Gas, cooked on many of them. Same with charcoal grills. I don’t know jack squat about a pellet grill, so school my old ass on em’.
They’re good and all about the same. You’ll never over smoke anything but you’ll also likely not turn out something that can’t be eaten no matter how drunk you get. They’re idiot proof and the consistency is hard to beat but if you have the skills and the time you can turn out better food on a stick burner. I like to drink when I cook and and don’t have 14 hours to babysit a brisket, pellet poopers for the win! There aren’t any leftovers when we have people over so I guess it’s edible. Pit Boss is plenty good and having the option to remove the diffuser over the fire pot makes steaks much better and pretty well replaces a gas grill.
Love my Traegers! Pro 22 at home and an Ranger for camping. Hella consistent. Their app provides excellent guidance on times and temps for various meats.
There's a huge thread on this if you search. My 2 cents- they're useful but (at least mine) gets nowhere near hot enough to be a do it all grill+smoker.
All i know is to empty remaining pellets after use if you aren’t using it weekly. Friend had his sit a while and the screw got jammed up by pellet mush
Where does this friend live, the rainforest? Not saying it’s impossible but that hasn’t been an issue for me living in relatively humid south Tx with multiple Traegers.
I have a Green Mountain that has worked well for me. I agree with Tristan that a grill is still better for doing some things like steaks or burgers; a grill is at least faster for those things. I wouldn't go quite so far as what GixxerJohn said about being idiot proof. It isn't too hard to turn a brisket into a junk of beef jerky if you aren't careful.
Depends on what you want to do with it. Personally, I think you need all three. Gas for steaks, burgers, and quick stuff. Charcoal for chicken, brats, burgers, pizza. I use my pellet grill only for smoking ribs, brisket, pork shoulder, mac 'n cheese, & apps. Some do everything on a pellet grill, I don't. I've had a Recteq for a couple of years now with good results. I did own older Treagers that would not hold temp very well because the electronics were crap.
I knew there probably was one somewhere. Anyway, been using a gas grill that was given to me. But, it’s starting to fall apart and needs replacing. I was curious if pellet grills cooked fast enough to cook a few nice steaks without waiting forever to pull them off the grill. Sounds like I may go back to charcoal or stay with gas.
you need a cover for the win. We have left our traeger outside 24-7 for the last 5 years, only time we had a water issue was, when we forgot to cover it, and a heavy rain came through. like @DJ Baker , we have traegers at home, the cabin, and the ranger traeger, for the rv. works as smoker, grill, and griddle (ranger). Ski
I have had a camp chef for several years and am really happy with it but sitting on the back deck with no cover has not been kind. I will be replacing it in the spring with a similar sized Traeger. Way better than my previous gas grills It takes a bit to heat up enough to use as a grill with a max around 425. It's really hard to get bad results smoking pretty much anything and I added a gas burner to the side of it which is great for deep fryer or a small 18x18 cast iron flat top. Steaks are great with a quick sear on the flat top and smoking to a finish temp. Definitely happy with the versatility, and have cooked for as many as 45 people more than once with everyone leaving fat and happy. I live just south of Cincinnati Ohio and have no issues with the moisture or humidity gumming up the works or the bin.
Just go with one of the mid to higher end brand name ones, find the one that’s the size you like and has features you want / and or must have. Wait til one of the ones on the short list go on sale. I’m actually thinking I may get one. have a Green Egg XL with a trick / semi custom fan control and air diverter ducting that give it dead even airflow/ temp inside. It will hold plus / minus 4-7 deg for 18 hours plus without adding charcoal - depending on weather / wind outside. It’s great for smoking butts, brisket, etc but being round has some limits. It’s also time consuming getting it up to temp, not difficult just takes time. Pizzas are awesome on it. Weber Genrseis propane is great if I’m in a hurry and also use it to cook sides etc. I just went something in the middle plus not so much more surface area but usuable. Things like ribs etc, I made up a nice stainless rack for the egg but a lot of times either through things in or out of my control don’t have that extra time to get the egg going.
I use a Traeger for slow stuff and a Weber gas grill for steaks. They don't seem to mind living side by side. I have them under an 8x5 grill gazebo I bought from Amazon for $80 and keep them individually covered when not in use. Never a problem with needing to empty the Trager hopper between uses even if its months of monsoon between. Do not let the pellets get wet because they will turn to mush and that's not good at all for your grill. If you're going to try to cook at higher temps with your Traeger just be sure to clean it out real well first. I keep mine reasonably clean but the one time I tried getting it up over 450 a scary fire ignited when I opened the lid. Fortunately simply closing it and turning it down kept it from getting out of hand. Can't remember what I was smoking but the instructions called for a few minutes at the end at 450 to sear the outside.
I have the same issue with the egg. It's great for low and slow long cooks, but the thing is such a pain in the ass to light and get up to temp, I'd never bother with it to do burgers or steaks. My Weber would have them done, eaten and dishes washed before the egg would even be up to temp.
I have a recteq also. As stated they are very well made. It’s just an outdoor oven with smoke lol. It takes the work out of smoking something if you want easy. If I want to go old school I will pull out the Weber kettle.
I’ll look into that. Haven’t bought any dirtbikes, boats or weapons in a couple weeks so I have a bit of my play budget left any recommendations for online? It’s one of those things I keep Forgetting to buy and might as well now while it’s fresh in my mind.
This is 100% correct. The son in law and I both bought our RecTeqs a couple of years ago and both love them. He's gone on to enter a couple of bbq competitions and won using his RecTeq. We went to the RecTeq bbq cooking school last spring. The best thing we learned was the hot and fast method. You can cook excellent brisket without spending 14hours doing the low and slow method. But if that's what you want to do the RecTeq is more than capable.
