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Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Caldera BBQ Smoker

Let me see if I've got this right..."The only difference between men and boys are the price of their toys."

I'm definitely suffering from a case of jealousy tonight. I talked to my neighbor a few minutes ago and he's headed to Philadelphia later in the week to pick up either the Caldera Del Fuego knock down smoker or the Caldera Tall Boy knock down version of the design. I saw the standard model at the Jack Daniels cook-off in Lynchburg a couple years ago, but didn't get an up close view.

I'll post more details once he picks it up and I get a chance to check it out up close.

Picture #1

Picture # 2

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I remember seeing one of these recently and just like you thinking: "expensive toys". If I was a professional chef I would love it for the consistency. But otherwise it just seems like an expensive showpiece.

Is it purist to say, I think there's value and authenticity in not having it come out exactly the same every time? Where's the fun in that?

The BBQ Guy said...

It kind of depends what the longterm goal is.

If you're cooking in a contest with a $250 entry fee with $300 of meat and you spent $200 in motel rooms and gasoline to get there, then I think there's value in consistency.

If you're cooking in your backyard, I think this might be a little overkill. A $250 water smoker from Weber will do the trick perfectly.