New smoker from Southern California!

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chad martinell

Fire Starter
Original poster
Dec 30, 2013
48
12
Good morning all! My name is Chad, I am a traffic engineer in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, and I would consider myself an amateur chef/semi-pro baker (I partially owned a cafe where I made cheesecakes which are my specialty.)

Like many I received a new smoker as a Christmas gift this year! I received a Traeger Junior and two bags of Traeger pellets (mesquite and applewood) from my in-laws. I was anxious to try it so I built it on Christmas night, but didn't get around to the initial burn-in until Saturday, and finally was able to get some real smoking in yesterday!

I smoked 2-2.5 lb. tri-tips with mesquite for about 3.5 hours. I tried to keep the temperature in the 200-225 range, but that smoker only has smoke, medium, and high settings, with the smoke setting being a little too cold, and the medium setting being a little too hot. They offer a digital control for setting temperature, and I will definitely be purchasing that upgrade soon!


I also got the idea from the little cookbook that came with the smoker to smoke some onions, which I combined with cherry tomatoes and bacon to make a sauce for some fresh pasta that I made with the other Christmas present I got from my in-laws, the pasta rollers attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer! Sorry, I don't have a picture of the whole plate, but the onions turned out amazing!

All-in-all I was very happy with my first smoking experience, and I can't wait to do some more!
 
Glad you joined us Chad, congrats on the new Traeger and pasta roller and :welcome1: from North Dakota!
Nice work on your first smoke, the tri-tip looks excellent... congrats on a successful first smoke!
Oh, and a digital controller will be night and day difference as you will be able adjust temperature at 5º increments.
 
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Hello and welcome from East Texas. This is a great site, lots of information and great people that are willing to throw in their two cents worth on about anything.   
[/h1][h1]  [/h1][h1]Gary[/h1]
 
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