Green Mountain Grill’s Daniel Boone Prime Plus REVIEW

When talking BBQ in New Zealand, what used to be a few snags and steaks has become much more American with ribs, brisket and pulled pork now featured on menus.

The tools for creating these once cheap meats has dramatically expanded. Green Mountain Grills has introduced a new grill that includes a WiFI option that connects to their GMG smartphone app. Given the opportunity, it would have been rude of me not to have put the mid-range Daniel Boone Prime Plus through its paces.

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The introduction to the world of pellet grills is something I didn’t think I was going to experience yet, especially with the number of barbeques that I have about the place. My issue is always time. While in lockdown there was plenty of it, which meant I could throw a brisket on for 10 hours! Who doesn’t love a good brisket? [The vegetarian sub-editor?]

The pallet arrived with the barbeque safely wrapped up with a few accessories, and weighing in at around 83kgs. Thankfully, putting it together was painless – especially if like me you had a second set of hands available to help flip it over – and the instructions were idiot-proof.

Being a pellet grill, you need a shed (or at least, a cover) to store it and you are limited to the weather you can use it in unless you happen to have a covered shelter. In my case, I didn’t, so our NZ Spring meant less BBQ weather was available than desired. If you do need to shift it around to get it into the right location, the wheels are very sturdy, making it easy to move. Speaking of sturdy, so is the rest of the grill. Its cook-box is made of 14-gauge steel and its lid 13 gauge. It also has a good cooking surface of almost 3m², which is enough to put a couple of racks of ribs and some chicken nibbles on while the brisket finishes.

When there was a chance to fire it up, the process was quite simple and could be managed from the BBQ or from the app, which was incredibly straight-forward to download onto my phone and connect. Bringing it up to temp for the first time saw the grill run through the initial phase, its auger drawing pellets from the hopper (which can carry around 9kg of pellets). This meant I could run a 6kg brisket for 11 hours – and the low pellet alarm would have warned me otherwise!

And the finished product? There was no shortage of smoke ring to the meat, and using the GMG Texas blend pellets, the smoke flavour came through amazingly well. If your phone battery gets a little low during the cook, the Daniel Boone Prime Plus comes with a USB port, so you don’t need to dive inside for the nearest charger.

Don’t think that this is only for low ‘n’ slow barbeque – the heat from the Daniel Boone lends itself well to hot and fast, of which you can nail a tender butterflied lamb leg in around 30 mins (I know because that’s what I did). Add in some of the accessories, and now you have something extremely versatile.

The pizza oven is designed to sit on top of the firebox, funnelling the heat directly to the pizza stone. This heats the pizza stone to around 425°C (800°F) in no time, creating a fantastic home-cooked pizza experience. The Daniel Boone is also equipped with the holes and set-up to attach a rotisserie, so next thing you know, you’re roasting whole chickens, lamb, anything up to 10kg. It’s easy enough to pick up a rotisserie basket to add in some wings and nibbles to round out other slow-cooked delicacies.

The GMG Daniel Boone Prime Plus really does enhance the barbeque experience, not only for the traditional American-style but for some of the Kiwi favourites and even some out-of-the-box experimentation.

Green Mountain Grills have produced a product that makes it easy to BBQ like a god. The result is incredible food with delicious smoky flavours. Even the customer service provided is attentive. When the ignitor stopped working, another was dispatched and received the following day so I could get back to cooking. Instructions on how to get the grill operating without one were readily available. All told, it’s a solid grill, with versatility for your everyday cooks alongside your signature smoking dishes.