BBQ Pellets Traeger Smoker

Pellet Storage

BBQ Pellets Traeger Smoker

Pellet Grills a Brief History Lesson

Traeger would use the sawdust and scrape wood from the Lumber industry and create Pellet stoves used for heating.  At some point they got the idea why not make Pellet Grills.  If you go to a hardware store you may notice Pellets used for heating much cheaper then food grade pellets.  No matter which brand of Pellets you buy make sure they are always food grade.  The heating pellets have ugly chemicals in them I'm told.

Pellet Type

Some people are very passionate about there pellets.  If you go to the Traeger User groups on Facebook you will notice some people only use Traeger Pellets, others use Lumberjack.  There are many other brands like Pit Boss, B and B and Cooking Pellets to name a few.

Another huge debate is weather or not  non Traeger brand pellets void the warranty.  The consensus seems to be it does not.  Ill let you decide which pellets might be right for you.

Pellet Flavor

I find that Pellet Flavor doesn't  matter but then again I may not have the most sensitive pallet.
Here is a chart from the Traeger website which talks about which pellets to use with meat fish etc.

Recommended pellet usage

above chart from traeger 

Pellet Storage

Pellet Storage is also very important after I open My pellets I store them in a 5 gallon bucket with a lid.  I also store the unopened pellets off the floor on a shelf in the Garage.  I use a colander to sift the pellets before I use them to remove the dust.

Pellet Sifter

Pellet Storage Shelf

Pellet Storage

My Favorite Traeger Day

My Favorite Traeger Day

Brats and taters 

Steak and Lobster

My Favorite Traeger Day

Traeger Recipe
One could argue that any day I cook on my Traeger Junior aka Tjr is my favorite Traeger day.  With my schedule its not often I get to cook twice on Tjr in the same day.  Yesterday was such a day.

My morning errands included stops at Paul's Market, where I purchased bacon wrapped Fillets and Apple Brats.  I then stopped at the supermarket and purchased sweet potatoes and Brioche hot dog buns.

I fired up TJr and made the apple Brats and sweet potatoes for lunch.  Then a few hours later I fired up the T again and cooked the Filllets and Lobster for diner. 

The diner was special because my mom was in town and my wife picked up our 6 year old grandson from school.  My grandson only ate the fillets but every one else had filet and Lobster.  It was the first time I cooked for mom, she finally was able to visit.

The Technical details:

BBQ Lobster

BBQ Lobster

Cut shell with Scissor

Brushed with melted butter
Smoke at 225 for abt 45 minutes Internal Temp should be 135-140

BBQ Bacon Wrapped Filets

Bacon Wrapped Fiilets

Rubbed with Trader Joe's Coffee rub
Smoke at 225 for abott 45 minutes to an Internal Temperature of 135-140

The Rub

Apple Brats

Cooked Apple Brats at 375 about 30 minutes flipping once.  Got a nice char both sides

apple brats

Sweet potatoes

Sweet potatoes

Wash Sweet potatoes
Cut Sweet potatoes in half
Wrap Sweet potatoes in foil
Cook Sweet potatoes at 375 for about an hour till soft like butter

please note:

Any recipe I make is just a guideline.  I am not a big fan of gooey sauces so almost everything is I cook would be a dry rub.  You of course should experiment and see what works best for you.  I don't often recommend a rub because it is a matter of personnel taste.  These recipe would also work well on most other pellet grills or charcoal and gas grill using indirect heat for the low temperature recipes.