A few years ago, most people fired up their grills when it was time to cook. They made hamburgers, bought hot dogs or bought some chops at the butcher. They would take a bottle of lighter fluid and a bag of charcoal briquettes. After an initial hiss of flame, they would wait until the coals died down and throw the meat directly onto the extreme heat of the coals. Grills are still popular, but more and more people are exploring a different way of cooking. Smoke kitchens are taking patios by storm.

Smoker cookers share some commonalities with traditional grills, but they are actually a very different tool. Grills are made to cook things relatively quickly over high heat. Smokers provide a means by which meat can be slowly cooked at a lower temperature. They produce that tender, smoky, moist traditional barbecue that everyone seems to love. They infuse flavors into meats and create textures that cannot be replicated with a standard grill.

Smoking kitchens may not be for everyone. They require patience and it may take some trial and error experimentation before one really develops a solid understanding of how to slow cook various cuts of meat. However, the learning curve is not that steep and the quality of meals cooked on smoker grills has been more than enough to lead many people to add one to their outdoor cooking arsenal. It only takes one bite of a great barbecue to convince one to add smoked meats to their outdoor cooking repertoire.

We can attribute part of the growing popularity of smokers to another factor: price. Before the barbecue revolution took hold, one needed to build their own barrel smoker or traditional brick pit. Today, the market is awash with reasonably priced smoker ranges in a variety of sizes and designs. You can find small upright “bullet” smokers for under $100. Even larger offset smokers with barrel cooking chambers are now available at affordable prices. There are propane smokers, electric smokers, and many other barbecue units for sale in virtually every department store. Anyone can find an affordable smoker capable of producing incredible barbecue.

If you’re not a smoker, you may want to consider joining the movement. The sudden rise in popularity of smoking kitchens is no accident and certainly no fad. Smoker kitchens allow any master chef at home to replicate the American flavors of traditional barbecue. If you love “Q”, you owe it to yourself to find the right smoker for your needs and start cooking more often.