Any traeger people out there?

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I found foil pans that fit between the grill grate and the rest below. They were like $3 at costco for 50 of them. I use 2 at a time and change them out when they look nasty. Every few times.

I only foiled the whole inside when cooking 6 chickens for a friend's dinner party. Those things were greasy as hell. In fact, pretty much the only time grease made it to the bucket. I do have the bucket wrapped in foil tho.
 
Good find DC. Im going to check them out. Ive been meaning to start collecting some smoked beef, chicken and pork fat for other cooking projects anyway.
 
I shoot my pepperoni at the grocery store.
 
donkiez said:
That sounds delicious!
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Yeah, it is pretty good. My cousin did 80 lbs of pepperoni over the last couple days... Had some Elk grind and goose meat that needed done. Having a powered meat grinder, sausage stuffer and Traeger is a necessity for any hunter IMO.
 
MickZagger said:
Got one. This is grease though. How often do you replace the tin foil on the grease drip?
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You can layer it as well, then all you have to do is pull off the grill, and take the outer layer off.

I replace mine depending on what I will be/have been cooking. If I have just been doing lots of burgers, I'll leave it. If I am about to do some Ribs or a roast, I'll take a layer off as to not hurt what I am cooking.
 
Everything I make on this thing turns out great. Smoking some 'pigs n a blanket' and baked beans w/ bacon right now. Then doing enough chicken wings and salmon to last me the week, later on tonight.

Thinking about a prime rib from Cash & Carry next weekend.

What have you guys been getting into lately?
 
I'm doing prime rib this weekend. Any tips? I've never done prime rib before and its a spendy piece of meat. Wanna get this right.
 
I did a cross rib roast for Christmas. It's similar to your prime rib in terms of how you cook it.

I rubbed it with salt, pepper, garlic powder, italian seasoning, and onion powder. Spritzed it with olive oil spray.

Cooked on first low smoke temp for 2-3 hours.

Then put in the remote thermometer and cranked it up to 300 and cooked until 130-140.

Let it stand under tin foil on the cutting board for 15-20 minutes. During this time I made mashed cauliflower.

Foolproof.

Mashed cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes.

Recipe is:

Cut one head of cauliflower into chunks that will fit in your food processor. The whole thing is going in after you steam it. Steam in a steamer basket in a pan of water for 6 minutes once the water is boiled. Covered.

Meanwhile fry up 4 slices of bacon, but to the point they're cooked but not crispy. You don't want them raw, just not crispy.

Put the steamed cauliflower in the food processor and turn it on. Add 1/4 package cream cheese, a bunch of shreded chedear, and let it grind until near the consistency of mashed potatoes. Add salt and pepper and the bacon and make sure you can't even tell there was bacon in it. I add the grease from the pan, too. Add heavy cream or almond milk sparingly to thin it out and assure it all gets ground up. Make sure it's got the consistency of, and looks like, mashed potatoes.

Carve the roast and serve.

Goes great with sautéed asparagus or bacon wrapped asparagus (see below).

A very low carb meal, FWIW.
 
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Pictures, because it really did happen :)

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That's bacon wrapped asparagus. I took 1/2 lb of asparagus and separated into 4 even amounts. Wrapped each one with bacon. Put on the traeger for about 15 minutes while the roast was cooking at 300.

The sauce is mayo, the pan drippings from the asparagus/bacon, garlic, 1 egg yolk. Garlic aioli. Dip for the asparagus :)
 

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First rule of traeger club. The thermometer never lies.

Cook to the proper temp and it turns out great every time.

You will have a hard time burning things. I almost never cook at 300 or higher. Long and slow cooking is lowest/smoke for 2-3 hours (or more) then 200 until done.
 
wow that looks beautiful! To bad I cant appreciate a good prime rib because I like my meat more well done. We've been away for most of the holidays so the only cooking Ive done is quick easy burgers, chicken breast and pork loins. Im due a brisket though, we are running low in the freezer, so Ill probably pick up a a 15lb packer with next paycheck and let you know how it goes.
 
The cross rib roast could be cooked to medium or beyond. I wouldn't overcook a prime rib roast though. Those are meant to be bloody rare and tender goodness.
 
I recently built a cold smoker to go with mine. I decided to build one rather than buy the attachment because mine stays colder (only gets 10-15 degrees warmer than outside temp), is bigger (can hang summer sausage in it), and much, much cheaper.

Smoked 14# of cheese and 2 sticks of butter last night, have them mellowing/aging for a couple weeks.

Will be making some venison summer sausage soon as my schedule aligns with my cousin's.
 
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I'm doing the 3-2-1 ribs. Looking mighty fine impaling all that wood flavored smokiness.
 
MickZagger said:
I'm doing the 3-2-1 ribs. Looking mighty fine impaling all that wood flavored smokiness.
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Next time try just putting them at 225 and leave them for 4-5 hours. I used to do 3-2-1, but found it to be unnecessary with the Traeger, they will be moist and fall off the bone without it, and it is much less work.

I also make a brown sugar based homemade dry rub, put it on the night before, let them rest overnight. Then I mix worchestire sauce and apple juice in a spray bottle, and spritz them with that once in awhile. The rub melts with the added fluids and caramelizes, and BBQ sauce isn't needed (or for me, not wanted).
 
Daweez04 said:
Next time try just putting them at 225 and leave them for 4-5 hours. I used to do 3-2-1, but found it to be unnecessary with the Traeger, they will be moist and fall off the bone without it, and it is much less work.

I also make a brown sugar based homemade dry rub, put it on the night before, let them rest overnight. Then I mix worchestire sauce and apple juice in a spray bottle, and spritz them with that once in awhile. The rub melts with the added fluids and caramelizes, and BBQ sauce isn't needed (or for me, not wanted).
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I've heard good reviews of the 321 so I'm trying it this time. I'll tweak next time to my liking if I feel like it needs it. About to start the final process. 3 good size ribs so I'll have plenty leftovers. Also, did a bunch of beef spare ribs and a twice baked potatoes that were eating. GF is giving me rave reviews. I must admit myself, these spareribs are pretty damn good!
 
MickZagger said:
I've heard good reviews of the 321 so I'm trying it this time. I'll tweak next time to my liking if I feel like it needs it. About to start the final process. 3 good size ribs so I'll have plenty leftovers. Also, did a bunch of beef spare ribs and a twice baked potatoes that were eating. GF is giving me rave reviews. I must admit myself, these spareribs are pretty damn good!
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For sure, starting with a known method that works is the way to go. Like I said, I used to do it as well, always turned out great. I just changed it up to make it a little easier/less work. Now I just throw them on, and take them off when done. But beauty of the Traeger, there is always more than one way to do it and it will turn out great!

What did you use for a rub on the ribs?

You should make pulled pork some time, do it similar to 3-2-1 ribs, but you don't take them out of the foil.

Get a pork shoulder, smoke it for awhile, then put it in one of those disposable roaster pans and turn up the heat (around 225) and put foil over the top. Let it cook in its own juices till it starts to pull (around 190 is when pork pulls), and BOOM, pulled pork. Better than anything you can ever produce in a crock pot. You can play around with dry rubs, and wait to put BBQ sauce on it till it is on your place. I usually set out 3-4 different kinds so people can pick for themselves.
 
I just used a basic pork rub. I don't buy into all the trinkets that Traeger tries to sell. The pulled pork sounds good, that might be my next major cook. Thinking about doing some beef jerky soon too.

The pork ribs I made are great, but they aren't 'fall off the bone' like I wanted them to be. Oh well, still really good.
 
I really like Traeger's rubs. You might find equally good (or better) ones, but they're worth trying.

Poor man's kalua pork recipe (not smoked):

Marinade pork shoulder over night in water + sea salt + a bit of liquid smoke
Drain
Put meat in stock pot and cover with water + sea salt + liquid smoke
Bring to boil then lower heat. then cover and simmer for 3-4 hours

It pulls apart like pulled pork. It's a hawaiian dish. You can put BBQ sauce on it and it's quite good.
 
MickZagger said:
I just used a basic pork rub. I don't buy into all the trinkets that Traeger tries to sell. The pulled pork sounds good, that might be my next major cook. Thinking about doing some beef jerky soon too.

The pork ribs I made are great, but they aren't 'fall off the bone' like I wanted them to be. Oh well, still really good.
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Look into making your own rub. It is fun to play around with ingredients. There are all sorts of base recipes out there, then I just made mine of those.

I do like 3 of the Traeger rubs, Prime Rib is great on steak or mixed in hamburger. Salmon shake is good on chicken, especially wings. Then Cajun is good to mix with both of those.

I did 4 lbs of jerky 2 weeks ago, turned out awesome! Got the smoking rack from Xmas, so needed to use it.
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MickZagger said:
I just used a basic pork rub. I don't buy into all the trinkets that Traeger tries to sell. The pulled pork sounds good, that might be my next major cook. Thinking about doing some beef jerky soon too.

The pork ribs I made are great, but they aren't 'fall off the bone' like I wanted them to be. Oh well, still really good.
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Glad your having fun with it. When I did 3-2-1 I found that the last 1 should be more like .5. I think I am going to try D's method next time, I've found with bigger roasts like brisket that wrapping isn't necessary either at 225. How do you judge when they are done though? ribs are kind of hard to get a temp on.

Try chicken wings! They are my latest favorite and very easy. Put some rub on the wings and add some cornstarch to help it stick, then just cook them on 350 for 45-55minutes, flipping once. Toss in your favorite sauce or eat naked!

A pork loin chops really soak in a good smoke flavor in a short time also.
 
donkiez said:
How do you judge when they are done though? ribs are kind of hard to get a temp on.
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When you go to pick them up, they start to fall apart :) Pork pulls at 190, so if they are fall off the bone, then they are "pulling temp". I've had them where I had to be careful taking them off the grill or they would have broken in half. Beautiful thing about the Traeger, next to impossible to burn, so you don't have to really worry about over doing it.

Second on the wings! I've filled up my entire Texas grill with wings before and they were devoured! A good basic recipe if you like dry rub wings is just use the Salmon shake on them. I also make some sweet spicy ones, but they are a little more labor intensive. Dry rub are good for when I just have a hankering.
 
Did up 3 racks for ribs tonight for my Bday and to watch the game. Turned out amazing, both things :)
 
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