Pellet Grill

[Bark]

Gonna jump in here after the dust has settled with my freshly minted .02 cents. Since the popularity of pellet poopers has really taken off in the past 10 years the market has been flooded with a host of makes and models. The Traegars were one of the first pellet cookers introduced to the public for home and later commercial applications. The Mt. Angel company did a great job of marketing and their sales soared.
I believe, IMHO and my experience, these folks are the John Browning of pellet cookers. Made in the USA.

http://www.cookshack.com/Products-for-Home-Use

The new tragers are not made in the USA, my old one was but after a labor dispute with their employees they out-sourced to china. I believe the metal is thinner now also.

I'm looking to replace my original trager because of it's inability to hold a constant temperature and the digital temp controls keep malfunctioning....just haven't decided what to get yet.

 

[ChiefBoatsret]

Yes you can with the Cookshack especially, and maybe some others have a grilling area that gets to over 700 deg. Enough to grill anything you would like. With Grill Grates and 500 deg. I can and do grill a perfect steak on my pellet smoker/grill.

 

[rick49]

Personally I prefer the versatility of a separate smoker and grill. I do A LOT of smoking and BBqing and like to pre-smoke some meats and then grill. Also I can use chips/chunks of wood in the smoker if I want as well as pellets. I could not do most of what I do now with one of the pellet only style units.

2 for the price of 1

The new tragers are not made in the USA, my old one was but after a labor dispute with their employees they out-sourced to china. I believe the metal is thinner now also.

I'm looking to replace my original trager because of it's inability to hold a constant temperature and the digital temp controls keep malfunctioning....just haven't decided what to get yet.

Sorry for the confusion...I had a rather long post of which I deleted one sentence too much. That sentence was pertaining to Cookshack being made in the USA.

 

[RicInOR]

I was looking at a Green Mountain Grill over the weekend. The guy who was using it said he also had a Trager. But the GMG would get hotter - so as to cook steaks - and the electronic shut down was "better" in that rather than just off, the fan would run for a while. He also liked the electronic startup alarms better.
He would buy another GMG rather than another Trager.

I have not used either.

But, I am in the market for a smoker / BBQ (not a grill)

 

[Sgt Nambu]

I have had my Trager for nine years and have cooked hundreds of steaks on it!
1. Bring the steaks out of the refer and rub with seasoning.
2. Bring to room temp. About 1 hour.
3. Heat Trager on high 15-20 min.
4. Wipe or spray the grill with oil.
4. Place the steaks on the grill, quickly with the lid! It helps to place your steaks on the outlet end of the grill (the end with the grease bucket), it's hotter!
5. Still on high, grill steaks for 6 min. 1" to 1 1/2" thick steaks, adjust time for thicker.
6. Quickly turn and grill 6 more min.
7. Remove steaks and tent with aluminum foil then let rest for 5-10 min to redistribute juices.

It is pretty much impossible to mess up a steak following these instructions, they are from Trager BTW. As with any grill work fast to keep heat from escaping (key)!
Now with your Gas grill, speed grill onions and mushrooms till done and stir with a little butter in a bowl while your steaks grill! LOL!!! I own seven different grills and smokers!
If I could only have one, the Trager hands down! Most versatil!

 

[Starship]

Just to be clear Traegers are made in Chine not the USA. Haven't been for many years and the original creators of the Traeger sold out years ago. New owners moved production to China and appear to have more interest in profits than quality. they still make a good grill but not up to the standards of a host of the newer pellet cookers.

That said Costco has been selling a Traeger for about $500 and it would be a good buy for first time owner.
One other side note; if you buy the Traeger it will state that if you don't use Traeger pellets it will void the warranty. Another profit over customer. Other pellets will work just fine in a Traeger and it will not void the warranty.

As mentioned above pelletheads.com is the place to go for info and see independent research done on numerous pellet cookers.

 

[rick49]

The best advice I would give to anyone, looking to purchase a new cooker of whatever kind, is to attend a sanctioned barbecue event in your area. Talk to the competitors, ask questions, and see what they are using. Pellet cookers have been cleared to cook at these events for some years now and the chances of finding a competitor using one are pretty good. The internet or a message board would not be my only place to do research.