I’m starting to save up for a new grill and really like what I have heard about hasty bake and big green egg. I would want something that is good for grilling or king smokes. Any one have a suggestion on why grill/smoker is better than the other?
Thanks
SNS Deluxe
Cheaptex (Vortex knock-off)
Weber charcoal rotisserie (turkey making machine)
Weber charcoal baskets (only use with the turkey making machine)
Steelmade Flattop (griddle attachment for gasser)
Thermoworks Smoke
PartyQ
I'm in a somewhat similar situation, I'm hoping to get my 'forever grill' next year. Personally, I'm very much leaning towards a HB. The ceramics have their benefits (superior insulation), but they're also a bit fragile. I've got 4 kids, and can see one of them hitting it with a ball or knocking it over. Also, with 4 kids and family in town, I want as much real estate as possible. Unless you go with the XXL egg, the HB is just bigger. The HB also had the benefit of the adjustable charcoal box, so you can really lay down a sear or let it ride low-and-slow.
Those are just my thoughts and, admittedly, I don't have either, just a dreamer. But I'll be following this thread, so let us know what you decide, and why.
Oh, and my cookers all sit on a slightly elevated wooden deck, so weight is an issue for me. At 300+ lbs (after cooker and table), the ceramics are too heavy for me. Just sharing my thoughts and situation, may not be an issue for you.
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Large Big Green Egg, Weber Performer Deluxe, Weber Smokey Joe Silver, Fireboard Drive, 3 DigiQs, lots of Thermapens, and too much other stuff to mention.
I don’t think you could go wrong with either unit. If I had a HB I’d be completely satisfied.
I’ve had my LBGE for 15 years. The only constriction I’ve ever felt was size. Even for just 2 people, even with racks, it can be small. An XL with racks is much better.
Regarding fragility: from the start I’ve had my BGE in a table. But the chance that a BGE (edit: in an Egg Nest) will fall over is like the chance that a Weber Kettle will fall over, or a Hasty Bake. It just doesn’t happen. Anything that would knock one over would knock the other over, too. If safety and kids is important, I can rest my hand on the exterior of my BGE, mid-cook, while grilling burgers. Try that with a HB!
If I were buying again, price would tilt me toward the HB. You could get a Gourmet Pro for the same price as a basic accessorized XLBGE, and you’d still need to get a set of racks to match capacity.
But that’s me. And one HUGE advantage of ALL kamados is their incredible versatility. You can bake a birthday cake in there! Myself, that’s something I don’t need. But if you’re someone who does more than just hit proteins with smoke and fire, it’s worth considering.
Yeah, I'm probably overblowing the chance of breakage in my mind. But in my defense, I swear, my kids do everything they can to destroy everything in their grasp.
That's really impressive that you can place your hand it! My youngest son did that once while I was smoking ribs on my kettle. Luckily, it was on the cool side, so no hospital trip (I've got a punch card, 2 more trips and I get a freebie!). Don't think he'll be doing that again.
Where do you live? I have a Primo XL and bc I live in north jersey the kamado is perfect. I can (and have) cooked in 2 feet of snow. The ceramic cookers, once heat soaked, will maintain their temps for hours and hours and hours.
What do you see yourself cooking? That’s helpful in making a recommendation. As above you’ll be happy with either but I too would recommend an XL kamado. And if you haven’t considered a Primo I’d recommend taking a look before you decide on a kamado.
Also, if you’re looking for an incredible all rounder that is big and a lot cheaper than a ceramic, check out the Weber kamado e6.
I live in Phoenix AZ so no snow for me! I like to smoke Brisket, ribs, and pulled pork. For basic grilling we do steak, and chicken quite a bit. Thanks I’ll look into that as well.
I have two kamados and a Weber style grill but I would love to have a HB.
The SnS Deluxe Kamado package is a good all-in-one option. With the Slow 'N Sear insert it acts much like a Weber kettle with the SnS gear: you can grill or do low and slow. Or remove the SnS unit and use like a kamado. It is 22" so it is in between a LBGE and an XLBGE. Most Weber accessories fit it. I find that I end up using the SnS Kamado more than the kettle grill.
Yeah - having both a kettle and the SNSK, I use the SNSK for smoking and only smoke on the kettle anymore if I need to use BOTH for added space. I mostly turn to the kettle when I want to use the rotisserie that I have for it.
I have a Hasty Bake that I won right here on Amazing Ribs ! Also have a pellet grill but the HB is the best for daytime BBQ. Like my Thermoworks chef alarm and heat resistant gloves.
The HB eats charcoal but I LOVE the adjustable fire box . I normally use 1 of the 2 grill racks and sear my meat. Just slide it over and go indirect until ready to come off. ( I build my fire on one side.) I love the thought of a BBG though and it's insulating abilities. If I had the chance to own a BBG it would be the largest size so I could go indirect at times. A kamado /BBG cooker is still getting a lustful side eye from me .When my pellet grill finishes falling apart maybe I'll....
A kamado’s inability to do 2 zone is exaggerated, IMO. They’ll do it. It just happens to be the one thing that is a PITA for many of them, particularly the 18” LBGE. The larger kamados, 21” and up, are much better at it.
The fuel usage to me is the ONLY negative to the Hasty Bake cookers, compared to a kamado or even a kettle, which seal up nice and tight. I wonder if there is a way to add gasket material to help?
Large Big Green Egg, Weber Performer Deluxe, Weber Smokey Joe Silver, Fireboard Drive, 3 DigiQs, lots of Thermapens, and too much other stuff to mention.
I wrote that right after waking up. I really have a more general answer that fits for any cooker.
It’s all about which compromises you want to make. Because no matter what you do, you’re going to have to compromise somewhere. Even if you get a Hasty Bake AND an XL BGE; you compromised by spending twice as much money and taking up twice as much space. It’s all about compromises.
But that also means that whatever you get, you’ll make the compromises necessary to make it work. In my case, I added a Weber Kettle in 2016. There were seasons where I did almost everything on the Kettle, making the Kettle type adjustments for low and slow. There were other seasons where I did almost everything on the BGE, making the BGE type adjustments for grilling. In both cases, all the food came out great; it didn’t know what it was being cooked on, it only knew it was delicious! Either set of compromises works. You set up your rig and cook on it.
So whatever you pick will satisfy you. Enjoy the journey.
I've had a smoker/charcoal grill a little bigger than the Hasty Bake - recently handed down to a nephew - as well as Weber kettles, and a SNS Deluxe Kamado. Don't forget there are brands OTHER than "Big Green Egg" when comparing pricing. I think that Kamado Joe has a lot of bang for the buck. While I like my SNS Kamado, it only has a 22" grate. I use it with an elevated grate as well, in both kamado mode and "SNS" mode with the SNS insert.
The 523 square inches of cooking space on the main grate of the Hasty Bake Legacy 131 beats a round 24 inch kamado cooking grate by 70 square inches, and is the same in capacity as a 26" round cooking grate. That said, I find a lot of cooks you can just place stuff more efficiently on a rectangular cooking surface than on a round one.
I feel that you will get up to cooking temps with the Hasty Bake faster than with a kamado as well - another plus.
Breaking ceramic is a concern with a kamado, but once you have the cooker in place, not something that will happen. A ball is not going to knock it over. That 200-300 pounds, even in a cart like my SNS Kamado has, doesn't topple easily. The concerns come when moving, if not careful. My SNSK has lived on the same concrete pad by the pool since Fedex Freight dropped it off here in January 2021.... that said... you will not break a metal cooker when moving, but unless it's all stainless, it could eventually have rust or burn through. I just gave my nephew a smoker/grill that my father built out of all stainless back in 1984. It survived a storm that dropped softball size hail on it. It destroyed cars and roofs, but the smoker just took a few dents that gave it "character"....
The biggest negative of a HB I see is fuel usage. The HB will use a lot more charcoal during the course of a cook than a kamado will. But with creative fire management, use of a minion or maze method, you can still get a lot of smoking time out of a load of charcoal and wood chunks. Just don't expect to go 12 or 18 hours without adding fuel.
I will say coming from a similar sized cooker (the offset, that also had a charcoal pan for grill use, and had a 24x36 cooking grate), that I stopped using it over the past 5-6 years for long smokes, i.e. butts and briskets, unless I just had to have the space. I just didn't want to feed the fire every 30 minutes (wood) or 2-3 hours (charcoal+chunks).
All that kinda gets around to saying that my vote is leaning towards the HB here.
TripleB well, my concern about fuel usage is not the cost of the charcoal, but how often you have to add it. With my offset, which I often ran with charcoal and wood chunks, as I could get 2-3 hours per load in the firebox using a minion type burn, I could go through 20 to 30 pounds of charcoal and a full bag of wood chunks smoking butts or a brisket. With my kamado... or even a kettle+SNS, I would go through 7-8 pounds of fuel for the same cook, without reloading (maybe 1 reload with kettle).
TripleB the efficiency is a concern for overnight smokes if you want to sleep, or Saturday afternoon smokes if you are busy doing other things, and want to have time to step away for a few hours.
jfmorris With all due respect, and I mean that. Your posts are always informative and well laid out. I understood your point on fuel usage (having 14 grills/smokers of various types/sizes and cooking, grilling and smoking meats for over 40 years). I was just making a lighthearted comment. FWIW, I start my offsets with charcoal and then switch over to wood. I never do a whole cook on charcoal/wood chunks. And yes, there is no sleeping on an overnight cook.
I have no experience with a HB. They certainly get plenty of praise from their owners. I have 2 Kamado Joes, a 18 inch classic and a Big Joe. Like any other cooker you have to learn how it works. The big Joe is large enough to do 3 racks of full spare rigs or 2 briskets at a time. It is very good at making charcoal last. I like the way they retain moisture, don’t rust, and are so good at temperature control. As Mosca said you can bake a cake, smoke a brisket, grill burgers or steaks, and it does a great job as a pizza oven too. On the Big Joe I can get true 2 zone cooking which makes a reverse seared steak very doable. If you go the kamado route there is a series of post on the channels page about kamados that will save you a ton of time learning how to use it. There’s no wrong answer either way you go. Enjoy the experiance!
I've had a BGE for about 15 years and have used it less and less. It's more difficult to do a reverse sear and it's difficult to reduce temperature because of the thermal mass. It does a great job for many things, such as long smokes and direct grilling, but it has its limitations.
I also have an M16 from M-Grills which is a table-top ss charcoal grill and is similar to a HB without the adjustments. It's a great grill for a couple of steaks, beautifully constructed, and airtight when you close the vents. But my favorite grill is an Argentinian Peachwood grill that I have been using for over a year. While a similar one costs about $7000 in the US, I purchased this directly from the manufacturer in China and it cost about $1400 ($800 for the grill and $600 for door to door shipping. It's the best grill I've ever used and it can do a few steaks, a roast, veggies or whatever. It's made of heavy stainless, lined with ceramic brick, and comes with all the accessories. When I traveled to Argentina for a vacation last year, grills like this were in abundance and used for making most everything.
You can read my story of the Peachwood grill here:
I've wanted to get an asado grill, something similar to a Santa Maria grill, but what I found was either too expensive or too cheaply made. I found several great models from Tagwood and other companies, but costing around $6000 and up.
About 3 months ago I decided to see what I could find in China. Having worked over there for
I remember reading your saga, and following it with extreme interest! I still think about it, actually!
Asadas are just too “open fire” for my composite deck with plastic rails, at least for me. And I’m not going to put it at the bottom of the steps. If I had a stone patio, I would have probably PM’d you for details!
(Con’t) I do reverse sear on the BGE with the platesetter in, then pull it and open all vents. It’s not as easy as hot and cold zones on the Weber, but it works.
Some of your arguments against the BGE are one of the reasons SNS came up with their own kamado that could use the SNS insert. And now they have a "SNS Cooking System" for the large and XL BGE's. Not sure what the cost is, but it would give you a true 2 zone setup. I use the SNS insert in my SNSK a lot if I want to do reverse seared steaks. I can have a good hot fire in the basket, for searing, and still have low temps in the indirect area.
Mosca and others have some good points on the Big Green Egg and Kamados. For me grilling is the most challenging thing to do on the EGG but it can be accomplished. It shines in other ways like smoking overnight while you sleep and smoke roasting at 350-375. Mosca noted you can do most anything well and I/f you can do it in the kitchen you can do it on a kamado.
In your Avatar you look relative young. The one thing I didn’t see mentioned is warranty. I don’t know about Hasty Bake’s warranty, but Big Green Egg’s is lifetime on the major components. Like Mosca I have been cooking on mine for 15 years and have replace two major components under warranty which would have cost $500+ dollars. Given your age the warranty might be something worth considering.
Large Big Green Egg, Weber Performer Deluxe, Weber Smokey Joe Silver, Fireboard Drive, 3 DigiQs, lots of Thermapens, and too much other stuff to mention.
I am in the kamado camp and I agree with the reasons laid out by others. I actually have the SNS for the LBGE thanks to Meathead’s generosity.
If you are at all unsure about 2-zones for the BGE, this fully addresses the question and really makes the decision of picking the egg over the HB very easy.
Get the ULTIMATE Slow ‘N Sear® cooking experience by transforming your Large Big Green Egg® Kamado grill into the most versatile outdoor cooking machine on the market – indirect slow cooking, roasting, baking… not to mention a capable smoker and perfect sear with the Slow ‘N Sear®Cooking System for Large Big Green Egg®
SNS Deluxe
Cheaptex (Vortex knock-off)
Weber charcoal rotisserie (turkey making machine)
Weber charcoal baskets (only use with the turkey making machine)
Steelmade Flattop (griddle attachment for gasser)
Thermoworks Smoke
PartyQ
Right now I am leaning towards the BGE, I really enjoy doing long smokes (brisket and pork), so I feel that would make the night smoking much easier! I really like the sound of the hasty bake too, but I think the Big Green Egg may win out for me. Definitely if I can get an attachment to make it a 2-zone cook
Tylerss Yeah, BGE is pretty hard to argue with. LA Pork Butt brings up an excellent point with the lifetime warranty too. Honestly, if weight wasn't such an issue for me, I'd probably consider a ceramic more. They're supposed to be great for pizza as well.
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