A Saffire Grill Smoker is a great game-day team player

For football junkies, this is the best time of the year, where Saturdays and Sundays literally turn into fun days filled with friends, family, neighbors and coworkers. While many choose to tailgate at the stadium, many are staying home to enjoy the big game on their high-definition, big-screen television while sitting in a comfortable recliner and enjoying home-cooked food. It's no secret fans are staying home; owners of NFL franchises are building new stadiums packed with artwork, the newest technology, side attractions, gourmet food stands and much more. Each NFL stadium is competing directly with your couch.

If you find yourself staying home and love good food, then you probably have a gas or charcoal grill. But have you considered a smoker for your backyard cookouts? While they may seem time consuming, they really require minimal work to create juicy, savory meat everyone while drool over. People are intimidated by the time it takes to properly smoke meat, but this does not add to the difficulty of cooking with a smoker, such as the onyx black Saffire Grill Smoker pictured right as an example (view the Saffire Grill Smoker - Onyx Black here). Patience is the key to cooking with a smoker.

And the advantages of cooking with a smoker are numerous. While you might be familiar with the tender barbecue pork, beef and chicken that is produced by a smoker, you can prepare much more than just meat. Basically anything you could bake in a traditional oven can be cooked in a smoker. Imagine creating cakes, pizzas, potatoes, smoked beans and even smoked corn. We have included a recipe for smoked corn at the bottom this blog. Scroll down and check it out!

Let's review the Saffire Grill Smoker from Saffire Grill Company (the red Saffire Grill Smoker is pictured left as an example; view the Saffire Grill Smoker Red here). These are ceramic smokers that copy the concept of ancient Asian ceramic cookers brought back by US military service members after World War II. There are two separate ceramic walls and a gasket seal that locks when shut. The Saffire Grill Smoker is actually three types of cooking devices in one model: it's a grill capable of reaching 700 degrees, a low-temperature smoker and a ceramic pizza oven.

Smokers use natural lump charcoal that is made from natural hardwoods as a fuel source (less dense than a briquette), which are accentuated by flavored wood chips that are typically added to the charcoal during the smoking process. It takes only 10-15 minutes to fire up the natural lump charcoal, and you should be able to smoke food for up to 10 hours with only one load. And since these smokers are so efficient, radiating very little heat when compared to traditional grills, they require 1/4 to 1/2 of the typical charcoal load.

The Saffire Grill Smoker is also quite attractive, with either a red or black baked-on glazed finish. The cart offers Acacia wood (pictured right) or granite tops, commercial-quality stainless steel hardware, a solid cast stainless steel control top, an innovative smoke and chip feeder, an internal ceramic heat deflector that doubles as a pizza oven shelf, an access door on the grill grid, a secondary cooking grid and a cooking grid elevator.

So to recap, the Saffire smoker will produce an even, low temperature to smoke savory meats packed with juicy flavor, but can be used as a traditional grill or even a pizza oven. It's stuffed with cool features and special touches, such as the chip and smoke feeder that allows you to add wood chips without opening the smoker top, and the cast steel control top, which Saffire indicates is the only cast control top available on the market. The outside appearance is beautiful, with Acacia wood or granite countertops available, and a baked-on glaze of black or red that adds to the beauty. And you can cook all kinds of crazy things in a smoker, including corn. Here's a recipe:

Ingredients:

• Six ears of fresh corn
• Five rings of chopped jalapeno peppers
• Half of a chopped sweet onion
• Three chopped green chiles
• One chopped Serrano pepper
• One minced garlic clove
• 3/4 cup of milk
• One tablespoon of butter or butter alternative
• Three tablespoons of cream cheese
• Two tablespoons of flour
• Three teaspoons of parmesan cheese
• Half a teaspoon of paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of cracked black pepper

Instructions:

1. In a bowl melt the butter with the salt, pepper and paprika.
2. Pull back the husks of the corn and wash the kernels.
3. Brush the corn with this melted mixture and recover the corn with the husks.
4. Add the corn to the smoker and let it smoke with the main dish you are preparing.
5. When finished smoking, which could be hours and hours, remove the corn from the smoker.
6. Remove the husks and slice the corn kernels from the cobs. They could be so tender they will simply fall off of the cob with an easy scoop of a spoon.
7. With olive oil, sauté the peppers, onions and garlic in a skillet. Once brown, add milk, flour, corn, cream cheese, parmesan cheese, butter, cayenne, salt and pepper to the skillet. Let simmer until the mixture has become a chowder-like consistency, or keep cooking down for a mashed-corn-like mixture. If not cooked down, serve over rice; if cooked down, it could be used as a side dish.

Family Leisure offers Saffire Smokers with carts and Saffire Smoker Heads that can be placed in a permanent grill island or outdoor kitchen; view all Saffire Grill products from Family Leisure here. Grill Smokers are great additions to any outdoor space; view all Family Leisure Grill Smokers here. Not interested in a smoker? Family Leisure also offers charcoal, gas and infrared grill options, so you can build your outdoor kitchen without travelling to the local store or hire a crew of workers; view all Family Leisure Grills here.