What Is a Pellet Grill and Can It Take Your Cooking to the Next Level? - MakeUseOf

When you’re out in the yard grilling burgers on a hot summer’s day, you’ve perhaps not considered how technology and electronics could make your cooking process easier. While the world around us becomes enhanced with gadgets and devices, there’s something back-to-nature about putting meat on a rack over hot coals.

However, there is a new grill in town that wants to challenge that. It’s called the pellet grill, and it’s the perfect blend of traditional and modern techniques to ensure your food is cooked, smoked, and prepared just right. So what is a pellet grill, and can they make your next barbeque night a huge hit?

What Is a Pellet Grill?

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Pellet grills are called such because they use small wooden pellets as their fuel source. These pellets aren’t anything too special; they’re just pieces of wood squashed down into a pellet shape.

On the side of a pellet grill is a large hopper with some temperature controls on it. To start the process, you fill up this hopper with pellets and turn the grill on.

Once it’s on, the grill begins feeding pellets into a central burning pit through a chute. The grill then brings in air from the outside into the pit. The air heats up, which causes it to rise into the main grilling area where your food is.

Between the burning pit and the grilling area is a grease trap. This catches all the drippings from your cooking meat and funnels them away from the grill so they don’t fall into the burning pit.

The Advantages of Owning a Pellet Grill

This may seem no more advantageous than other grilling types, but pellet grills also use the power of technology to give you true power over your cooking. So, what can they do that other grills can't?

1. Pellet Grills Let You Set the Temperature

Remember when we discussed the pellet hopper with the controls on it? These controls work similarly to a domestic oven. Just set the dial to your desired temperature and it'll cook your food at whatever you set it to.

This is a lot more convenient than other kinds of grills because you don’t need to manually balance the amount of fuel you add for the perfect grilling temperature. Just set the temperature via the dial and the pellet grill will do the rest.

Related: How to Use Your Phone to Improve Your GrillingThe grill can achieve your target temperature by quickening or slowing the rate at which pellets are added to the burning pit. And good models will let you see the current internal temperature via a digital display so you can double-check what's going on under the hood without needing to open the hood or use external tools.

2. Pellet Grill Fuels Come in Different Smoke Flavors

No, we don’t advise you to go to your nearest store and chow down on a bag of wood pellets. However, you will notice that the pellets sometimes have flavors listed on the bag, like apple or BBQ.

These flavored pellets release their seasonings within the smoke when they’re burned. As such, when you use a pellet grill to smoke some meat, you get a little extra hint of flavor from the smoke itself.

Even if you don’t pick a flavored pellet, you can still alter the flavors of your food by choosing a different kind of wood. As such, pellet grilling can open the doors to fine-tuning the perfect smoked meats, right down to the type of wood you choose for the job.

3. Some Pellet Grills Come With Smart Integration

If you love creating an ecosystem for your smart home, you’ll be pleased that your pellet grill need not be left out. Some brands such as Traeger publish official apps that allow you to monitor your grill via Alexa.

Related: What Are Smart Garden Devices and How Can They Help?Traeger's app specifically gives you quite a lot of control. For instance, you can ask your grill to adjust the smoke level, the temperature, or the time. You can also ask Alexa to double-check how long your food has left to cook, and even give an update of how many pellets are left in the bin.

The Disadvantages of a Pellet Grill

Unfortunately, as amazing as they may sound, pellet grills aren’t perfect. There are some areas where pellet grills struggle to keep up with the competition and may make or break your desire to purchase one in the future.

1. Pellet Grills Require a Power Source

As you might imagine, a grill that depends on electronics to run requires plugging into the mains. This means the pellet grill isn’t your best choice if you plan to bring your grill on vacation or to someone else’s house.

Of course, it is always possible to hook up a pellet grill to a generator, as the grill itself doesn’t consume a lot of electricity. However, if you love the idea of bringing a grill with you to the most remote areas, perhaps a pellet grill is a pass for you.

2. Some Pellet Grills Can’t Get a Good Sear

What’s a grilled steak without the telltale sear marks on them? Nothing feels better than being served up a slab of meat with the criss-cross pattern across it. Unfortunately, with some pellet grills, that sear isn’t possible.

That’s because the meat doesn’t really make contact with the flame as with other grills. As such, getting a good sear is near-impossible.

Some brands of pellet grills boast that their models can manage a good sear on meat; however, if a good sear is why you grill your food in the first place, you may have better luck sticking to what you already know.

Pellet Grills: Not Just a Load of Hot Air

If you're in the market for a new grill, definitely give the pellet grill some thought. They're not very portable, and you won't get a good a sear as other grilling types. However, if neither of those downsides concerns you, you'll find that pellet grills give you the tools you need to ensure the food comes out perfectly. From the choice of pellet smoke to the pinpoint controls, these grills give you control over every aspect of your next cookout.

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About The Author

Simon Batt (718 Articles Published)

A Computer Science BSc graduate with a deep passion for all things security. After working for an indie game studio, he found his passion for writing and decided to use his skill set to write about all things tech.