Comparisons · Two kinds of barbecue
Three-burner hooded gas grill or Offset smoker
These are not really competitors, and saying so is more useful than pretending otherwise: one is for weeknight cooking and one is for spending a day on a brisket.
What each one is
Three-burner hooded gas grill
Individually controllable burners make two-zone cooking a matter of turning one off, which is the thing gas does better than anything else. It contributes no smoke of its own, so any smoke has to be added deliberately.
Offset smoker
Built for one job and unapologetic about it. The fire lives in a separate box and the food never sees it, which is what allows very long cooks at low temperature — and demands fire management for the whole of them.
What actually differs
| Aspect | Three-burner hooded gas grill | Offset smoker |
|---|---|---|
| Shape and how it works | Hooded gas grill | Offset smoker |
| What heats it The energy source sets the ceiling temperature and how quickly the cooker answers a change. | LPG (bottled gas) | Wood, Lump charcoal |
| What smokes it Separate from the heat, and deliberately so: one cooker in this catalogue draws its heat from the mains and its smoke from wood pellets. | Wood chips | Oak chunks |
| Cooking surface | 60–75 cm | 50–120 cm |
| Direct heat | Designed for this | Not suitable — The food is not above the fire, which is the entire design. |
| Indirect heat | Possible with the right setup — Light the outer burners only and place the food over the unlit one, hood down. | Designed for this |
| Two-zone fire | Designed for this | Not modelled for this cooker |
| Smoking | Needs an accessory — Gas produces no smoke of its own; a smoker box supplies it. | Designed for this |
| Low and slow | Not modelled for this cooker | Designed for this |
| Foods the difference reaches These are the foods whose cooking profiles call for a heat configuration these two cookers support differently. For anything not on the list, the choice between them does not change how it is cooked. | whole chicken, chicken thigh, bone-in, chicken thigh, boneless, chicken breast, boneless, chicken breast, bone-in, chicken wings, chicken drumsticks, beef burger, rib eye steak, sirloin steak, picanha, whole, pork chop, pork shoulder, pork spareribs, baby back ribs, pork tenderloin, brisket, lamb leg steak, lamb loin chop, lamb burger, salmon fillet, halloumi, sausage, whole sweet pepper, corn on the cob, aubergine slices, courgette slices, asparagus spears, onion slices, whole onion, spring onions, button mushrooms, portobello mushroom, new potatoes, halved, sweet potato slices, cabbage wedges, cauliflower florets, halved tomatoes, green beans, halved romaine lettuce, whole trout, tuna steak, whole mackerel, whole sardines, whole sea bass, cod fillet, pizza, whole side of salmon | |
Which one, for what
Conditions rather than a verdict. Each line below is a thing one of them can do that the other cannot, or does without arrangement where the other needs it — taken from the what each cooker is documented as doing, rather than from a preference.
Three-burner hooded gas grill, if:
- You want to cook with direct heat, which the other cannot do.
- You want to cook with two-zone fire, which the other cannot do.
Offset smoker, if:
- You want indirect heat without arranging the fire for it every time.
- You want to cook with low and slow, which the other cannot do.