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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Feb 17, 2022 13:37:37 GMT -5
One interesting ... not really downside, but something I've had to come to terms with using a pellet smoker, is how little fiddling there is to do. Of course, that's a big part of their appeal: astonishingly accurate temperature control, no charcoal, foolproof fuel management (just pour pellets into the hopper), and even onboard leave-in thermometer for precise doneness control. You can run the whole thing from an app on your phone. It's easy. ... ... ... but is it too easy? The results speak for themselves. I've put out some awesome food on this grill already. But I kinda miss messing with things. Tending to it. As I've stated numerous times across the food board's many threads, my favorite part of cooking is the doing of it. I like to eat good food, sure, but what I really like to do is cook. This pellet grill is such a tight system, so self-reliant, that sometimes it doesn't really feel like cooking. It's baking with smoke. I find myself walking out back to eye the temp, like I would on my Egg, just for the routine of it. The habit of it. Like I have to invent elaborate menus of laborious side dishes just to give myself a thrill. I don't know. It's weird. I have an electric smoker that is nowhere near as high-performance as your Traeger, but I can totally see how that sort of smoker would take a lot of what you love about barbecuing out of the equation. It's hard to argue with top-notch results, though. It sounds like you've got two wholly different ways to barbecue now, where you can choose with each event whether you want it to be an Egg experience (eggsperience?) or a set-it-and-forget-it one. |
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Post by The Stuffingtacular She-Hulk on Feb 17, 2022 15:49:16 GMT -5
One interesting ... not really downside, but something I've had to come to terms with using a pellet smoker, is how little fiddling there is to do. Of course, that's a big part of their appeal: astonishingly accurate temperature control, no charcoal, foolproof fuel management (just pour pellets into the hopper), and even onboard leave-in thermometer for precise doneness control. You can run the whole thing from an app on your phone. It's easy. ... ... ... but is it too easy? The results speak for themselves. I've put out some awesome food on this grill already. But I kinda miss messing with things. Tending to it. As I've stated numerous times across the food board's many threads, my favorite part of cooking is the doing of it. I like to eat good food, sure, but what I really like to do is cook. This pellet grill is such a tight system, so self-reliant, that sometimes it doesn't really feel like cooking. It's baking with smoke. I find myself walking out back to eye the temp, like I would on my Egg, just for the routine of it. The habit of it. Like I have to invent elaborate menus of laborious side dishes just to give myself a thrill. I don't know. It's weird. This is actually why boxed cake mixes have you add oil and an egg along with the water. The original versions only needed water, but the people who tested them complained that it felt like something was missing, like it was too easy and too perfect, and thus didn't really feel like baking.
I am also the kind of person who enjoys endlessly fiddling with things as they cook because I like the doing of things rather than the observing of things. To each their own, but for me, pellet smokers fall into the category of too easy and not multifunctional enough. You can use pellets in a charcoal grill, but not vice versa. I'm also deeply wary of any cooking appliance that's controlled by a phone/app unless it has duplicative manual controls, and I inherently distrust anything that claims to be of the "set it and forget it" oeuvre.
But all of this is simply personal preference. I am fully aware that I'm something of a cooking Philistine!
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Feb 17, 2022 15:50:31 GMT -5
One interesting ... not really downside, but something I've had to come to terms with using a pellet smoker, is how little fiddling there is to do. Of course, that's a big part of their appeal: astonishingly accurate temperature control, no charcoal, foolproof fuel management (just pour pellets into the hopper), and even onboard leave-in thermometer for precise doneness control. You can run the whole thing from an app on your phone. It's easy. ... ... ... but is it too easy? The results speak for themselves. I've put out some awesome food on this grill already. But I kinda miss messing with things. Tending to it. As I've stated numerous times across the food board's many threads, my favorite part of cooking is the doing of it. I like to eat good food, sure, but what I really like to do is cook. This pellet grill is such a tight system, so self-reliant, that sometimes it doesn't really feel like cooking. It's baking with smoke. I find myself walking out back to eye the temp, like I would on my Egg, just for the routine of it. The habit of it. Like I have to invent elaborate menus of laborious side dishes just to give myself a thrill. I don't know. It's weird. I have an electric smoker that is nowhere near as high-performance as your Traeger, but I can totally see how that sort of smoker would take a lot of what you love about barbecuing out of the equation. It's hard to argue with top-notch results, though. It sounds like you've got two wholly different ways to barbecue now, where you can choose with each event whether you want it to be an Egg experience (eggsperience?) or a set-it-and-forget-it one. Why have I had a Big Green Egg for 9 years and not once invited people over for an "eggsperience?" |
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Feb 17, 2022 16:10:04 GMT -5
This is actually why boxed cake mixes have you add oil and an egg along with the water. The original versions only needed water, but the people who tested them complained that it felt like something was missing, like it was too easy and too perfect, and thus didn't really feel like baking.
I am also the kind of person who enjoys endlessly fiddling with things as they cook because I like the doing of things rather than the observing of things. To each their own, but for me, pellet smokers fall into the category of too easy and not multifunctional enough. You can use pellets in a charcoal grill, but not vice versa. I'm also deeply wary of any cooking appliance that's controlled by a phone/app unless it has duplicative manual controls, and I inherently distrust anything that claims to be of the "set it and forget it" oeuvre.
But all of this is simply personal preference. I am fully aware that I'm something of a cooking Philistine!
That's super interesting about boxed cake mixes, and it makes total sense to me. I'm the same way. I really love my pellet grill and am having fun with it, and I would consider recommending one as a "first smoker" for someone interested into getting into barbecue. Perhaps my favorite thing about it is that it has gotten me into the backyard cooking a lot more than I was. Accepting that I'm still in the "new toy" honeymoon phase, I've probably cooked more times on the Traeger since I got it 2 months ago than I would normally cook on my charcoal grill in 6-9 months. I would NOT recommend it as a household's only outdoor grill though. Gotta have that charcoal and/or propane "poke something with your tongs" experience locked down first. For what it's worth in this case, the app isn't required to run the thing at all. You can run it using the onboard controls ... and I do. Like, just to do it. I could check my meat's temp on my app, or I could walk out back and check it on the display. Nine out of ten times I'm walking out back. I'm an inveterate piddler. I have to piddle around when I cook. I must. |
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GumTurkeyles
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Post by GumTurkeyles on Feb 18, 2022 8:13:53 GMT -5
I have an electric smoker that is nowhere near as high-performance as your Traeger, but I can totally see how that sort of smoker would take a lot of what you love about barbecuing out of the equation. It's hard to argue with top-notch results, though. It sounds like you've got two wholly different ways to barbecue now, where you can choose with each event whether you want it to be an Egg experience (eggsperience?) or a set-it-and-forget-it one. Why have I had a Big Green Egg for 9 years and not once invited people over for an "eggsperience?" One of the times I was in Montreal, for a bachelor party, we had brunch at a place called eggspectations. We went through the entire brunch making egg based puns. My favorite was saying that the food tasted like eggscrement. |
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Feb 24, 2022 9:10:19 GMT -5
Decided to take a few rubs for a taste test. One of the most prominent names in "Traeger Nation" is Matt Pittman, founder and CEO of Meat Church in Waxahachie, TX. Many of his recipes are featured on the Traeger App, and he has hosted several episodes of their Traeger Kitchen Live teaching series, which they started early in the pandemic. He also frequently features Traeger grills in his own recipe videos on the Meat Church channel. Being local and being such a prominent voice for the brand, I had to check out some of his products. But which is best? Images are after the jump. Here's what I did: - I took country style pork ribs (boneless planks of pork shoulder) and coated them in yellow mustard as a binder - I seasoned each rib with one of five different rubs - I smoked them at 275 until they reached around 165F - I wrapped them in foil to speed up the remainder of the cook, pulling them around 198F - I rested them and then ate up! Normally I'd do a sauce or at the very least a glaze for country ribs, but I wanted this test to be all about the rubs, so I didn't do anything extra here. Rubbed 'em, smoked 'em, braised 'em, ate 'em. Here are the contenders: Meat Church The Gospel All-Purpose: Their all-occasions rub has a gorgeous red color and fairly classic "kitchen sink" flavor of paprika, chile powder, sugar, and salt. A southwestern vibe.
Meat Church The Holy Gospel: This rub is a blend of The Gospel All-Purpose and their beef rub, The Holy Cow. The beef rub brings a pronounced black peppery bite that you can even see. Complex.
Meat Church Honey Hog Hot: The hot version of their sweet pork rub made with honey powder, the Honey Hog. Rather than your typical cayenne, the heat here comes from jalapeno powder. A nice twist, and not too spicy.
Meat Church Holy Voodoo: Their take on Tony Cachere's. The Holy Voodoo is a cajun rub with plenty of sugar and spice. Pittman says this is their #1 rub.
Traeger Pork & Poultry: I do own two more Meat Church rubs, but I decided I wanted to add a Traeger rub to our test. The Pork & Poultry rub has prominent apple and honey notes and isn't too salty. The results: Bro: 1 - Holy Gospel 2 - Honey Hog Hot 3 - Pork & Poultry 4 - Gospel All-Purpose 5 - Holy Voodoo Mrs. Bro: 1 - Holy Gospel 2 - Pork & Poultry 3 - Gospel All-Purpose 4 - Holy Voodoo 5 - Honey Hog Hot We both agreed that the Meat Church Holy Gospel ran away with this, loving that combination of southwest chile flavors and black pepper. It had the most going on and was altogether a really great bite of food. We were both also surprised to see the Traeger rub high in our rankings, but that apple forward rub was full of pork-friendly flavor. Where we really diverged was on the Honey Hog Hot. I loved that unique kick of jalapeno - it smells and tastes so different from other bbq rubs (it's also fantastic on popcorn) - but the Mrs. didn't think it had as much to offer. She didn't think it was bad, and she's not averse to spice or jalapenos, but of this set it landed at the bottom for her. My personal biggest disappointment was the Holy Voodoo, which I thought had a chance to win this. I've loved the Voodoo on other pork and poultry dishes I've made, and it's a terrific vegetable rub. One mitigating factor in its favor is that we both agreed that its sample was the worst piece of meat. Kind of tough, and my bite had a bit so chewy I almost spit it out. On one of the fattier, juicier pieces, who knows. Images below: The contenders, rubbed and left to "sweat out" for 30 minutes.
Lest you think I wasn't taking this seriously, I individually wrapped each rub profile for the braise to avoid co-mingling of flavors. And finally, the finished product. In retrospect I should have laid them out still whole, as that would have made a better picture and would have better showed off the rubs. But eh.
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Feb 24, 2022 9:34:01 GMT -5
LazBro Thanks for this report! I love when a taste test has a clear, runaway winner; the Holy Gospel definitely sounds worth seeking out! I was also really pulling for the Hot Honey Hog, because the combo of honey powder and jalapeno is irresistible. I'm sorry it was saddled with a handicap of lesser country rib, and while I won't demand a rematch, I feel its honor has been slightly impugned here...
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Mar 3, 2022 9:29:17 GMT -5
Big ups for the Meat Mitch Whomp! Sauce. Sweet-forward, with just a little kick, this is Kansas City done exactly right. I came across it from the Meat Church recipe videos on YouTube. Meat Church doesn't sell sauces (which is weird but okay), so they always tap into others' sauces when recipes call for some. I noticed them using Meat Mitch time and again, so when I saw it in the wild, I had to go for it. All of the Traeger sauces I've tried are also very good, especially the Traeger Apricot. The Traeger 'Que is good, but it's in the same vein as Meat Mitch Whomp!, and I'd go for the Whomp! five out of five times. |
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Apr 25, 2022 11:01:23 GMT -5
I finally attempted the Holy Grail yesterday, the whole USDA Prime brisket. Despite doing it on the weekend, I was eager to try what Meat Church's Matt Pittman calls the "weekday brisket." It's a recipe tailored to the strengths of the pellet smoker in which you start your brisket the evening before you plan to eat it and then cook it VERY LOW and VERY SLOW for anywhere from 18-24 hours. Since Traegers and many other modern pellet smoker models have the ability to control settings from a phone app, the idea is that this is a way you can have a real deal brisket dinner on a weeknight, monitoring the whole process from you day job, without the babysitting required of an offset or kamado-style smoker.
The results? Very good. Probably not the best brisket I've ever made - and for sure it didn't bark up like I'd like, even though it still had a nice sugar cookie exterior - but that's just kind how pellet smokers are. The taste was fabulous and very tender-yet-sliceable. Only the very extreme of both the flat and the point were overcooked.
It was also an absolute mountain of food, and now I've got four freezer bags full of brisket ready to deploy from some future taco, quesadilla, melt, chili...
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Post by pantsgoblin on Apr 25, 2022 11:07:43 GMT -5
I finally attempted the Holy Grail yesterday, the whole USDA Prime brisket. Despite doing it on the weekend, I was eager to try what Meat Church's Matt Pittman calls the "weekday brisket." It's a recipe tailored to the strengths of the pellet smoker in which you start your brisket the evening before you plan to eat it and then cook it VERY LOW and VERY SLOW for anywhere from 18-24 hours. Since Traegers and many other modern pellet smoker models have the ability to control settings from a phone app, the idea is that this is a way you can have a real deal brisket dinner on a weeknight, monitoring the whole process from you day job, without the babysitting required of an offset or kamado-style smoker.
The results? Very good. Probably not the best brisket I've ever made - and for sure it didn't bark up like I'd like, even though it still had a nice sugar cookie exterior - but that's just kind how pellet smokers are. The taste was fabulous and very tender-yet-sliceable. Only the very extreme of both the flat and the point were overcooked.
It was also an absolute mountain of food, and now I've got four freezer bags full of brisket ready to deploy from some future taco, quesadilla, melt, chili...
I wasn't aware of Matt Pittman. I'd like to see a Battle Royale between him and How To Cook Everything Vegetarian author Mark Bittman. |
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monodrone
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Post by monodrone on May 25, 2022 4:52:06 GMT -5
I got a new charcoal grill a couple of weeks ago with a view to doing some smokey stuff after years of cooking easy things with gas and now I've read this whole thread. It's good stuff so thanks for writing so much down. Much to think about! Did my first cook on it last week with a spatchcock chicken alongside some sliced peppers/courgettes and naan bread which was great and made for some fantastic lunches (salads! omelettes!!) in the following days. Looking forward to messing around with some longer cooks in the summer.
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Aug 23, 2022 10:31:03 GMT -5
I chose an absolutely terrible time to try get even more into barbecue. Not only is the only other barbecue lover in the house chemically averse to eating it right now, but also meat prices are crazy stupid dumb right now.
Being a "barbecue guy" seemed like a good idea when a quality whole brisket costs $30-40 and not $80+
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Aug 30, 2022 10:41:01 GMT -5
I chose an absolutely terrible time to try get even more into barbecue. Not only is the only other barbecue lover in the house chemically averse to eating it right now, but also meat prices are crazy stupid dumb right now.
Being a "barbecue guy" seemed like a good idea when a quality whole brisket costs $30-40 and not $80+
Do you need to just smoke a lot more cheeses now? |
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Aug 31, 2022 9:26:16 GMT -5
I chose an absolutely terrible time to try get even more into barbecue. Not only is the only other barbecue lover in the house chemically averse to eating it right now, but also meat prices are crazy stupid dumb right now.
Being a "barbecue guy" seemed like a good idea when a quality whole brisket costs $30-40 and not $80+
Do you need to just smoke a lot more cheeses now? Yes, yes I do. Smoked cream cheese is a revelation, but I could totally smoke "real" cheeses as well. |
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Post by The Stuffingtacular She-Hulk on Aug 31, 2022 9:50:18 GMT -5
I've smoked cheeses before! Everyone thinks you're an amazing genius, but it takes like three seconds of planning. I also like to smoke mixed nuts that I toss with rosemary, black pepper, hot paprika, brown sugar, salt, and butter. They're delicious and also take about three seconds of planning.
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Post by pantsgoblin on Sept 7, 2022 9:37:14 GMT -5
I've smoked cheeses before! Everyone thinks you're an amazing genius, but it takes like three seconds of planning. I also like to smoke mixed nuts that I toss with rosemary, black pepper, hot paprika, brown sugar, salt, and butter. They're delicious and also take about three seconds of planning. What flavor of smoke do y'all use? I smoked some cream cheese over the weekend and it was tasty enough but I don't think mesquite was the right variety. |
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Post by The Stuffingtacular She-Hulk on Sept 7, 2022 9:45:35 GMT -5
I've smoked cheeses before! Everyone thinks you're an amazing genius, but it takes like three seconds of planning. I also like to smoke mixed nuts that I toss with rosemary, black pepper, hot paprika, brown sugar, salt, and butter. They're delicious and also take about three seconds of planning. What flavor of smoke do y'all use? I smoked some cream cheese over the weekend and it was tasty enough but I don't think mesquite was the right variety. I normally use a fruit wood like apple or cherry. Pecan wood would probably be delicious, too, though! |
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Sept 7, 2022 9:51:07 GMT -5
I've smoked cheeses before! Everyone thinks you're an amazing genius, but it takes like three seconds of planning. I also like to smoke mixed nuts that I toss with rosemary, black pepper, hot paprika, brown sugar, salt, and butter. They're delicious and also take about three seconds of planning. What flavor of smoke do y'all use? I smoked some cream cheese over the weekend and it was tasty enough but I don't think mesquite was the right variety. Agreed with Shulkie that fruit and nut woods would be great for smoked cream cheese. Though I usually use hickory or oak, because I like a strong smoke flavor (without mesquite's signature bitterness) and also because I'm Texan, and oak is just what we do here. |
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Oct 24, 2022 8:34:07 GMT -5
I cooked a pastrami over the weekend, and if that wasn't enough of a first for me, I decided I also wanted to try the Foil Boat method of smoking it. Popularized by Chud's BBQ here in Texas, this is a hybrid brisket wrapping method in which you smoke the brisket like normal up to the wrap stage, then tightly wrap the bottom and sides of the brisket in foil, leaving the top fully exposed. There are two alleged benefits: 1) the bottom of the brisket* is protected as the later hours of the cook continue to push heat into the meat, while also speeding up the cook by collecting the juices and steaming the meat from below, and 2) the exposed top side continues to develop bark and render fat the way a paper-wrapped brisket would, avoiding the softening that comes with a full foil wrap.
Is it really best of both worlds?
With the caveat that I'm still learning my smoker - I've had it for a year, but how many briskets have I cooked on it? I think just two - my short answer is yes. This was without a doubt the best bark I've ever put on a brisket in 10+ years of smoking them. Beautifully dark, crunchy but not hard, with a positively decadent layer of golden rendered fat underneath. I was definitely of two minds coming out of the process: the half that was focused on how it succeeded as a pastrami, and the half that just thought whatever the flavor profile, it was a hell of a good brisket. I can't wait to try this method again with a full brisket seasoned traditionally for barbecue.
*Assuming fat side up, meat side down here. The Texas way.
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Feb 7, 2023 13:31:19 GMT -5
One of the clear downsides of pellet smokers is that they don't produce as much smoke flavor as traditional offset smokers or even kamado-style ceramic cookers. They're easy to use and maintain, and these things make it easier to cook with them more often, but the lack of deep smoke flavor is a trade off. And it's more than flavor: smoke contributes to bark development, so less smoke, less bark.
I decided to give a common remedy to this a try: the smoke tube. A smoke tube is a hollow metal tube you fill with wood pellets and then light and place on your grill grate during the cook. I think it was originally designed as a way to convert non-smokers like traditional charcoal and propane grills into makeshift smokers, but it works just as well to "double up" on the amount of smoke produced during a smoker's cook. I took my new smoke tube (forget the brand but doubt it matters) for a test run over the weekend on a pork belly brisket: fresh pork belly cut into a large rectangle that is seasoned and smoked like a brisket. I added 12oz of hickory pellets to my tube, lit it using a wood fire starter, waited for the pellets to catch, blew them out to induce a smoky, smoldering state, then put on the pork belly.
Did it work? Was the difference noticeable?
Absolutely yes. In both smoke flavor and bark formation, this pork belly brisket much more closely resembled what I get off my ceramic cooker or what I'm used to seeing from offset smokers vs. what I've been getting on the pellet grill over the last year. The bark was dark mahogany with a more defined crunch, and the smoke flavor was pronounced, unquestionable, and tasted only stronger the next day. It was delicious.
Is it worth it? For bigger cuts, longer cooks, or any meal where you're trying to wow guests, I think so. The results are there. But maybe not for EVERY cook. The main issue being the additional use of fuel. 12oz of pellets plus a fire starter isn't a LOT of money, but it's not nothing either. It strikes me as something I'd be more likely to pull out on the weekend for a big cook I'm really devoting myself to, and not something I'd wish to add a couple bucks to weeknight dinner for unless I'm experimenting ... which okay I usually am.
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Post by pantsgoblin on Mar 24, 2023 12:05:20 GMT -5
On this SCOTUS case regarding Jack Daniel's vs. a little pet toy company (stupid but at least it distracts the current Court from hearing cases that would actually erode constitutional rights), I would fully believe you if you told me that JD makes more from merchandising than selling whiskey and that's the crux of the suit. For instance, last time I bought wood chips for smoking, there were chips "made from real Jack Daniel's aging barrels." If that's real, I don't even want to imagine what sort of heavy metals, chemicals, and other nastiness is in them. |
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Dec 4, 2023 10:53:25 GMT -5
Positively heartbroken. All last week I had my mind set on doing smoked beef ribs on Sunday. I'm talking about the absolute chonkers: 3-bone beef plate ribs. Dinosaur ribs. My local Costco has them every time I go. They never don't have them. Then I went on Saturday to pick up a rack, went out of my goddamn way cuz it's not like the Costco is close by, and fail. No ribs.
They had a good price on lamb shoulder, so I bought and smoked one of those instead. And now I've got a good amount of shredded smoked lamb meat in my freezer. I'm not gonna complain about that, but still. I wanted those ribs so bad. Don't really want to drive all the way out to Costco again so soon, so I might stop by the Wildfork here in town. They'll be frozen, but good quality, and if I buy them early enough this week they'll be ready for Sunday.
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Apr 8, 2024 10:05:53 GMT -5
Went to a party with some old friends from high school and college over the weekend. Some of them I've seen at least a few times since then while others I hadn't seen since college 19 years ago. It was cool. One thing I didn't know until a day or so before the party was that our hosts, and in particular the guy, we're super into barbecue. This was not only a reunion of sorts - the impetus was that one of our friends was visiting the States, she lives in Scotland now - it was also a launch party for their barbecue business-slash-lifestyle brand. While we hung out and visited in the backyard, they were inside with a professional film crew filming interviews, b-roll of cooking and meat slicing, etc. Not only am I happy for them and super excited for their planned YouTube channel, but I also welcomed the promise of some truly legit barbecue. This is Texas after all, you gotta bring it to thrive in this space.
So?
The brisket was ... good. Very flavorful, good smoke profile, but it wouldn't pass the pull test. You shouldn't need a knife to eat brisket. And technically you didn't. I didn't use one, but I also accepted having to kind of pull at the meat with my teeth. Most people opted for knives. If I'm honest, I think my brisket is a little better. BUT, every cow and every brisket is different. There's a luck factor here. The pulled pork was killer though.
One thing that did, ahem, rub me the wrong way, is that the dude kinda kept going on about how good his food is. And it was good. But duder, let the people do the talking. He wasn't insufferable though, just excited. And he was talking to friends, not customers. Starting a catering business in this market has got to be incredibly risky, and I wish them well. Once they get their YouTube channel off the ground, I'll share it.
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