smoke 'n Grill Double Grill Charcoal 810-5301-C several years ago and have used it on many occasions. I paid around $40.00 or so for it at Lowe's, and I think it's one of the best values I've ever happened upon. Before I tell you why I like it so much, let me tell you a little bit about the smoker itself.

The Brinkman Smoke 'n Grill Double Grill Charcoal 810-5301-C is a water smoker that has a charcoal pan that sits on the very bottom level of the smoker. The charcoal pan holds about ten pounds of charcoal, which on a warm day is normally enough to give you about six hours of quality cooking time. A water pan sits on the next level--I don't know how much water it holds, but the manufacturer has the water-charcoal ratio figured so if you fill each pan the balance is pretty good. Right on top of the water pan is a grill, and then above that grill sits a second grill. Counting both grills, there's almost 400 square inches of cooking area, and if you load up both grills, you can get around fifty pounds of food in the smoker. I've never personally measured the weight of the food (the fifty pounds figure comes from the manufacturer's website), but I do know that you can get a lot of food on both grill levels. Finally, a top sits over all pans and grills, with a thermometer built into the side so you can keep track of the cooking temperature levels.

The Brinkman Smoke 'n Grill Double Grill Charcoal 810-5301-C requires assembly, but it's a snap--all you need is a screwdriver to attach the legs, pan and grill brackets and side and top handles. Set up is very intuitive, even for someone as mechanically challenged as me, and it should take about ten minutes or so to put this smoker together.

Once you get this smoker ready to roll, all you have to do is fill up the charcoal pan, light the fire, and wait for the coals to ash over. When your fire goes down, fill the water pan, and add the lower grill. Put on your food--ribs, turkey, leg of lamb, brisket, pork butt, or whatever your little heart may desire--and add your top grill, and again load it with more food, put the top on, and let the cooking begin! Of course, you don't have to use both grills, but the beauty of this smoker is that you can use either or both. You can mix and match your food by smoking a turkey on the bottom and ribs on top, or a brisket on the bottom and a big slab of salmon on top. There's a lot of room in this smoker and you are only limited by your imagination as to how you use it.

I've found that for most all foods you can load the charcoal and water pans, add your food and come back in six hours and find it nicely smoked. For large turkeys, pork shoulders or hams, a longer cooking time is required, sometimes as much as eight to ten hours. This means that you have to add more charcoal and water, and this brings me to the only thing I don't like about this smoker.

Adding charcoal is accomplished by opening a small door on the side of the smoker just above the charcoal pan. The door isn't very big, and it's difficult to add large amounts of charcoal at one time. You actually have to baby-sit the smoker at this stage and add charcoal periodically after the first six hours of cooking time. Adding water can only be done by removing the top (which causes the loss of the heat you're cooking with) and pouring it down through both grills to the water pan. This actually adds to cooking time because of the heat loss, but this is the only way to add water, given the design of this smoker. I don't like the way you add charcoal and water to the smoker, but that's just the way it is. All in all, the good outweighs the bad, I think.

If you do all this correctly, the finished product is food which is cooked with smoke and steam, which imparts a great flavor to meats, and avoids the dryness sometimes associated with smoking and grilling. I personally think that ribs on this smoker are some of the best I've ever had--you can put them on and come back in six hours and find succulent, moist ribs with that excellent, smoky flavor. Whip up your favorite barbecue sauce and you're ready to go!

Turkey, ham, pork shoulder, butt, salmon and chicken are also great cooked on this smoker. You just need to read the instruction booklet to get an idea of cooking times for the particular food that you're smoking. Outside temperature also affects cooking time, and the instruction booklet will school you on this too.

There's a nice recipe booklet included with the Brinkman Smoke 'n Grill Double Grill Charcoal 810-5301-C which gives you some good ideas about preparing your favorite foods. I learned that you can put vegetables and fruits in the water pan to cook a whole meal in one fell swoop--chunks of cabbage, carrots and onions in the water pan go well with that corned beef brisket that you might have on the lower grill, and the meat drippings will actual flavor the vegetables. The possibilities are endless, and like I said, your imagination is your only limitation.

This smoker also doubles as a grill--just remove the water pan, move the charcoal pan up one level, add a grill and start cooking steaks, chops and fish.

I recommend this smoker--you can literally get it ready, add your food, and go play a round of golf, or go out on the lake. When you return, your meat will be ready. Clean up is a snap, and you can have good, flavorful, smoked food that isn't dried out with minimal effort.

Thanks for reading.