Traeger BBQ in Oregon

[Really Nice!]

I started to reply to LEdlunde's post about Rusty Pig in Farewell and Goodbye, and thought it would be better to start a new post as my comments are off topic.

Is 7:30 AM too early for BBQ?

I'm usually about an hour into my BBQ on Saturdays by 7:30 A.M. Now as for eating BBQ... it knows no time.

I just bought a Traeger Smoker/BBQ/Grill today. Specifically, I got the smaller BBQ070 model. It's a wood-pellet auger-fed burner system. For smoking, its cooking temperature is 150°F to 200°F. It goes up to 450°F for grilling.

The wood pellets burn up to 8,500 BTU's per lb. They currently have available:

Alder

Apple

Black Walnut

Cherry

Garlic

Hazelnut

Hickory

Maple

Mesquite

Oak

Onion

Pecan

I got a chance to see it in action at Mr. Toast's sister's house last weekend. During a demonstration of smoking baby back ribs, Mr. Toast's sister's, husband's, son's, sister's, brother's, father told me I can do cold smoking by buying a plastic exhaust dryer tube at Fred Meyer's and running it from the Traeger smoke stack to the bottom of my existing Smokey Mountain Weber Smoker.

Mmm... Can you say homemade cold-smoked bacon?

I knew you could!

The weekend I get it (it takes about a week to ship it from Oregon to Western Washington; hey, they ship for free so I'm not going to rush them to ship 150 lbs of metal) I'm going to try smoking fresh mozzarella cheese using hickory pellets. Then try it on pizza!

This brings a total of four smokers in my BBQ pit. Is it time for an intervention?

[Schielke]

Yes, give me your WSM so I can double my capacity.

[Human Bean]

Considering that pellet-based wood stoves have been available 'round here for quite awhile, this seems like a perfecly reasonable extension of the concept.

Can't say I'll rush right out and buy one, but the concept sounds interesting. Would the binders (glue, basically?) in the pellets have any effect on the finished product?

[Really Nice!]

Would the binders (glue, basically?) in the pellets have any effect on the finished product?

They claim not to use binders. The shear pressure of forcing the saw dust through a small opening creates the binding.

[Really Nice!]

Yes, give me your WSM so I can double my capacity. 

Ummm,,, errrr,,,, since you live down the street from me I'll license it to you.

DAMN! I missed the Mars eclipse!

[LEdlund]

I'm going to try smoking fresh mozzarella cheese using hickory pellets. Then try it on pizza! 

And we're all invited, right?

[Really Nice!]

I'm going to try smoking fresh mozzarella cheese using hickory pellets. Then try it on pizza! 

And we're all invited, right?

Insert pinky in corner of mouth.

Yeeeeeaaaaahhhhhhh, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggghhhhhhhhhttttttttttttttttttttt.

I'm trying to organize a pizza party farewell to Col. Klink and Bat Grrrl but our schedules are clashing. I am now employed and can't hold it during the weekdays. They can't do it during the weekends because, can you believe it, they're getting married! Of all the nerve! Then they have to organize their move to Minnesota which involves the moving van...

Hey, we can mitigate this with a road trip. We'll pack their stuff into our cars and move 'em. It can't take more than three days. Who's with me?!?!?

Okay, okay... We'll do another pizza party near the end of August in memory of what'shisnamethatmovedtoChicagotogotopastryschool and Klink and Bat Grrrl. The best thing to do is show up at their party on August 2 with everything you have in your send-off repertoire. We'll worry about the damage later.

Nightscotsman, how are those pastries turning out, anyway?

[malachi]

Please post your results, impressions etc. of the unit and results (construction, materials, operation, ribs, shoulder, brisket).

Thanks.