Hi, does anybody on here use or have used one?
I've just spent a couple of weeks in Nebraska, and my mate has recently bought one. He did mention it at the time, but I didn't pay much attention as I thought they were just BBQ's with a smoke box attached. Although I do like the odd smoked rack of ribs, I don't want everything tasting that way.
So when he mentioned firing it up on my recent trip, I imagined a week of Hickory chip tasting hell! How wrong could I have been...
For those who are not familiar with them, they don't use gas or charcoal. They do however use electric and compressed (food grade) wood pellets. They look like many BBQ's and traditional wood smokers already available, but trust me, they are not the same thing. They cook via a different method, that can be best described as indirect convection ovens.
Wood pellets are loaded into a hopper on the side. You then plug it in, which turns on a thermostatic dial/control knob. This allows you to select the desired temperature. The wood pellets are drawn along a corkscrew type tube into a burner. Here an electric element sets them on fire. Once they are alight, the element turns off. The computer monitors the temperature inside the cooking area, and adjusts the speed of the corkscrew. Lower temperatures encourage more smoke, higher temperatures have almost zero smoke. There is a fan built in to move the air around, and to stop the flames returning to the hopper. You can cook proper Italian pizza's on the higher settings as the lower smoke and high heat give results that are the same as a genuine clay oven.
Now for the best bit!
All my mate did was pull a brisket joint out of the fridge an hour earlier. Sprinkled some spicy shake and bake (rub?) over the meat, and let it rest for an hour. With no other preparation, he placed the brisket on the grill and shut the lid. There was some smoke, but nothing more than you see coming off a BBQ. We then went out for lunch (dinner!)...
After about 4 hours he lifted the lid and poured some sweet BBQ sauce over the joint, and shut the lid...
Two hours later he lifted the lid and brought the joint inside. For those who watch Man V Food, all I can say is it looked exactly like you see the brisket joints on there. The outer covering was a mix of dark and bright red bits, but with ZERO and i mean Zero burning. Some smokers turn the meat dark grey. Not this typre as the fan keeps the smoke moving.
Cutting the meat just released a flood of juices that flowed down the rest of the meat. And when I say cut the meat, I should have said peeled it with the blunt side of the knife!
The taste was out of this world. Because the outside is caramelised and not burnt, there is no bitter charcoal taste, so the rubs and sauces are left untainted. The moisture is sealed into the meat, and the smoke is so subtle to only enhance the natural flavours. You wouldn't dare put any sauce on afterwards, as it would ruin an almost perfect flavour. I've had brisket in many places around Manchester with the last place being Cocka-doodle-moo, and to be honest, it nearly put me off ordering it ever again. Not only was it dry and tough, it needed a sauce drizzling over it to give it any flavour. You will not have this problem when cooked in one of these pellet grills.
My mate also cooked a "Thanks Giving" turkey for us in the pellet grill, and that was even easier, as he didn't do anything at all to it. No rubs or sauces. He just cleaned it under the tap, and placed it on the grill. No foil wrapping is needed. The turkey just browns naturally, and again came out perfectly cooked, soft and moist with no effort on his part.
As you can probably guess i'm in the process of ordering one. I've always tried to slow cook meats in the oven. The results are normally pretty good, but require constant basting and attention. Sometimes I over do the cooking time and the meat can be dry.
My mate has a Pit Bull grill, but I cannot find a seller here. Costco do a Traeger in the US but not here. The two I have been able to find here are Louisiana Grills and Green Mountain Grills. My mate has advised going for the GMG as he rates them as the best and safest.
I will try and post some pics of his and eventually my own efforts!
(please add pics of yours)
Untitled by fulabeer, on Flickr
I've just spent a couple of weeks in Nebraska, and my mate has recently bought one. He did mention it at the time, but I didn't pay much attention as I thought they were just BBQ's with a smoke box attached. Although I do like the odd smoked rack of ribs, I don't want everything tasting that way.
So when he mentioned firing it up on my recent trip, I imagined a week of Hickory chip tasting hell! How wrong could I have been...
For those who are not familiar with them, they don't use gas or charcoal. They do however use electric and compressed (food grade) wood pellets. They look like many BBQ's and traditional wood smokers already available, but trust me, they are not the same thing. They cook via a different method, that can be best described as indirect convection ovens.
Wood pellets are loaded into a hopper on the side. You then plug it in, which turns on a thermostatic dial/control knob. This allows you to select the desired temperature. The wood pellets are drawn along a corkscrew type tube into a burner. Here an electric element sets them on fire. Once they are alight, the element turns off. The computer monitors the temperature inside the cooking area, and adjusts the speed of the corkscrew. Lower temperatures encourage more smoke, higher temperatures have almost zero smoke. There is a fan built in to move the air around, and to stop the flames returning to the hopper. You can cook proper Italian pizza's on the higher settings as the lower smoke and high heat give results that are the same as a genuine clay oven.
Now for the best bit!
All my mate did was pull a brisket joint out of the fridge an hour earlier. Sprinkled some spicy shake and bake (rub?) over the meat, and let it rest for an hour. With no other preparation, he placed the brisket on the grill and shut the lid. There was some smoke, but nothing more than you see coming off a BBQ. We then went out for lunch (dinner!)...
After about 4 hours he lifted the lid and poured some sweet BBQ sauce over the joint, and shut the lid...
Two hours later he lifted the lid and brought the joint inside. For those who watch Man V Food, all I can say is it looked exactly like you see the brisket joints on there. The outer covering was a mix of dark and bright red bits, but with ZERO and i mean Zero burning. Some smokers turn the meat dark grey. Not this typre as the fan keeps the smoke moving.
Cutting the meat just released a flood of juices that flowed down the rest of the meat. And when I say cut the meat, I should have said peeled it with the blunt side of the knife!
The taste was out of this world. Because the outside is caramelised and not burnt, there is no bitter charcoal taste, so the rubs and sauces are left untainted. The moisture is sealed into the meat, and the smoke is so subtle to only enhance the natural flavours. You wouldn't dare put any sauce on afterwards, as it would ruin an almost perfect flavour. I've had brisket in many places around Manchester with the last place being Cocka-doodle-moo, and to be honest, it nearly put me off ordering it ever again. Not only was it dry and tough, it needed a sauce drizzling over it to give it any flavour. You will not have this problem when cooked in one of these pellet grills.
My mate also cooked a "Thanks Giving" turkey for us in the pellet grill, and that was even easier, as he didn't do anything at all to it. No rubs or sauces. He just cleaned it under the tap, and placed it on the grill. No foil wrapping is needed. The turkey just browns naturally, and again came out perfectly cooked, soft and moist with no effort on his part.
As you can probably guess i'm in the process of ordering one. I've always tried to slow cook meats in the oven. The results are normally pretty good, but require constant basting and attention. Sometimes I over do the cooking time and the meat can be dry.
My mate has a Pit Bull grill, but I cannot find a seller here. Costco do a Traeger in the US but not here. The two I have been able to find here are Louisiana Grills and Green Mountain Grills. My mate has advised going for the GMG as he rates them as the best and safest.
I will try and post some pics of his and eventually my own efforts!
(please add pics of yours)
Untitled by fulabeer, on Flickr