1. I had just come home from the Kentucky Derby and my car was full of hat boxes, my suitcase, a box of mint julep glasses, etc...I don't know why I didn't just empty my car before heading out there. I am apparently still recovering from the effects of drinking so much bourbon in such a small about of time.
2. I have an SUV that is much smaller that I thought it was.
3. The Traeger was much larger that I thought... and I bought it preassembled because I feared the daunting task of putting together such a nice piece of machinery by myself.
4. OH yah! I need to also purchase a giant bag of pellets, more than one bag actually... and a new sparkly belt apparently from the Western boutique inside Wilco. No regrets.
The wonderful man at Wilco, who unfortunately also had a bad back actually helped me rearrange the inside of my car so that the grill would fit. Bitsy was no help... (Bitsy is my 6 month old Pembroke Welsh Corgi who barks at strangers). Once we got the grill into my car I took it home to set it up. It was an ordeal in which I am happy that they didn't tell me that I was banned from the store for causing a raucous.
Back at the homestead...
...I unloaded my car... and by this time I also had about 20 pounds of meat and 10 pounds of vegetables in my car as obviously I was planning on getting started right away. I knew that it was going to be a while before I could actually use my grill as prepping it was going to take at least an hour and by this time it was about 5:00PM. So I bought 1 package of pre-seasoned meat and Sweet baby rays bbq sauce. I plan on developing my own recipe for BBQ sauce by mid summer, but for tonight... I am going to cheat.
Anyone who purchases a Traeger or a pellet grill will have to go through the same steps I did to get it prepped. However, in case someone out there gets a new one with out the instructions... I will go ahead and go through step by step how I prepped the pellet grill. First I needed an anatomy lesson and got familiar with my new friend...
Instructions on prepping the pellet grill:
1. Open the lid and remove the grate, ash catcher (the cookie sheet like piece below the grate), and the metal cover over the auto start fire pot.
2. Make sure your grill is in the off position. Plug in your grill, turn the dial to smoke, and turn it on. Make sure the Auger is turning. Put your hand over the fire pot and make sure you feel a little bit of air flowing and also feel if it is warming up. DONT TOUCH IT... unless you want your hand to be smoked with the pellets. It gets extremely hot!
3. Open the hopper and fill it with your wood pellets. I used maple pellets because I was cooking beef and pork that night and I wanted them to be a little sweeter. It is recommended to use alder wood pellets if you don't have a handle on what wood goes with what meat... Alder goes with everything... but we can talk about that later.
4. Open the lid and wait for the pellets to drop into the fire pot. Once a dozen or so are in the pot turn it to high heat and wait for the fire to start.. should take just a few minutes. As soon as it does. Turn it off, close the lid and let it cool down.
Burning the Grill:
1. Place the metal cover over the fire pot, then the ash catcher and finally the grill back in the Traeger.
2. Turn the dial to Smoke and wait for a fire to catch... you will know as soon as it starts smoking. Should be about 2-4 minutes.
3. Turn it to high and close the lid. Let it smoke for about 45 minutes.
The burning process is important because it gets rid of any oils or dust left over from the manufacturing process and basically tempers the grill... similar to seasoning a cast iron pan.
After about an hour, you are all set! The instructions said to turn it off and let it cool, but I went ahead and just started grilling!
Also in case you noticed... this grill does not have a smoke stack as the one does in the above photo. This particular model is the Traeger Junior, I am feeding 2 people and a dog. For the amount of smoke I need for what I am cooking... this model was perfect. However if you are a larger family or feed the masses I recommend going with a larger grill.
Happy Grilling!
The Pit Mistress
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