Another one goes to the dark side

[Chris__M]

Have just got back from a day out, which included a visit to Jackie. There is now a Lil Tex snoozing in my garage, waiting for final assembly, first burn, and then the fun begins.

I plan to put it together and run it for a couple of hours tomorrow, but I am not exactly sure when my experiments will begin, as I am still shrugging off a really bad cold.

Many thanks to Jackie for her help and patience.

[joker smoker]

the congregation keeps on growing....better order some more pellets Jackie...

[MadCow]

2 tons of Hickory is on it's way and my local pellet producer is going to be up and running again at the end of this week (I hope)!!

Now trying to source some fruit woods to get a bigger range.

[esselle]

Looks like I will be the only one left using a Pro Q

[Chris__M]

With regard to another one of my interests, astronomy, there is a running joke that you see on forums and such, where someone apologises to everyone else for the recent cloudy nights, "because I have just bought a new telescope".

I now realise, along similar lines, that I need to apologise for the almost incessant rain ever since I picked up my pellet grill. Sorry, folks.

I did manage to put it together yesterday, and do an initial burn, but since then both the grill and myself have been sheltering from the wet. If this carries on, I may resurect my plans for a car port connecting my kitchen to the garage.

[joker smoker]

Thank you, Chris. Tonight's rain brought a record Wednesday night sales for BBQ Shack..

[Chris__M]

Heh, I see the Shack is in Brighton, a wonderful city, dear to my heart.

I lived in Brighton, then Hove, for a total of about 15 years, more if you include my student days before that. I moved away just over 10 years ago, went back to visit a couple of times, but then most of the folk I knew there moved away too.

As it happens, I made my first visit back in about 8 years in May this year - I came down for a week, and had a great time roaming around my old haunts. Obviously, many things had changed, but it was surprising what hadn't changed - Grubbs were still churning out their veggie burgers, which I used to be addicted to as a student (I've never been a veggie, but loved their veggie burgers, especially topped with bacon!)

Of course, this is before I knew your place existed.

If I come down next year, I'll give you a shout, I'd be interested to see your setup, if it is convenient for you at the time.

Chris

[lakemirror]

I've never been a veggie, but loved their veggie burgers, especially topped with bacon!
Chris

Proof once again that EVERYTHING is better with bacon!

[Chris__M]

Today has been a really nice day, with clear skies, so I have been experimenting with the Traeger with some cheap supermarket -bought items. I know that this is not ideal, but while I am learning, I would rather incinerate inexpensive meat. Today I have cooked the following, all on smoke:

Some shop-bought beef burgers, turned out really nice, with smokey flavour, but could have been moister.

Shop-bought venison burgers, amazing flavour, but very dry, as it is a low fat meat. I need to find a way of doing these better, as I love venison burgers.

Some salmon fillets. Cooked nicely, but not noticeably smokey.

I have a *small* rolled brisket joint[1], that I marinaded and rubbed, that is currently resting. I had a look at it when it came out, and it is dry and not at all tender, but I did get a decent smoke ring on it. As I say, it was a really cheap cut of meat, "for practice", and I am not crying about it.

The important thing is, I now know how my Traeger works, have figured out a convenient way to run the wire to my meat probe (through the chimney), and next time will have the confidence to just let it cook, and not want to peek too much.

[1] For some reason that escapes me, when I was rubbing it, I cut the string and unrolled it, and then didn't roll it up again. Thinking about it, I think this was a mistake!

[Chris__M]

Actually, the brisket isn't absolutely horrible. It has turned out not as dry as I feared, although it is far from tender. Slicing it thin, it isn't bad at all; however, I may simply cut it up small and use it as a base for soup - waste not, want not.