What Was Your First Outdoor Cooker[s]……That You Started Out With?

[Panhead John]

I’ve been grilling and/or smoking since I was in my early 20’s. I’ve always had a love for cooking, whether it was indoors or out. The first grill I ever bought was an Old Smoky, loved that thing! Just about everyone I knew had an Old Smokey. You couldn’t really do any long smokes on it, but that was ok, I really didn’t get into smoking until my 40’s. Around that time I bought a cheap ass offset smoker, a Char Griller from Walmart….🙄 I really didn’t know what I was doing anyway, but I didn’t know it at the time. Ruined a few briskets…I don’t need no stinkin’ thermometer! Back around 03’ or 04’ I bought a Members Mark gas grill from Sam’s. I liked it ok, it was great for quick cooks. Used it less and less over the years, as it just couldn’t do as good a job as my Old Smoky. I actually used an Old Smoky the entire time up until about 10 years ago when I bought a Weber Kettle…..yahoo! No more bending over to cook! 🤓 Since then I’ve found out that a kettle is an almost must have in my arsenal. What did y’all start out cooking with? Did you like it? Any disasters happen? Great results?


NOT TO BE MISTAKEN FOR AN LSG….🥸

[johnec00]

Pedestal grill liberated from a defunct Yogi Bear campground.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

that technically was my first grill when I lived in the dorms that's what we had.

[Duanessmokedmeats]

That would be nice to add to my collection.

[tamidw]

I keep telling my husband I need one of these!

[texastweeter]

Char broil gasser, and a red electric bullet smoker.

[Purc]

A Hibachi grill but not as fancy as this one and yes, I did use lots of lighter fluid.

[Troutman]

Dang you beat me to it. Had one of those on my college dorm patio. Did steaks and chops for me and my roommate.

[Argoboy]

That is what we had back in mid 70’s always said the coals were perfect when I was done cooking. I used lighter fluid too.

[OC Sandy]

That's the first type I cooked on half a million years ago. In fact it might even have been the same one Uncle Bob used.

[STEbbq]

At my first house in CA, I had a basic Weber. The food was edible but probably not great by any means. The apartment in IL, we had a Smokey Joe type grill, which I would take out and place on the sidewalk to sear off the skirt steak for carne asada. Then we moved to the current house and ended up with the PBC.

[Andrrr]

The good old Weber 22” kettle.

[mrichie1229]

+1. I ruined several racks of ribs early on until I figured out how much charcoal I should use/how to tell when they were done.

[Mosca]

First thing I started bbqing on was a Member’s Mark gasser. I had to run one burner only, at its very lowest, and also prop up the lid about an inch, to hold 225°. But it made my first really good ribs.

[Johnny Booth]

I learned the same trick to cook my ribs on a gasser. My problem was that we had parties where people would rather drink than eat. Then, when everyone was properly soaked, they wanted to eat asap. I would crisp them up on the gasser, then wrap in a tinfoil pan. They would cook and hold for hours. When people got hungry, a little sauce, and back on the grill to bubble it up.

[lemayp]

Sub $40 vertical charcoal smoker. Open at the bottom with charcoal pan then water pan and grates. A lot of inedible food came off that thing. Right up until someone stole it off my apartment patio. Never did get a chance to thank them…

[Panhead John]

😂😂

[Skip]

A 1981 Broilmaster by Warm Morning?? gasser. It was a wedding gift. We still have each other but changed to a Weber Silver B in 2002. We still have it and use it occasionally. Around 2005 I got my first Traeger. After that it was an MCS epidemic around here and the cooking fun began!

[Texas Larry]

I burned stuff on a $20 cheapo like this one.

[texastweeter]

Had a few of those for campsites

[Mosca]

An Aussie Walkaround! (Sold under many other names as well.) I have one of those stored under the deck.

[Sid P]

Started with an 18" Weber Kettle. Most of the time I just cooked burgers, brats, or Italian sausage, and I’d never heard of smoking meat, but we loved that thing.

[hoovarmin]

Mine was a charcoal grill with charcoal grates that would lower and raise with a crank and cast iron grates. I think it came from BBQ's Galore. I saw it in an episode of Good Eats with Alton Brown and went out and bought it. I think I'd owned a grill before that, but that one is the first one I remember and when I began to grill in earnest. But I got good at using a grill with a Kettle about 7 years later. It was a black 18 inch Kettle that was in the backyard of a house I rented in Pennsylvania when I went back to school in Philly.

[Sid P]

Did you go to Wharton, Dave?

[hoovarmin]

Sid P Westminster Theological Seminary

[Red Man]

I had a little hibachi grill at my first apartment. Didn’t really know how to use it. Then got a Weber kettle when I moved to a townhouse but also didn’t really know how to use it until I discovered this site. I still have that kettle but mostly just use my performer these days.

[J-Melt]

A 22 inch weber kettle that I was convinced to get by the free side of this site in 2018. My wife got it for me as a Father’s Day gift. One of the best gifts she has gotten me!

[mrichie1229]

My wife bought me mine as an early birthday present after we moved into our first house (in 2009).

[ssandy_561]

I was cooking on my neighbors propane grill as early as middle school. I bought my first propane grill as a 16 year old in high school. It had lava rocks in it above the burners. I bought it from the Hills department store I worked at with my employee discount.

I also bought a hibachi style grill that summer that I loved to cook country style ribs on. I basted them with melted butter with salt and pepper mixed in every time I flipped them. And Purc I also lit it with lighter fluid every time I used it.

[STEbbq]

Oh, I did use lighter fluid once or twice with that first Weber but I found it easier to light the coals with a chimney. I don’t know what happened there either.