Kitchen

[RASHIKE]

Curious, anyone order the grill on David's show Sunday?

[viviantheone]

I missed the show on Sunday, but my best friend has one of these grills, and loves it. She is handicapped, and lives alone, and she is able to grill some very tasty things.

[Deadeye Daisy]

We've had our Traeger Pellet Smoker/Grill for 18 years. Had to replace the auger once in that time. Otherwise, no other problems. Anytime we've had questions, they were always quick to assist.

One thing - if considering a pellet grill/smoker make sure you have a local source of the pellets. When we first moved to GA in 1999, we couldn't get cooking pellets here, only heating ones. Ended up using the pellets for our pellet fireplace insert. Definitely NOT a good idea. Finally, a friend moved to Arkansas, and he started bringing us cooking pellets.

You really want the ones made for cooking. They come in a 20# bag. Pellets for heating come in 40# bags, and don't make for flavorful smoking/cooking. They also may have additives and/or use wood that isn't good for smoking food.

[seehorse]

Hi Deadeye Daisy,

I went on their website. So this is basically an electric starter and then the pellets are the "briquets"?

It looks like a good system. I'm looking for a new grill and don't want to get into propane - too expensive (or is it?)

Are the pellets expensive?

Thanks for any help!

[Deadeye Daisy]

Cooking pellets run about $20 or less for a 20# bag.

I buy pellets for our two pellet stoves by the pallet. Pallet is one short ton. 50 40# bags of pellets. When they deliver, dealer usually throws in 4 or 5 20# bags of cooking pellets.

You use electric to run the auger that feeds the pellets one by one into the fire chamber. Not sure of the cost ratio of pellets to propane, since I only use the pellets when smoking or doing indirect cooking. I also have charcoal, propane, wood and electric smokers and grills, not to mention a Big Green Egg.

I like the pellets when feeling lazy. One thing for both fuel and flavor. Also, like a propane smoker/grill, not too much looking after when cooking something that takes 9 or 10 hours like smoking brisket or ribs. If you use wood, you do have to keep adding wood as things progress. With pellets, you MAY have to dump more pellets into the hopper, but since the hoppers usually hold a full 20# bag, you generally won't have to add any more.

When using pellets for cooking, you use between ½ to 2½# of pellets per hour of smoking, depending on the temperature.

That said, pellets are GREAT for indirect cooking and smoking, but NOT good for searing things like steaks. Stick to a regular charcoal, wood or propane grill for that.

AND, I LOVE my home pellet stove fireplace inserts. A good example - for my home heat fireplace inserts, I dump 40#s of pellets into the hopper about every 4 or 5 days.Sure beats splitting and cutting wood for a traditional fireplace.

[Sooner]

The brand has been around a long time as I remember. Lots of people who are really into bbq use them. People who use real wood smokers refer to them "lovingly" as "pellet heads". Then there are the eggers, but that's a whole 'mother deal! LOL!!! (Big green egg cookers!)

[debic]

People that I know that have them absolutely love them. I lose power too often to make one practical. That's why I have a Big Green Egg. I've never heard the phrase pellet head tho.

[seattlegirl98026]

We've got one. I often say hubby would get rid of me before he would get rid of the Traeger! We have yet to find anything we didn't love grilling on it! Sign up for the company emails. They send recipes and notify you of online sales (great prices on the pellets, rubs, and sauces)!

[membersinceCVN]

We purchased a Traeger Homestead 520 square inch grill in April as a TSV.  We got the bronze color and it is beautiful.  My husband and I assembled it pretty easily as long as we followed the assembly guide which tells you what washers, bolts, nuts etc. for each step of assembly.

For seasoning the grill we went to the Traeger site and there are 2 different seasoning instructions depending on which model you have.  We followed the instrutcions to a T without problems.  This is the instrutcions for the Homestead 520 square inch grill:

https://www.traegergrills.com/support/grill-assembly/seasoning-grill

BE SURE TO SCROLL DOWN TO THE 2ND VIDEO which is the instructions for the Homestead 520 square inch grill!