Traeger named Harley

Last night I did burgers. They were great. Today it is Rock Candy Rub spare ribs.

After being in the aircraft industry for a number of years you quickly become sensitive to poorly constructed items. That being that most aircraft are very stringently looked at and well put together. The Traeger comes in a large box and it is only partially assembled. Everything was well thought out and packaged with a lot of care. Every screw, nut, bolt & bolt hole all lined up and fit precisely. The instruction manual was very well written and their help line is available well beyond there normal business hours. I looked it over and believe that it is constructed in China. It is probably the best constructed Chinese equipment that I have ever assembled.
The biggest issue that I have is that I am use to burning stuff on a charcoal grill. If your looking for the char of a BBQ you will not get it as easily. Brushing the food with EVOO to get the grill marks is a change to how I have cooked in the past. I can tell you this that you will never cook any cleaner on any outdoor device than you will with a Traeger. It works just like a convection oven. 450-460 deg is about as hot as the grill will get. You wont get dried out little puck for burgers on a Traeger. It smokes at about 180-210 deg. If you want to cold smoke save your self some bucks and use one of the Amazing Smokers inside the Traeger. That way you can do all the cold smoke you want for only a few bucks. Traeger will void the warrantee if you use any pellet other than there brand. Their brand is food quality & you can use them in the Amazing Smoker. The amazing cold smokers are about $30 and the Traeger cold smoke attachment is $200

Adam said:

I'm in love. First tried the 321 ribs last weekend and I've got two chickens ready to go for tomorrow. It seems like it kicks out a bunch of smoke intermittently then goes back to light smoke hot air coming out of the pipe. It was doing that on both smoke and 225. Just wondering if that is normal. Have the amazn tube now so cheese coming up.

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When I first started out I couldn't get mine to smoke and the temp would increase. I called treager and they walked me through the smoke process which there books don't cover very well. That is as far as getting the unit to stay below 210-220 and smoke. The key is cleaning out the burn chamber before each smoke, dial on smoke and at fire up leaving the lid open for 10 min minimum. This will get the right amount of pellets and fire for a decent smoke. All of their smoke recipies call for door open 5 minutes. Do 10 minutes and you will get the smoke. There is a ton of complaints about the amount of smoke or the lack of it on forums. I found the amazin smoker to be the best resolve for that. No need to run the treager while using the amzin smoker. Dont open and close the door while doing cheese unless the temp crawls up. It could spread a little ash around.
When you do your cheese do it on the coldest day ( I did mine when it was 38) and keep the temp @ 70-75 deg. max. I did mine and it turned out great. I read a lot about aging the cheese before eating it & I have to agree that it makes a better product if you smoke it, wrap it in parchment paper and let it rest for a couple of weeks before eating it. I did mine in alder but I think apple wood would be better for soft & white cheeses. I have the medium sized (12") amazin smoker tube & it will put out a easy 4-5 hours of good smoke. I bought the maverick digital thermometer with wireless thermometer and it is the best one I have ever used. It does take some experimenting to get a system down but it is well worth the investment of time