My Best Traeger Purchases

My Best Traeger Purchases

Traeger 

When I first purchased my Traeger I joined some facebook user groups on Traeger, I surfed the user groups and went to the web sites of the Guru's.  I purchased some things to enhance my cooking experience based on the Limited research.  Needless to say some of the things I purchased will make there way into a goodwill bag.  Here is a brief Detail on what I would and wouldn't do if I had to do it all over again.  I have my top 3 in no particular order and some honorable mention Items again in no particular order.  I will also list some of the things I purchased that didn't work as well for me as the items on this list.  These are just my opinions and I realize that alot of this is subjective.  So if you have something that works for you then I think thats fantastic, its all about the good food we produce.

Top 3

GrillGrates

GrillGrates

I have already written an extensive blog Post on the GrillGrates.  These were the 3rd or 4th thing I purchased to help sear meats better.  I purchased a cast iron griddle which while it did work it didn't seem to give me the advantages of GrillGrates.  I also purchased a few other metal grill baskets that have since been given to goodwill.  One Great feature of the Grill Grates is I can use 1 Pannel, 2 Pannels or all 3 pannels on my Traeger Jr. Because of the design of the GrillGrates you can add wood chips, or pellets in the valleys to enhance the flavor.  The juices from the meat tend smoke in the valleys adding flavor,  I have used the Grates to cook the food from begining to end and becasue of the holes you get the smoke surrounding the meat not just on top.

 Click Here for GrillGrate Blog Post

Junior Rack

Junior Rack

The Junior Rack is such a great time and Pellet saver.  It lets you cook twice as much food at one time without using twice as many pellets.  I love to cook on my Traeger but I always love playing with my grand kids or watching a movie with my wife.   If I can cook a meal and be done in 45 minutes instead of 1 hr and 30 minutes why wouldn't I.  At one time I consider the option of making my own 2nd rack using nuts and bolts and washers and of course some kind of grill rack but decided to give the Junior rack a try. I am happy I did.  Its well made works well and I highly reccomend it!  The food below the rack is hard to turn.  I remove the rack with heat resistent gloves, turn the food and replace the rack,

You can get your rack here

Ortech controller

                              Ortech controller

My Jr came with a Low, Medium, High Controller.  After I had it a few months I replaced it with the ortech controller.  It is my understanding at one time they produced a similar controller for Traeger. Some people use more expensive PID controllers but this seems to work for me.  A few advantages it had over a similar Traeger controller that I considered was an easier method to adjust P-Settings and when you turn it off it goes through a shut down cycle.

Honorable Mention

Insulation Blanket

Fire bricks

Insulation Blanket and Fire Bricks

The Insulation blanket and fire bricks are used to maintain better temperature control,  The Fire Bricks line the bottom of the grill and absorb and hold heat so when you open the grill you don't have a huge temperature drop,  The Insulation blanket along with the fire bricks help keep the cold air out so you maintain your temperature and burn less pellets in the winter.  Some people talk about saving money and using  welding blanket instead of the Traeger made to fit insulation blanket.  I deciding against using a welding blanket when I found out it had fiberglass fibers,

These Items were also covered in the following blog post
http://traegerrecipesbymike.blogspot.com/2016/08/fire-bricks-helpful-traeger.html

Thermopop, Thermapen and Igrill 2

Thermopop, Thermapen and Igrill 2 in middle

Thermoworks makes both the Thermopop and Thermapen Instant read thermomaters. The brand new Thermopop cost $29 and reads an accurate temperature within 3 to 4 seconds.  The Thermapen is accurate and faster but costs considerable more,  Most people should be able to work with the Thermopop just fine.  The Thermapen might be overkill.  I have both along with a whole slew of other thermomers I dont need.

The Igrill 2 is a leave in thermometer which allows you to monitor your grill remotely.  I also purchased a maverick which while many people love I had a hard time with the on/off switch perhaps because of my arthitis. I also had a few cheaper remote thermoneters with only 1 probe and shorter range and various other shortcommings,  You get what you pay for.  Mamy people enjoy the Tappecue, It works off WiFi and is more expensive then the Igrill 2,  Tappecue reveiw from amazing ribs.

This remote probe shows some promise

Searing Meat -Traeger Tips and Tricks

Searing Meat -Traeger Tips and Tricks

Sear Steaks Grill Marks

I have gotten really nice grill Marks on my steak from my Traeger directly from my grill grates.  If you want a good sear on your steaks to lock in those juices then you should be doing the reverse sear method.  When I first got my grill I saw a recipe that talked about searing in a cast Iron pan.  I went out and purchased a reversible cast Iron Griddle/Grill.  I wish I had not been so fast to pull the trigger on that purchase because I soon found out about GrillGrates.  They are way better for the Grill then Cast Iron,  They have holes in them so you can get that grill flavor.  

GrillGrates

Will my grill run hotter with GrillGrates?
Yes. GrillGrates cook via all methods of cooking: conduction, convection and infrared. GrillGrates with their extra mass and surface area literally radiate heat and provide more direct food contact than conventional grills. In addition they convect heat between the rails. Aluminum is a superb conductor of heat smoothing out hot spots and cold spots and focusing the heat of the grill to the raised rails. Adjust grill temps downward and enjoy gas savings or use less fuel. Keep in mind that most grills typically run 100-150F degrees hotter at the cooking surface than the air in the hood anyway and GrillGrates will be hotter still. Kamado grills run 200-300F hotter at the surface, gas grills 100-200F hotter and pellet grills you can expect to see about 100F hotter. --- Directly from GrillGrate Webpage, Notice the very end expect to see Pellet grills run 100 degrees hotter.  Click here for Grill Grate website.

There are five elements to the the Science of GrillGrate

1. Amplifies the Heat of any Grill

GrillGrates act like a lens on top of any heat source. They magnify and focus the grill's heat converting it to infrared heat.

2. Flare-Up Protection from the Bottom Plate

The underside and hole pattern of GrillGrates blocks flare-ups from engulfing food preventing charring and drying out.   --- No Flare ups on Traeger anyway.  Ive heard of people removing drip pan and  using grillgrates on top of firebox either with or without the Grills Grate on

3. Conducts Heat More Efficiently

GrillGrates are made from hard anodized aluminum, which conducts heat more efficiently than cast iron or stainless steel.

4. The Valleys Vaporize Drippings

Juices and drippings fall into the hot valleys where they sizzle and vaporize into flavor and retained moisture. The valleys of GrillGrates are a flavor enhancing system.

5. Perfect Sear Marks

GrillGrates conduct and focus heat up the raised rails for steakhouse quality searing. Sear marks can be controlled from golden brown to dark, crispy and flavorful.

Above taken from GrillGrate website Science of Grill Grates 

Here is a review about different kind of Grates including GrillGrates Click Here

In the above review of different type of Grill Grates from amazing ribs they do rate GrillGrates very highly and state you can add Pellets or chips in the Valleys of the Grates for extra flavor.  I will be trying this out ths weekend.

Click Here for Tri-Tip using GrillGrates

Reverse Sear Video below
Here is the Link just in case https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ4xl7XJM08