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As summer nears, everyone gets excited about spending time outdoors; enjoying the fine weather, playing hard and relaxing with friends and family. You don’t have to look far, or inhale too deeply, to find American families having a get together centered around outdoor cooking. More specifically, outdoor cooking inevitably means good old American barbecue.

These get-togethers are not just about the food and the barbecue, but solidifying relationships with friends and family: eating, reminiscing, drinking and many tall tales. But the focal point of these get togethers always seems to be a barbecue grill.

One of the main ingredients in a sumptuous barbecue is the equipment used, the barbecue grill. Purists contend that nothing beats the flavor and distinct aroma of charcoal grilled barbecue; whether it’s pork, beef, chicken, lamb, or fish. Others would say that the ease and convenience of gas grills removes all the hassle, dirt, and irritating smoke of charcoal grills and still delivers the same flavor with just a very negligible difference.

But there is an alternative to these two much debated ways of grilling. These are pellet grills, which according to food experts, and those who have tried them, combine the ease and convenience of gas grills and that much sough-after smoky aroma and sumptuous flavor of barbecue which can only be achieved through the slow cooking approach. They even contend that pellet-grilled barbecue produces a more authentic smoky flavor than charcoal grilling.

Pellet grills may indeed solve the problems brought about by grilling either through charcoal or gas, giving that perfect grill, roast, and smoky flavor with almost the same convenience as that of gas grills. These grills use wood pellets as fuel, as compared to charcoal and gas. Woods such as cherry, hickory and mesquite are preferred types of wood fuels. Aside from giving that same smoky characteristic of charcoal grilled barbecue, the smoke from wood pellets create a soothing and pleasant scent.

For some more advanced models such as those designed by pioneer Joe Traeger, there is a temperature control unit that is almost similar to the temperature control capability of gas grills. Pellet grills also burn cleanly and produce fine ash, which is not as messy as that of charcoal grills, which at times produce, sparks and scatters the ash in the air. One the downside, these grills can be costly and the wood fuel can be hard to obtain. So factor the cost of the grill, the cost of the fuel and the time you’ll spend finding the fuel before you decide to go this route.

Most of these grills cost anywhere from $600 up to $2000. Traeger grills are considered the best buys despite their price. The expensive prices, as consumer satisfaction surveys validate, are worth it.

Traeger grills provide high quality wood pellets such as mesquite, hickory, apple, alder, cherry, hazelnut, maple, oak, pecan, garlic, and onion. They also offer extra gadgetry to complete the package of preparing that perfectly grilled barbecue, such as caps, visors, aprons, vests and shirts. And to complete the most fulfilling barbecue experience, Traeger has an array of rubs, shakes, sauces and marinades to make your pork, beef, chicken, lamb meat, or fish not only the best looking and smelling piece of food, but of course the one with most heavenly taste.

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