Now don't shoot the messenger, but I can see what he's saying in context.
How often do you hear about a kettle or WSM that's "out of round"? The metal on a kettle is noticibly thinner than your typical decent offset smoker. It is also has much thinner walls than the kamado smokers. I don't knock him for that observation, but what he should have mentioned was that the Weber is also porcelain enameled which allows it to retail heat far better than your standard flimsy metal Big Box retail store grill which isn't coated in any way.
I'm definitely not shooting the messenger, but you're comparing apples and oranges to a degree.
I get what he's saying, but he's giving perspective with the luxury of being able to use whatever equipment he likes, and comparing the equipment to the commercial rigs he uses on a daily basis. There's a big difference between a commercial rig and even a BGE.
Most of the time when you see or hear about a kettle being out of round, its because a kettle has been mistreated. It was bought and used by your average homeowner for $100 (or less). Left outside in the elements year round, used to cook burgers and dogs until it rusted out and was thrown away. What percentage of kettles have actually been owned and cared for like members here would? Or a professional like Aaron Franklin would care for his commercial equip? And for that matter--how many kettles out there spent a lifetime of burger N dog duty. Never doing anything other than grilling. No indirect cooking, smoking, rotisseries, etc.
When you're talking about the equipment, it really does depend on the budget involved. Average Joe who leaves his grill outside year round is rarely going to drop $1000 on a gas grill, let alone a BGE. So if he's going smoker, the uninformed/uneducated buyers will usually buy the cheap flimsy COS (cheap offset smokers) that the Big Box stores sell. Those things rust out even faster left out in the elements, and we all know they're notoriously bad cookers without a lot of help.
Most people really aren't aware that a kettle is a perfectly adequate smoker/grill/bbq for the vast majority of average joes out there. When I first started learning how to smoke/bbq years ago, I didn't know either. I went out and bought the ECB to learn how to smoke, and I already owned a Weber Kettle at the time.
So yeah, the Weber may seem flimsy to some, but I can understand that, given how many beaten up old kettles are out there. But as we all know, they're head and shoulders above any of their competitors in the same price range for performance and flexibility.
Topic: Aaron Franklin - anti-Webber? (Read 10731 times)