A fun weekend

[Chris__M]

As I mentioned in another topic, I was planning to play with my Lil Tex this weekend, and get a feel for it with regards to straight grilling, as opposed to the smoking/slow cooking I have done up to now.

My planned garden makeover hasn't happened yet. Due to my holiday, and other current commitments, it is doubtful it will happen before the beginning of June, which - realistically - means that it will now wait until September; June/July/August not being the months you want to completely dig up a garden! This doesn't bother me too much, although the downside is that I now have to tidy the old garden up for the summer!

Anyway, having stored the Traeger in the garage for the last year, only bringing it out to cook, I have finally found it a semi-permanent home, pending the makeover. It means I will use it much more, and it will also give me a chance to try out the new location, which was one of the two ideas I had for the permanent BBQ area.

So this weekend has seen me grilling sausages, burgers, veggies and chicken (breast, thighs and drumsticks, both grilled and lightly smoked/grilled). No disasters - although the grilling times have been longer than I expected, compared to cooking directly over coals, that was the whole point of the exercise - to get a feel for it - and everything certainly came off the grill full of flavour. One thing that surprised me was that I had frequently read over on pelletheads.com that the unmodified Traeger didn't get hot enough to leave satisfactory grill marks on meat. Toby recently corrected me on this, and I found that he was correct - I was getting good sear marks by finishing off with the Traeger turned on high.

I was going to do pork chops tonight, but I think I have eaten as much meat this weekend as I can handle (even with the small portions I have been serving), and there is a pile of cooked burgers/sausages in the fridge to polish off over the next couple of days (the chicken got polished off rather quickly)

All in all, a total success.

[British BBQ Society]

glad i could help

[Swindon_Ed]

Anyway, having stored the Traeger in the garage for the last year, only bringing it out to cook, I have finally found it a semi-permanent home, pending the makeover. It means I will use it much more, and it will also give me a chance to try out the new location, which was one of the two ideas I had for the permanent BBQ area.

Hi Chris, i had a bit of an issue when i first got my Treager with where to store it and i came up with this.



It's sold as a bike shed but fits my Lil Tex perfectly, going from memory i think i paid about £30 for it and it's been great.

[Chris__M]

Hi Chris, i had a bit of an issue when i first got my Treager with where to store it and i came up with this.



It's sold as a bike shed but fits my Lil Tex perfectly, going from memory i think i paid about £30 for it and it's been great.

Thanks for the picture - it's certainly interesting to see what other people are doing. As it happens, I already have something to act as a BBQ shelter, that I bought in November:



However, it is still in flatpack in the garage, as I haven't really had the Traeger out much since then, and definitely not in a permanent or even semi-permanent place, suitable for it to be erected.

If I find that the Traeger works out well where I have put it, I'll be putting the shelter up in a couple of weeks.

[dieselracer13]

As I mentioned in another topic, I was planning to play with my Lil Tex this weekend, and get a feel for it with regards to straight grilling, as opposed to the smoking/slow cooking I have done up to now.

My planned garden makeover hasn't happened yet. Due to my holiday, and other current commitments, it is doubtful it will happen before the beginning of June, which - realistically - means that it will now wait until September; June/July/August not being the months you want to completely dig up a garden! This doesn't bother me too much, although the downside is that I now have to tidy the old garden up for the summer!

Anyway, having stored the Traeger in the garage for the last year, only bringing it out to cook, I have finally found it a semi-permanent home, pending the makeover. It means I will use it much more, and it will also give me a chance to try out the new location, which was one of the two ideas I had for the permanent BBQ area.

So this weekend has seen me grilling sausages, burgers, veggies and chicken (breast, thighs and drumsticks, both grilled and lightly smoked/grilled). No disasters - although the grilling times have been longer than I expected, compared to cooking directly over coals, that was the whole point of the exercise - to get a feel for it - and everything certainly came off the grill full of flavour. One thing that surprised me was that I had frequently read over on pelletheads.com that the unmodified Traeger didn't get hot enough to leave satisfactory grill marks on meat. Toby recently corrected me on this, and I found that he was correct - I was getting good sear marks by finishing off with the Traeger turned on high.

I was going to do pork chops tonight, but I think I have eaten as much meat this weekend as I can handle (even with the small portions I have been serving), and there is a pile of cooked burgers/sausages in the fridge to polish off over the next couple of days (the chicken got polished off rather quickly)

All in all, a total success.

Chris

How was the chicken skin to eat, I've read on some forums that the skin can be a bit rubbery when slow smoked but was it ok when grilling/searing?

Mark

[Chris__M]

I don't like chicken skin at the best of times - when buying commercial fried chicken, it irritates me that the tasty spices are on the skin and not the chicken.

So as part of the experiment, I skinned half of the thighs, and cooked the other half with the skin on. Breasts were all skin-off, and the drumsticks were as they came.

I was working with what I had in the fridge/cupboard, so half the chicken was simply thinly coated in sunflower oil, while the other half got a coating from a jar of korma sauce I had (left in it overnight in the fridge, in fact)

The taste test confirmed my preference for skin off. The oil-only thighs with skin had crisped up, but after a nibble, I still removed it. The drumsticks were ok (but not my favourite bit of meat anyway). The korma coated skinless thighs and breasts were wonderful.

So I am going to continue to buck tradition and skin my chicken before cooking, at least if I am coating it with something.

(I'm not much of a traditionalist, anyway, as I can't abide ribs).

[dieselracer13]

I don't like chicken skin at the best of times - when buying commercial fried chicken, it irritates me that the tasty spices are on the skin and not the chicken.

So as part of the experiment, I skinned half of the thighs, and cooked the other half with the skin on. Breasts were all skin-off, and the drumsticks were as they came.

I was working with what I had in the fridge/cupboard, so half the chicken was simply thinly coated in sunflower oil, while the other half got a coating from a jar of korma sauce I had (left in it overnight in the fridge, in fact)

The taste test confirmed my preference for skin off. The oil-only thighs with skin had crisped up, but after a nibble, I still removed it. The drumsticks were ok (but not my favourite bit of meat anyway). The korma coated skinless thighs and breasts were wonderful.

So I am going to continue to buck tradition and skin my chicken before cooking, at least if I am coating it with something.

(I'm not much of a traditionalist, anyway, as I can't abide ribs).

Nice insight Chris.

Thanks

Mark

[mcdodge]

(I'm not much of a traditionalist, anyway, as I can't abide ribs).

GET OUT!!!

[Swindon_Ed]

I have to admit I don't cook them very often as it nearly impossible to get really meaty ribs here on the island. John get's some great quality ribs though.[/quote]

I manage to get some great meaty ribs from my butchers but they can be a bit expensive, so i've also been using belly ribs which have been really good too and a lot cheaper.

[Chris__M]

(I'm not much of a traditionalist, anyway, as I can't abide ribs).

GET OUT!!!