Hey SMF!
My name is Wokker and I am from the Portland, OR area. Recently we bought a house, and one of our first purchases was a Traeger Junior Elite. If we end up using it as much as I plan on....we will upgrade at that point. Being house poor the Junior Elite was all we could swing for on Costco special. But from what it seems...its not how much it costs as it is how well you know how to use it.
Since getting it on Tuesday....I have smoked/grilled two things on it. The first was some bone in pork chops that I ran on the smoke setting for about 30-35 min and then cranked it up to finish them off. These turned out great. Good smoke flavor, good smoke ring, and good juicy flavor.
At this point Im feeling pretty confident because my first attempt was a success. At this point the only thing left in the fridge was some Pork Brats.....why not? The next night I put the Pork Brats on and smoked them for around 35 min and then turned them up to finish them off. This was not a success. The only way I can describe it is that the meat on the inside of them kind of curdled? The meat was still somewhat juicy but had almost turned into cooked off ground pork like it was done outside of the casing. Either way I would like to know what happened there and probably wont be trying brats again for a little while. I got the temp of them to up at 150 but I will have to adjust the smoke/cook method on those.
The only other thing I have bought so far is a ThermPro TP20 wireless therm. This should arrive this weekend as I cant wait to have accurate internal temps and ambient temps while grilling. should make life alot easier!
Next up I will probably try some burgers on the Traeger as well as a pork shoulder!
My name is Wokker and I am from the Portland, OR area. Recently we bought a house, and one of our first purchases was a Traeger Junior Elite. If we end up using it as much as I plan on....we will upgrade at that point. Being house poor the Junior Elite was all we could swing for on Costco special. But from what it seems...its not how much it costs as it is how well you know how to use it.
Since getting it on Tuesday....I have smoked/grilled two things on it. The first was some bone in pork chops that I ran on the smoke setting for about 30-35 min and then cranked it up to finish them off. These turned out great. Good smoke flavor, good smoke ring, and good juicy flavor.
At this point Im feeling pretty confident because my first attempt was a success. At this point the only thing left in the fridge was some Pork Brats.....why not? The next night I put the Pork Brats on and smoked them for around 35 min and then turned them up to finish them off. This was not a success. The only way I can describe it is that the meat on the inside of them kind of curdled? The meat was still somewhat juicy but had almost turned into cooked off ground pork like it was done outside of the casing. Either way I would like to know what happened there and probably wont be trying brats again for a little while. I got the temp of them to up at 150 but I will have to adjust the smoke/cook method on those.
The only other thing I have bought so far is a ThermPro TP20 wireless therm. This should arrive this weekend as I cant wait to have accurate internal temps and ambient temps while grilling. should make life alot easier!
Next up I will probably try some burgers on the Traeger as well as a pork shoulder!
