Anybody cook with a pellet grill?

[Nautiknight]

I got a Recteq 700 from Santa and have been smoking all sorts of wonderful meats from fish to brisket. Though I have only done one brisket and it turned out on the drier side. I know Recteq and Traeger has forums and I pop in there from time to time. Wonder if any of y'all have smokers and would share your tips here?

This weekend I smoked some amazing Carribean jerked chicken wings using a recipe for jerk seasoning using Grace Jerk seasoning from Publix. I will never order wings out again.

I have smoked salmon, swordfish and mahi on it too. Food is more fun to talk about than most other things these days. lol.

What say you?

 

[UCFRogerz]

smoke trees

 

[Nautiknight]

I have one but unfortunately I haven't used it much yet. Plan on trying ribs soon.

I live in the mountains of North Carolina and love grilled food over anything in the oven. Gas and charcoal here in the winter are difficult. We got the pellet grill and 3 or 4 times a week now we either smoke or grill something. Even just cooking chicken breasts or a burger is superior to gas in every way. use it brother even to cook brauts or a burger . lol

 

[sk8knight]

I use a camp Chef woodwind religiously. The brisket could be technique or it could be the meat. Read through AmazingRibs.com to learn a bunch about smoking meat. I can offer tips based on what you did if you’d like.

For the brisket, don’t forget to rest it for at least an hour in a warm cooler after cooking. This is essential. All the rest is preference. With the pellet cookers, I’d highly suggest a 12” smoke tube. Then buy good pellets like CookinPellets or BBQers Delight for the tube. This is going to be your “flavor” smoke. The pellets in the hopper are largely for fuel and don’t add much smoke, so you can use Pit Boss or B&B or whatever reasonable pellet you want for that.

 

[goodknightfl]

I love mine, Just did cornish game hens on mine this weekend. Does the best Ribs anywhere.

 

[Nautiknight]

I use a camp Chef woodwind religiously. The brisket could be technique or it could be the meat. Read through AmazingRibs.com to learn a bunch about smoking meat. I can offer tips based on what you did if you’d like.

For the brisket, don’t forget to rest it for at least an hour in a warm cooler after cooking. This is essential. All the rest is preference. With the pellet cookers, I’d highly suggest a 12” smoke tube. Then buy good pellets like CookinPellets or BBQers Delight for the tube. This is going to be your “flavor” smoke. The pellets in the hopper are largely for fuel and don’t add much smoke, so you can use Pit Boss or B&B or whatever reasonable pellet you want for that.

So where does the smoke tube go? I will have to googlize it . I bought a brisket flat from Publix . it was 5.5 pounds. I read about going traditional using salt and pepper ,but I added garlic . I put the fat sat side down. once it got to the stall I took it off wrapped in parchment paper because I didn't have not could I find butcher paper locally. I read foil can dry it some. I turned up the heat from.220 to 275 and cooked it until it got internal to 185. I wrapped in a towel with the parchment still on put it in my fake yeti cooler for two hours. flavor was solid but it was on the dry side ,not dry but it could have been moister . There is a BBQ place here called the Haywood Smokehouse and their brisket is amazing. They are pros and my goal is to be able to cook one near the ball park of theirs or close to it. I also like 4 Rivers and Mission BBQ brisket.

I have poultry and fish down fairly good . I want to get away from frying all together so my chicken skin on whole bird could be crispier but the flavor is solid . any tips there would be welcome as well.

 

[goodknightfl]

going to do salmon on the Pitt Boss tonight... MMMMMMMMMMMM

 

[Knighted1988]

Pitt Boss owner
Blended pellets from different wood
Fat side up
**MOST IMPORTANT**= LOW and SLOW makes all the difference.
Briskets come in different quality. If you have time, put it in a brine over night.

 

[Nautiknight]

Pitt Boss owner
Blended pellets from different wood
Fat side up
**MOST IMPORTANT**= LOW and SLOW makes all the difference.
Briskets come in different quality. If you have time, put it in a brine over night.

After thinking about it, I think I did fat side up. a friend of mine told me to get a notebook to write stuff down like this. I did the brisket 4 weeks ago.

 

[sk8knight]

So where does the smoke tube go? I will have to googlize it . I bought a brisket flat from Publix . it was 5.5 pounds. I read about going traditional using salt and pepper ,but I added garlic . I put the fat sat side down. once it got to the stall I took it off wrapped in parchment paper because I didn't have not could I find butcher paper locally. I read foil can dry it some. I turned up the heat from.220 to 275 and cooked it until it got internal to 185. I wrapped in a towel with the parchment still on put it in my fake yeti cooler for two hours. flavor was solid but it was on the dry side ,not dry but it could have been moister . There is a BBQ place here called the Haywood Smokehouse and their brisket is amazing. They are pros and my goal is to be able to cook one near the ball park of theirs or close to it. I also like 4 Rivers and Mission BBQ brisket.

I have poultry and fish down fairly good . I want to get away from frying all together so my chicken skin on whole bird could be crispier but the flavor is solid . any tips there would be welcome as well.

Brisket flat is much harder than a full packer brisket. Do the full packer. You can get a prime one at Sam’s or Costco for about $3 per pound. Cool it until it hits 190 on a thermapen in the thickest part of the flat and use that as a baseline. From there, you probe until it is like warm butter all over. The point gets there first so be patient with the flat. My best advice is to search “Harry soo brisket” in YouTube and watch his videos. It’s really not hard to cook a better brisket than 4Rivers and Mission.

As for tube placement, you’ll put the tube in the place where the smoke from it will move across your food. So probably directly opposite your stack vent.

 

[sk8knight]

Pitt Boss owner
Blended pellets from different wood
Fat side up
**MOST IMPORTANT**= LOW and SLOW makes all the difference.
Briskets come in different quality. If you have time, put it in a brine over night.

I would strongly advise against a liquid brine ever. Dry brining, however, is always a good idea. For brisket, salt it 24 hours in advance. At least. Don’t put as much salt in your rub.