Wood-Pellet-Fired Smoking/Cooking

[jhagedon]

After more than a year of drooling over Wood-Pellet-Fired grills several of our RV friends are using, I finally joined fraternity. I hinted long enough that I just received mine (a Traeger Jr. (www.traegergrills.com) for my 70th birthday a few weeks ago. If you like grilling and barbequing - a prerequisite, I think, for becoming an RV'er - you will love the food that comes off these grills. It's small and light enough that it can be carried in a slide or car trunk and used at home as well as in the rig. I'm familiar with Traeger grills, but I'm sure there are other, similar grills on the market as well.

So this thread is for anyone who is RV'ing and wood pellet grillin', or anyone who is interested in getting started. This is a chance to share recipies, photos and favorite pellet smoking websites. Your input, questions and comments are welcome!

[DriVer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhagedon So this thread is for anyone who is RV'ing and wood pellet grillin', or anyone who is interested in getting started. This is a chance to share recipies, photos and favorite pellet smoking websites. Your input, questions and comments are welcome!

jhagedon, I was surprised to see that this stove has the same devices that my BIL has in his house. He's been doing pellet heat for years. Good luck with the stove.

Does this stove fold up into a small package?

[dons2346]

Time for you to smoke a fatty Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Sausage Fatty - Bacon Explosion

[jhagedon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DriVer jhagedon, I was surprised to see that this stove has the same devices that my BIL has in his house. He's been doing pellet heat for years. Good luck with the stove. Does this stove fold up into a small package?

While the pellet stove operates on the same general principle as the pellet smoker/grill, my intention is to cook, rather than heat. Here's a few photos of my setup and the end results!

[SpursMVP]

Yum...gotta get me one because we're always lugging our BBQ pit around. Too much work to get it into one of the bays.

[jhagedon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dons2346 Time for you to smoke a fatty Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Sausage Fatty - Bacon Explosion

Smoking Meat is one of the websites I go to for recipies. I hadn't run across this one yet, but I'll add it to my file. Not sure I can get the wife to buy into letting me cook up this puppy. I think I'm still worth more to her alive than dead!

A couple of other sites I like are:

www.pelletsmoking.com and
www.texasbbqrub.com

But I'm always looking for more ideas.

[CorsairIIAT]

Jim,

I am looking into getting one of these. I have smoked my food for years. I watched all of their videos. Dealer search shows a dealer 3 blocks from the house. Only thing I don't like is having to pay a dollar a lb for pellets.

[a k]

I just finished 7 chicken breasts on my Traeger.

Google= texas star foods. Im live in Mo and they had the best price and free shipping. I picked up 5 of them for myself and friends. The sell the chips for $15/20lb bag when you buy the grill.

[Ray,IN]

Jim you have me looking at the traeger grills. Wow! I just bought a new grill last fall, and now I've gotta work on the financial manager to buy one of these. The wood flavors are amazing Tarheel Wood Treating Co. - Traeger® Wood Pellet Cook Grills for these grills.

[a k]

Jim
I notice you have foil on the drip tray. I found if you take the drip tray and set it flat instead of tilting it towards the drain , the smoke and heat is more uniform and the grease lays on the foil and you can just wrap it up and pitch it.
A K

[frankdamp]

Don't pellets have adhesive binders to keep them together? I have a problem using fuel that contains carcinogens (waxes and other binders) compared to either regular wood or charcoal briquettes (though even those are questionable).

Admittedly, we don't smoke meat for future use, but do use a grill to cook for today's dinner. At present we use charcoal briquettes in the CG grill, after we've done a thorough cleaning.

[jhagedon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by frankdamp Don't pellets have adhesive binders to keep them together?

Everything I've read about wood pellets for cooking indicates that they are held together just by the extreme pressure the wood fibers are under when they are extruded. They are very easy to break apart and I have read that dust is a problem with some pellet suppliers.

Also, you don't want to get them wet. They just dissolve.

[jhagedon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by a k Jim I notice you have foil on the drip tray. I found if you take the drip tray and set it flat instead of tilting it towards the drain , the smoke and heat is more uniform and the grease lays on the foil and you can just wrap it up and pitch it. A K

Interesting idea. I'm not sure at the moment how I can lay the tray flat, but I'll take a look. Right now we are just finishing up a couple of "gourmet" burgers (made with chopped onion, garlic powder, worchester sauce and a bit of TexasBBQrub Grand Champion) and the grill is still warm!

[jhagedon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CorsairIIAT Only thing I don't like is having to pay a dollar a lb for pellets.

I've been surprised as to how few pellets I use for a given cook. Figuring an average of $1.00/lb. (less if you can go together and buy in bulk) I can do steaks or burgers for around $.50 to .75. Roasts, shoulders and ribs can go to maybe $2-3 at the outside (this is one time when small is good, since it takes less fuel for the smaller grill).

If you figure the obviously cheaper, but rising cost of Propane or charcoal briquets, and smoking wood, I don't think the difference is all that bad.