Faq & Download

Yes certainly

The Cactus Jack BBQ Smoker is the most versatile BBQ in the hemisphere

You can grill directly:

• Directly in the Firebox with the Inox grid delivered with the BBQ
• Directly in the Main Chamber with the Inox grid supplied with the BBQ (we recommend to use the especially produced and offered 16″ and or 20″ charcoal Grill Grids if you want to cook in the main Chamber in order to have a superb airflow underneath and a good glow or fire under the grill racks)
• With the adjustable height grill rack system over the Firebox (with this optional device you can even alter and change the height of the grill rack over the glow and fire in the firebox and you can select beetween using to grill and cook on an Inox Grill Rack or a Lava Stone or a Sizzling & Searing Plate or even in a WOK with an Inox plate

Not at all. With the Cactus Jack you have all options available for quick grilling or indirect grilling, for example. Indirect grilling is the fastest method because you don’t even have to wait for embers to glow. A steak is ready in 15-30 minutes (depending on the thickness).

First I take enough time, because the more time I give myself, the better it gets (like in the kitchen). Then I take a large piece of meat, not small ‘cold cuts’ which could easily fall between the grill grooves. The BBQ smoker must be fired and the temperature must be available (a cold pan cannot cook either).

The ideal BBQ temperature is 120 ° C and if possible only use dry and well-stored hardwood (from the farmer e.g. beech or other hardwood) the greater the piece of meat is all the easier when barbecuing Rule of thumb: approx. 1 hour of barbecue time per 1 kg Put the most important and largest part in the middle of the main chamber and everything that needs more temperature all the way to the right in the main chamber (watch out for flames) Fish and other things that need to be cooked carefully should be placed in the middle or to the left or, if available, in the smoke tower.

The longer a large piece lies in the BBQ Smoker, the better it becomes enemy: No time and too much heat or flames which can easily reach the grill friend : Lots of time, lots of friends and the whole family and everything on the BBQ Smoker and have some drinks ready and enjoy and the second cut piece will taste even better (leave large pieces in the BBQ and cut continuously e.g. for the 2nd plate or the lookup).

Cactus Jack is actually both of them, with a Cactus Jack you can:

1. You grill like any other grill directly over the fire
2. Indirect grilling like any better grill
3. Low temperature cooking i.e. barbecuing in which the temperature is raised to 120 °
4. Cold smoking quickly as good as a professional device
5. Warm smoking with good tasteful wood or wood chips a poem
6. Baking (pizza & bread & cakes) like many good wood-burning stoves
7. Rotisserie at all not chuckwagon
8. Cooking in pots (WOK & cast iron pots) over the fire or on the fire box or on the height-adjustable grillage system like in any kitchen

Well this is a) a very good and important question and b) a very difficult question

To be able to provide a quality recommendation we would first need to know what are you looking for and what do you want to cook and how do you want to cook and how do you like to cook

Most people buy the same thing as they did see at a friends home or by recommendations which is great but a detailed questionary and analysis is needed to provide the right recommendation.

Frist a so called BBQ is usually a Grill so direct grilling (with any heat source as charcoal or gas or electric or even wood) and this is not BBQ. Most people like to use the word BBQ because it  sounds better and everybody is using this term

By definition BBQ is low temperature indirect wood long term cooking

A direct grill is fast and a gas grill is even faster as a charcoal grill and therefore if the fast readiness of the heat source is very important it is a clear go for gas

If somebody wants direct but a bit fire atmosphere a charcoal grill is good

if somebody wants to cook large pieces or wants to get a lot of taste and wants to cook carefully keeping all vitamines you must reduce the temperature and you must cook indirect and best with wood as only there you add flavour (this is why charcoal and or gas grills recommend wood chips to be added to get more taste to the charcoal grilling)

A Smoker is not only a Smoker you can Grill and BBQ and Smoke so a 3 in 1 unit

If somebody likes or even loves outdoor cooking you need ideally several grills and several heat sources and you can select like this depending what you want to cook and how you want to cook and what result you want to achieve you select the BBQ

Myself i usually have 4 per house (there is a certain limit by my most loved wife not more than 4 units per house – luckily i have 2 homes a vacation place and a main place – like this i got 8 BBQ’s)

I have obviously at each house a smoker and a gas or an outdoor gas cooking station, an outdoor electric BBQ with Ceramic fields, wood pizza oven (small) and for fast cooking 1 kg in 10 min a Beefer what else

If i want to cook 1 kg of Beef Filet i usually use the Gas grill for convenience and low temperature cooking does not really add much to the filet as the meat is already the top quality you can not really improve the qualilty much there is only the ‘danger’ to destroy the quality with the wrong cooking method. In aprox. 30 minutes the Filet is ready of course rare or maximum medium rare for the respect of the animal please)

A Salmon i can only BBQ with wood in a smoker the so called semi cuit BBQ Salmon (the Swiss Hotel school did many years told me this is the professional name for what i was doing with the salmon). Skin on the half of the salmon and skin down and in 50 min prior the protein (the white pearls start to pop out of the salmon) take it and serve it – there is no better way of salmon out door cooking if you like it humid and not dry and still a bit rare inside and flavour and color outside

A Prime Rib large piece never under 3 kg best 6 kg or more can only be gently cooked on a BBQ Smoker

A Ceramic BBQ cooking stly which recently entered Europe (this is by the way a very old Asian and Eastern outdoor cooking method) can cook almost everything.

You need to learn and spend some time and best a cooking class till you really discover and know everything how to use the unit perfectly but also a great way to cook

Well this is really up to you but please allow us to answer this question by providing a bit more back ground info’s as follows:

• Charcoal was the most popular heat source for outdoor cooking in the past and was overtaken by gas with the gas grills for convenience and speed in our industrialisation
• Charcoal is a derivat of wood
• There are many different charcoal qualities on the market
• As this is a volume product and many mass retailers use charcoal as a frequency transporter especially that the husband comes shopping in the store and therefore it is very price driven
• Anything that is price driven usually looses quality aspects for the product which comes with this strategy by nature
• Good Charcoal is hard wood junk charcaol pieces so something big and with real some wood elements in it
• The more expensive the Charcoal is the better is usally the quality
• So any bag under 10€/Sfr/$ what ever size is not really recommendable
• Charcoal does not provide much or most time no taste at all only provides heat and fire and flames (flames should be avoided for the nutrution as they only destroy you need only the heat)
• Buy if you buy charcoal best quality charcoal
• Now why using charcoal if you could use wood ?
• There is only price and easyness of the supply which could bring you towards charcoal
• Only wood has all the needed and wanted humidity and much higher temperature as charcoal and most importantly much more flavour
• Now the selection of the wood makes all the differences in flavor and aroma
• Especially a tree which did carry an eatable or even an uneatable fruit usually has a lot of flavour and this is what we want when we cook/grill or BBQ especially large pieces and for a longer cooking time (so Barbecueing)
• Please note many grills especially the thin gage grills and even most inexpensive thin wall stone Fire places/Cheminees can not use wood as they would crack and bend and get distroyed this is why they recommend to use charcoal because of the quality of the Grill – so thickness of the steel or stone plates and the quality is everything.
• Only with 3 mm upwards or even better with our standard thickness of 6,5 mm with the 16″ BBQ’s or with over 7 mm with the 70″ BBQ’s you can relaxed use wood and add all humidity of the air and the wood and last but not least all the flavour
• A wood fire burns as fast or even faster than firing up charcoal and by cooking inderect (Fire in the Firebox and cooking in the main chamber) you can start to cook in 5 – 10 min on a smoker so faster than any charcoal direct grill technology where you should minimal wate 20 min or more till you have the glow and no flames (most people do not wait that long with a charcoal grill this is why they struggly then with the meat or fish or the vegetables over the fire on a charcoal grill!
• If a good and dear friend asks me this question – i would answer thim like this: if you want no flavour from the heat source then use Charcoal – so charcoal is also good and usable if you want to cook very long extended BBQ and you do not need or want to add aditional flavour to the food (the first World BBQ Champion a top Restaurant cook told me over 25 years ago this and first i stumbled but then i got it )

Actually everything.

Your imagination could at most only narrow the spectrum.

The Cactus Jack can actually do everything. He is excellent at many things like barbecuing like fish & meat & vegetables. He is a master at things like smoking fish or game. It can also prepare also other things like dessert, for example pineapple or bananas or a cake. Enjoy!

A BBQ smoker is a low-temperature cooking device that can be fired with wood or high-quality charcoal and, more recently, with pellets.

The Cactus Jack is the best smoker which was first manufactured and sold in Europe.It has been made in Italy with love and culture for over 25 years.

He is a multiple winner of countless BBQ championships worldwide.

He is the father of all BBQ smokers made in Europe, who imported and successfully sold the best and first smoker (this created the term & culture BBQ smoker in Europe, which was affectionately known as ‘OKI’ from the USA) over 27 years ago.