TRAEGER IRONWOOD 650

A BBQ so smart, it practically grills (and roasts and smokes) by itself

Rejoice, rejoice, for summer is here. That means it’s time to take to the garden, brush the cobwebs off the barbecue, fire it up and get grilling. Or, even better, you could buy a new one. Prepare to be impressed, because top-drawer BBQs nowadays are way more advanced than what you’re used to. So much so that your input as a chef may barely be needed – good news as it gives you more time to sip Prosecco and socialise with guests.

Take this Traeger Ironwood 650, for instance (£1,499, traeger.com). This behemoth of a barbecue is able to grill, smoke and roast/bake anything you can think of, with an interior sufficiently cavernous to feed large groups of ravenous family members.

Not only that but it offers temperature sensing, smart cooking based on preset recipes conjured up by top Grill Masters and wireless connectivity to keep you abreast of what’s going on. All you need to do is fire it up, add your ribs, brisket, chicken, suckling pig, or whatever you fancy, and then await notification that it’s feeding time, via an app on your phone. The Ironwood 650 is a pellet barbecue, which is the current state of the art in al fresco cooking. Rather than using charcoal or gas, it heats and burns small, reconstituted wood pellets. These sit in a hopper, and the grill dispenses the necessary amount for each cook. The result is a grill that combines much of the convenience of gas with the traditional flavour of charcoal. It can’t come up to temperature quite as fast as a gas burner of course, but the 20-30 minutes required is perfectly acceptable and certainly much less time than a charcoal barbecue of this colossal size would necessitate.

The cooked results from the Ironwood 650 are certainly much more satisfying than what you’d get from gas, as you get a natural smokiness from the wood pellets. You can also choose from a variety of wood flavours, if you want to get more heavily into smoking – maple, cherry and apple wood are some of the most popular options.

The combination of electric burner and pellets means temperature can be controlled extremely precisely, from a low-and-slow 70°C all the way up to a literally searing 260°C. The precision of pellet cooking means that no excess smoke leaks from the Ironwood 650’s imposing frame, although there is a certain amount of noise to reassure you that some serious cookin’ is afoot.

Built almost literally like a battleship, this is a quality item that should make the summer of 2022 much more enjoyable.