Long Time Member - First Post and First Question

[mreev90]

I have been subscribed to Jeff's website for a number of years and have tried many of his recipes. I also have made his rubs from scratch and bought bottles of them as well. I have to say that everything I've learned here (and I learned a lot) has been spot on. My GMG Daniel Boone died a while back and just never got a chance to replace it. I recently purchased the RecTeq 700 grill, so I am starting anew.

The question I have is regarding whether there is a "good" or maybe "better" way of placing the meat on the smoker. Do most of you place your meat directly on the smoker's grate or do you place it on a secondary grate that sits on a pan. I understand that sometimes for fish, veggies, shrimp, etc. there is a practical requirement to keep the goods from falling through. I ask this question because I stayed up way too late last night watching many of Jeff's videos and often the meat was placed on the secondary grill for no apparent reason. My inquiring mind must know the answer to this question. :=)

BTW- I'm a coon ass from Louisiana, so if it walks, flies or swims and doesn't talk, it can go on a grill or in a pot. That's why I like this site. Jeff comes up with some cool and off the wall recipes.

 

[SmokyMose]

I don't know about a good or better way. Most of my cooks involve putting the meat directly on the grate with a drip pan underneath.
I run an offset stick burner so I don't really know how a pellet cooker operates.
I'm not really sure what you mean by a secondary grate that sits on a pan....

 

[DougE]

Jeff uses the pans to keep the grease from getting all over the inside of his pellet grills. I do similar, I usually put the food on the top rack with a disposable foil pan on the lower rack. I mostly don't cook enough at a time to need both racks. Yeah, my pellet grill has a drip tray that dumps into a little bucket, but some of the grease still ends up in the bottom of the grill. The foil pan eliminates having to clean it. I still have to clean the ash out every few cooks, but it isn't a greasy mess.

 

[DRKsmoking]

I'm smoking with a propane smoker

If it is wrapped , right on the racks
if open air food to collect smoke I place on a rack that sits up on a tray that just slides on the smokers racks

David

 

[JLeonard]

Like DRKsmoking I'm a gas burner. I will use a foil pan under the protein mainly to catch drippings and help keep the smoker clean-ish. depending on what all I'm cooking it may be on the rack below the protein or on a cooling rack on the foil pan. Hasnt affected the cook at all. Still get a good ring and flavor.
Jim

 

[GaryHibbert]

In my MES 30, if it can't fall through--then everything goes right onto a rack that then sits right on the grates. The reason for the extra rack is simply convenience. I get the meat fully prepared and rubbed in the kitchen on a rack--in a cookie sheet. This gets carried outside and the meat, on the rack, just slides onto the smoker grate. No mess and no drips on the way out to the MES.
Gary

 

[Fueling Around]

Try this link for an explanation on the drip pan
Jeff's 9 Tips for using a pellet grill

 

[tallbm]

I have been subscribed to Jeff's website for a number of years and have tried many of his recipes. I also have made his rubs from scratch and bought bottles of them as well. I have to say that everything I've learned here (and I learned a lot) has been spot on. My GMG Daniel Boone died a while back and just never got a chance to replace it. I recently purchased the RecTeq 700 grill, so I am starting anew.

The question I have is regarding whether there is a "good" or maybe "better" way of placing the meat on the smoker. Do most of you place your meat directly on the smoker's grate or do you place it on a secondary grate that sits on a pan. I understand that sometimes for fish, veggies, shrimp, etc. there is a practical requirement to keep the goods from falling through. I ask this question because I stayed up way too late last night watching many of Jeff's videos and often the meat was placed on the secondary grill for no apparent reason. My inquiring mind must know the answer to this question. :=)

BTW- I'm a coon ass from Louisiana, so if it walks, flies or swims and doesn't talk, it can go on a grill or in a pot. That's why I like this site. Jeff comes up with some cool and off the wall recipes.

Hi there and welcome!

DougE nailed it. It's likely for clean up and ease of dealing with it all.

I almost always put a disposable foil pan on my rack then another rack on the pan and the meat on the rack. This allows most of the drippings and fat to go into the foil pan. Makes clean up a breeze in my electric smoker.

Also if you want to save drippings or fat it helps.

 

[Buckeye1]

I put my food directly on the grate on my Recteq. I put foil on the drip tray and replace every 3 to 4 cooks or after a real greasy cook. I don't know If a pan under the meat would divert the smoke away from the meat.

 

[DougE]

I don't know If a pan under the meat would divert the smoke away from the meat.

You still get plenty of smoke circulating around the meat, especially if you do like I do and upper rack the meat with the foil pan on the lower rack beneath it. I also recall Jeff saying in one of his videos that the pans with rack he is using allow for plenty of smoke circulation