/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.17014784]

Does anyone on /ck/ have a pellet smoker? I was thinking about getting one but I’ve been seeing bad reviews of the Traeger 575 pro. Tons of pics of peoples grills where the paint melts off. The only other brands I know of worth considering are Yoder (pic related, very pricey) and Recteq. I’m not in a rush to buy one but I did want to see what /ck/‘s experience using pellet grills was. I do plan on primarily using this as a smoker So any advice would be appreciated

>he mentioned brands he’s a shill
Kys I just want to use up some old gift cards

[Anonymous No.17014796]

>>17014784
I researched the shit out of it and thought I wanted a Camp Chef. I decided it would wind up being a greasy mess laying in the garage.

[Anonymous No.17014854]

>>17014784
Cant you just fart smoke in any cintainer and it becomes a smoker?

[Anonymous No.17014963]

>>17014796
Would you not clean it? Is it hard to clean?

[Anonymous No.17014995]

>>17014784
>Does anyone on /ck/ have a pellet smoker
Nope

[Anonymous No.17015011]

>>17014995
I forgot this is a fast food enthusiast board

[Anonymous No.17015037]

>>17015011
K

[Anonymous No.17015316]

>>17014784
I would spend all day pushing that around the yard and making train sounds

[Anonymous No.17015329]

>>17014784
I've got the traeger 860(??). It's the smaller version of their flagship model. To be honest it doesn't do much for me. The smoke taste is nonexistent. Controlling it with your phone is cool and all but it absolutely was not worth the money. I'd get a real smoker if I was to buy again.

[Anonymous No.17015339]

>>17015329
I typed this then remembered I smoked one of the best brisket I've ever had on it. I dunno. Ymmv.

[Anonymous No.17015352]

>>17015329
Not OP but I know a guy with a Traeger and he has never liked it.

[Anonymous No.17015431]

Check out the masturbuilt gravity series. They use charcoal instead and gives better results

[Anonymous No.17015492]

>>17014784
I got a pit boss 850 that's a pellet grill and smoker. Love the thing, wish I got the 1150 instead because its bigger and easier to clean. I make either an entire brisket or pork shoulder every Sunday, can also connect to blue tooth and change temps with your phone.

[Anonymous No.17015509]

>>17014784
I have a teammate with a higher-end traeger. He highly recommends the brand and, if the stuff he serves at cookouts is any indication, it clearly does a damn good job. The brisket and pork shoulder that comes out of it is amazing.

[Anonymous No.17015514]

>>17015329
>>17015352
Is that a criticism of pellet grills or just traeger?

[Anonymous No.17015539]

i just bought a big green egg xl and was done
can do whatever i want on it

[Anonymous No.17015544]

>>17015539
Not a fan of grilling really. Most grilling in my experience can be done better in a pan. Smoking is another matter however

[Anonymous No.17015553]

>>17014784
Why not get a gravity charcoal smoker? Seems like the best of both worlds, plus you can actually grill on them.

[Anonymous No.17015555]

>>17015544
It smokes well, but obviously not as hassle-free to maintain temp as a traeger unless you buy the electronic accessory for it. That said it's not difficult, maybe adjust the vents every hour or so for temperature.

[Anonymous No.17015607]

>>17015553
Auger fed pellet smokers are pretty simple set it and forget it. I don’t like grilling desu.

[Anonymous No.17015650]

>>17015514
He doesnt like his Traeger. He likes pellets in general though

[Anonymous No.17015655]

>>17015607
> simple set it and forget it
Same with gravity fed charcoal smokers, except you get to use charcoal instead of sawdust.

[Anonymous No.17015658]

>>17014784
get a masterbuilt electric with the side fill for chips
a small bag of chips last dozen of hours of smoking

[Anonymous No.17015673]

>>17015655
charcoal is sawdust plus minerals to make ash unless your getting natural lumps

[Anonymous No.17015677]

>>17015655
I’m not criticizing it, but I think pellet fed seems a little easier to not have to sit and watch the thing over extended periods. I know guys down south who swear by smoking with whole oak logs but they have to be seasoned right and all that and it sounds like a huge pain in the ass. I simply don’t have the dedication or time for it truly. That’s why I was gravitating towards a pellet smoker. I’m searching more for consistency of results.

Honestly after a lot of research it seems like while there are hyper high end pellet grills, the best bang for buck and quality seems to be the Recteq RT700. Best reviews and a 6 year top to bottom warranty. Beats Traeger’s 2 year. The one downside I see is that the handle is a bulls horn (their logo is a bull) so it makes me feel like it was designed by a furry

[Anonymous No.17015700]

>>17015673
>What is whole lump
>>17015677
Dude, gravity feed charcoal smokers have controllers just like pellet smokers, the only difference is fuel. They can also actually grill which I understand is not your forte however the flexibility to do so if you are for some reason inclined is nice. They are exactly as set it and forget it a pellet smoker except they dont use gay ass pellets.

[Anonymous No.17015720]

>>17015677
The masturbuilt functions mostly the same. There is a electric fan wired to a thermometer in the cooking chamber that regulates the flow of air through the coals. You fill it up with charcoal about once every 12 hours and then just set the temp and the fan handles the rest. You can mix as many woodchucks as you want in with the charcoal to get good smoke.

[Anonymous No.17015740]

I have a Weber kettle with a slow n sear.

[Anonymous No.17015787]

>>17015700
How long can you leave it alone? As far as I can I can drop pellets into the recteq and leave it alone for 24 hours.
>>17015720
Okay that’s interesting, but I don’t like briquettes. The chemical flavor always shows up. So do you use hardwood lump? I know lump is good for high heat cooks but that isn’t what you go for on a smoke cook. Is the flavor more intense? I think my dad has one of these actually. I’m not saying I can’t be convinced, but there has to be some matrix of ease of use and cost to run and build quality argument that has to make sense. Are there high end gravity smokers?

[Anonymous No.17015805]

>>17015700
I just watched a video by master bilt about how it works. Seems pretty similar to pellets. I actually was doing work at a dollar general a few years back and they threw out 40 20 pound bags of lump charcoal and I just grabbed them out of the dumpster as soon as they threw it in there. They said it was just discontinued with nothing wrong with them. I have a shit ton of the stuff now.

[Anonymous No.17015953]

>>17015787
Yeah I usually use royal oak lump. If I know I won't be able to monitor it for an extended period of time 10+ hours I will use brikets since they have a higher packing density which will keep it burning longer.

[Anonymous No.17016023]

>>17015953
Yeah that’s the bags I have.

[Anonymous No.17016050]

>>17015953
Can we see your creations with gravity smoke?

[Anonymous No.17016096]

>>17016050
Sure, here's a chicken that I marinated and roasted for 12 hours.

[Anonymous No.17016108]

>>17014784
Hehe grille go choo choo

[Anonymous No.17016117]

>>17015431
>It's blackend, NOT dirt, grow up.

[Anonymous No.17016180]

>>17016096
That’s a pretty extreme char. I’m not sure that’s how I want my birds to turn out. What was your method? I know certain woods are more heavily Smokey so I’m guessing you used something like oak

[Anonymous No.17016196]

>>17016096
Jesus Christ was there any edible meat left on it?

[Anonymous No.17016216]

>>17016180
>>17016196
>They've never heard of blackened chicken
Sorry, I didn't know this was pleb hour.

[Anonymous No.17016329]

>>17016216
Okay but there’s a difference between those two pics. The blackened chicken in this pic has perfectly browned skin with the spice/garlic bits blackened. Your bird has charred to death skin. I like blackened birds but yours might have been cooked too hot. I’m not insulting you, I’m just wondering if this is how gravity smokers produce birds or if maybe your cook process was a bit too hot

[Anonymous No.17016392]

I've got a pit boss. Love it for the convenience and the flexibility of a wood fired grill. I still have my Brinkman charcoal smoker but didn't get it out all year.
Cons
>smoke is not as intense as traditional smokers
>hopper needs stirred frequently or won't feed the auger
>needs more attention in cold weather
>sudden temp changes can fuck with it (I like to run it overnight while I sleep)
>uses a lot of pellets when cooking at 350° or higher
>seems to cook a little hot for baking
Like any grill it does take some time to learn it's hot spots and how different foods cook in it.

[Anonymous No.17016410]

>>17016329
>>17016096
If you're smoking at 180° or less you can cover poultry with butchers paper for the last hour or so to keep it from being niggerfied

[Anonymous No.17016415]

>>17016392
Could you balance out the “less” Smoke from pellets with smokier woods? In your case I would try using oak pellets because they’re the heaviest smoke

[Anonymous No.17016424]

>>17016410
So you smoke for a while at 180, wrap it up in butcher paper, then hit it on a higher heat to finish?

[Anonymous No.17016452]

>>17016415
On mine I think it's more about how it regulates its temp. Smoke pours out when I'm preheating, but once it hits set temp it doesn't produce as much. I've tried different bags and other than flavor, haven't noticed a change in intensity.
This is usually not a problem on long smokes on bigger cuts, but three hour smokes for stuff like ribs doesn't produce an impressive ring. Does fine for poultry and fish however.

[Anonymous No.17016455]

>>17015787
> Are there high end gravity smokers?
Not really. They’re a pretty new thing the only ones im aware of at this moment are masterbuilt and chargriller, not saying the build quality is horrid on them but from what I’ve heard theyre also not bifl level so, yeah, kinda mid level quality.

[Anonymous No.17016468]

>>17016050
I posed a brisket further up. Here's a Boston butt

[Anonymous No.17016478]

>>17016424
On a whole chicken or turkey I keep the temp the same, and power through, but yes once the skin has gotten as dark as I want I wrap it.
Roasting is different, it's done at a higher temp and for less time, I usually don't even cover.

[Anonymous No.17016531]

>>17016096
Reposting pics you saved from facebook again timmy?

[Anonymous No.17016540]

>>17016468
Are you from Australia?

[Anonymous No.17016564]

>>17016478
Is that a glaze I see? I’ve been watching some competition cook guides and I’ve been seeing a few different steps that I wanted to incorporate. I just got a nice new roasting pan with a rack so I wanted to do spatchcock whole birds with veggies. It would be a crime to waste that gravy.

[Anonymous No.17016655]

>>17016564
Yes, a light glaze before I removed them.
All the temps I've been throwing out is specific to my pellet grill, what it's temperature is set at, not what the meat reads.
I pay attention to meat temp during renderings on big cuts, specifically how fast it climbs. On a pork butt I like meat temp to go from 190° to almost 200° in about 1 1/2 hours on a bone in piece. Brisket is trickier, I do a whole Brisket, remove and cube the point after the stall, wrap in butchers paper once my bark is set on the flat, and try to let it render from 190° to 205° meat temp, for as long as I can. Lots of basting in a pan on the cubed point for tasty burnt ends.

[Anonymous No.17016659]

>>17016540
no but my camera is

[Anonymous No.17016732]

>>17016452
Does yours not have a smoke setting? I got the 850 pro series 2, when you start up it starts in smoke mode which temp is 180, puts out pretty good amount of smoke like you're first firing it up.

[Anonymous No.17016735]

>>17016655
That sounds like an involved cooking process. I hope I can get as proficient as you seem to be soon. I know we don’t have IDs but you are the Pit Boss guy?

[Anonymous No.17016907]

>>17016735
Yeah, that's me.
>>17016732
It does have a smoke setting, then temp range starts at 200°. It has a "p setting" which fine tunes the amount of smoke. Higher the setting = more smoke but harder to keep grill at steady temp. All this is also affected by wind and air temp.
I've had my best results on warm days with the grill completely in my garage, but it really smells the place up. I would rather sacrifice a little less smoke for a consistent cook temp, so maybe I'm just not letting it fluctuate enough to keep a significant amount of smoke.

[Anonymous No.17018924]

Anyone have any recommendations for a good gravity smoker? I’m not a huge fan of Masterbuilt and the next option I’m seeing is about ten times the price by Myron Mixon.

[Anonymous No.17018970]

>>17018924
Yeah responding to myself here but masterbuilt is not known for making anything other than chinesium. Hopefully someone makes something between the commercial grade stuff and the home consoooomer grade in the gravity smokers category

[Anonymous No.17018993]

>>17018970
masterbuilt has two lines of shit
really terrible and decent I got an masterbuilt electric chip smoker for 40$ from a yard sale that was used like once. the build quality in it is pretty dam solid but when I look at this at the stores its all flimsy junk

[Anonymous No.17019000]

>>17018993
Yeah the flimsy junk is what I’m trying to avoid. There seems to be some good entries in the pellet smoker category but I’m not sure if it imparts as much flavor

[Anonymous No.17019009]

>>17019000
well if your looking for hands off smoking the electrics are the way to go feed it some chips every few hours and its good to go basically a electric oven that makes smoke

[Anonymous No.17019028]

>>17019009
Any good options in this category?

[Anonymous No.17019452]

>>17019028
Did my own research, found that the Smokin It brand smoker is pretty good.

[Anonymous No.17019473]

>>17018924
Char-griller
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwloFxB___c

[Anonymous No.17019830]

>smokers
I got some basic bitch Smoke Hollow brand smoker for free a few monthjs back, I used it once, itll do a good job but it has the single most basic knob for temp control. Can i replace it with something that will automatically regulate the temp for me? It was a pain running outside to turn the dial up or down to keep things in the right range. The heating element; despite its design seems to have only two settings, "not hot enough to hold temperature" or "the temperature doesnt stop rising, ever"

[Anonymous No.17019837]

>>17014784
I have one of the first gen Traegers, it's lasted me years and I use it often. Love it. And I grew up on offset wood smokers, too.

[Anonymous No.17019848]

>smoking meat
Pointless waste of time. Fry it in a pan.

[Anonymous No.17019915]

>>17019848
What a god damned retarded northerner comment. Shut the fuck up retard

[Anonymous No.17020116]

>>17019848
>Fry a 15 pound brisket in a pan you stupid southerners

[Anonymous No.17020454]

So I’ve done a lot of research. Here’s what I’ve come up with.

Rectec seems to have better build quality (yet worse marketing) than Traeger. Traeger invented the thing and their lower end models are cheap garbage. In the 0-1000$ Range, you have:
Rectec RT590 $899
Traeger Pro 575 $799

Next step up 1000-1500
Rectec RT700 $1199
Pitts and Spitts Rendezvous $1199
Traeger Ironwood 650: $1399

Next step up 1500-2000:
Rectec RT1250 $1599
Traeger Timberline 850: $1799
Yoder YS480S: $1949
Pitts and Spitts Maverick 850: $1999

There’s plenty of higher end ones in the same product line category for Timberine and Maverick but you get the idea.

[Anonymous No.17020472]

I started with a brinkman smoke n grill, and an electric charcoal igniter.
Definitely not as convenient as a pellet grill, but not bad. And it will teach you a lot about smoking meats that can be applied to a better smoker.

[Anonymous No.17020932]

>>17020454
>those prices
Damn. I think I paid around $400 for mine.

[Anonymous No.17021322]

>>17020932
Do you like yours? Let’s see what you made

[Anonymous No.17021577]

>>17021322
Here
>>17016907
>>17016478
>>17016452

[Anonymous No.17021595]

>>17021577
Also

[Anonymous No.17021605]

>>17021595

[Anonymous No.17021639]

>>17021605
Nice bark, but not quite as black as I’ve seen some people get. How long have you had your pit boss? The more I read about people having smokers rust out the more scared I get. Shit breaking on me drives me insane.

[Anonymous No.17021704]

>>17021605
>>17021639
Try using peach paper it really does help the bark

[Anonymous No.17021877]

>>17021704
Do you use tape with that paper?

[Anonymous No.17022445]

>>17021639
I've had it for about two years. I keep it stored inside. The drip pan above the fire pot is pretty thick, and has held up good.
I use butcher's paper on brisket, but never on pork shoulders since I always shred them anyway. The foil was used when I wrap it to rest.

[Anonymous No.17022461]

>>17021877
Just wrap it so its end part is below it. Also helps if you wet the paper with tallow or some thing similar, so it doesn't stick to the paper.

[Anonymous No.17022518]

>>17019830
Now I can see why you got it fir free.