While I tend to grill and smoke year-round, the true grilling season is upon us. Technology has brought many new ways to tend to our pits and Weber has released the Weber Connect Smart Grilling Hub which will connect your backyard grill to your smartphone. Using both Bluetooth as well as WiFi, the Weber app keeps you connected to your cook remotely.
The SmokeFire is Weber’s first foray into the pellet grill space, and while it checks a lot of boxes, it has its quirks. The Weber SmokeFire is a good option if you’re looking for a grill that will allow you to both smoke at low temperatures and grill with high heat. Coming in two sizes, the SmokeFire starts at $999.
It is not a secret that we love cooking at Gear Diary. Recently, we were sent the new Ooni Karu Wood and Charcoal-Fired Portable Pizza Oven to try out. The oven allows users to make real wood-fired, stone-cooked pizza in minutes. It is totally portable and can be used anywhere in the outdoors. Let’s take a look.
Ooni is back with another crowd-pleasing pizza oven for the masses with a much larger version of their popular Ooni Koda capable of baking 16″ pizzas in around 60 seconds. You may remember our glowing reviews of the Ooni Koda, Ooni Pro, and more. The Ooni Koda 16 is gas-powered and designed with home chefs, street food vendors, and professionals in mind.
Stargazer Cast Iron was founded when CEO Peter Huntley began his search for the perfect cast iron skillet. As a passionate home chef, he found that modern cast iron pans lacked innovation and vintage quality while actual high-quality vintage cast iron was only available at exorbitant prices. In 2015, the Stargazer Cast Iron skillet was born in Peter’s garage.
Ooni has released an outdoor pizza oven that requires no assembly, is portable, and fires out pizzas in 60 seconds flat! For $329, you can fire homemade pizza quickly and anywhere. The Ooni Karu is ready right out of the box and offers a fast and easy way to make great pizza.
One of my favorite hobbies is smoking meats, and in Texas, we do it all year long. I have used several pellet grills, but all of them are in a traditional grill layout. Pit Boss recently allowed me to try one of their upright smokers. The Pit Boss Pro Series 4 Vertical Pellet Smoker is my first upright experience.
I absolutely love my Traeger 575 Pro. Since we still have grilling weather in South Texas, it has been working overtime. I recently installed the Traeger Pellet Sensor, and I’ll never have to guess on the level of pellets again; it’s just another way to make your smoker more user-friendly and more techie.
BBQ is actually a simple idea. Get perfect seasoning and perfect meat temperature and you create great food. While the idea is simple, getting those temps perfect can be tricky. The GrillEye Pro+ ($99.99) is a hybrid wireless Bluetooth smoking thermometer which will ensure perfect temperatures every time without babysitting your smoker. Let’s take a look.
Weber, one of the most well-known names in BBQ, is breaking into the pellet grill market in a big way with the new Weber SmokeFire. Starting on Cyber Monday, December 2nd, 2019, you’ll be able to pre-order the SmokeFire for early 2020 release. The 24” and 36” models will be priced at $999 and $1,199 respectively.
Yoder Smokers are one of those products where you can instantly feel the quality and craftsmanship that went into building it. The S-Series grills only enhance the legacy of Yoder Smokers with the addition of the Adaptive Control System, Wi-Fi connectivity, ceramic igniter rod, and more. Made in the USA out of 10-gauge steel, the YS640s will last a lifetime.
ThermoWorks is our favorite thermometer producer because they are known for producing high-quality, highly accurate thermometers, and their Signals 4-channel thermometer is no exception. Signals was built for the serious BBQ pitmaster who wants to keep track of four different temperatures at once over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Signals retails for $229 and includes three cooking probes and one air probe.
Outfitting a kitchen with quality cookware can be an expensive endeavor, which is why my wife and I started out with underwhelming hand-me-down cookware. We recently upgraded thanks to our friends at Made In Cookware, whose goal is to create a superior product at a great value while partnering with the best raw material providers and expert manufacturers.
An accurate IR (infrared) Gun thermometer, like the ones made by ThermoWorks, can be an invaluable tool for a number of different activities. An IR Gun thermometer measures surface temperatures from a distance, so it’s great for the kitchen and BBQ, HVAC repair, construction, and maintenance. ThermoWorks offers a range of accurate IR Gun thermometers starting at $69.00.
As a self-proclaimed BBQ pitmaster, I spend most days of summer perfecting my craft. I am always looking for new ways to add smoke to meats, and Traeger agreed to send me the Traeger Pro Series 575 Pellet Grill to try out. I tested the grill with a whole chicken and an eleven-pound brisket. Let’s take a look!
Everyone knows that one house that has a fancy outdoor kitchen in the backyard with a built-in grill and pizza oven, right? You don’t need a huge, expensive masonry oven anymore to be the house that throws the best parties. All you need is the Forno Bello. At $1,599, it represents the best value full-size pizza oven available.
Last year I reviewed an Ooni wood-fired pizza oven. The oven did a great job despite the fact that I used premade pizza dough. (And boy did I hear about it in the comments on the video.) The company sent me one of their new Ooni Koda gas-powered outdoor pizza ovens It’s pretty impressive. (And I used real pizza dough!)
Have you always envied steakhouses for making sure their NY Strips and Burgers having awesome grill marks and want to imitate them? Well, now you can with Cuisinart’s Cast Iron Grill Press.
I smoke a lot of meat and closely monitor temps in the pit as well as the meat. Some of these cooks can be up to 16 hours which can be a long time tied to the smoker. I recently was able to try out the FireBoard WiFi thermometer ($189-$249) and it has been a game changer. Let’s take a look.
I used to be nervous about grilling for my family and friends, never sure if the steak, burgers, or chicken would be cooked to the proper, or even safe, temperature. With the ThermoWorks Thermapen IR, my confidence has grown immensely, knowing that I’m getting an accurate internal (or surface) temperature reading within seconds of inserting the probe.
How do you make one of the best pellet grills in the world even better? You make the grill smarter. Yoder Smokers has upgraded their controllers to a new Adaptive Control System (ACS) with two integrated food probes, added Wi-Fi connectivity via Fireboard Labs, and upgraded the igniter to a ceramic version capable of lighting twice as fast.