My Pro 575 Gets Delivered Friday

[Vindicator]

Hello, all.

Dave here. I've been cooking over charcoal with Weber kettles since my Dad first let me use his 45 years ago or so, and added a Weber vertical smoker 15-20 years ago. Based on my son-in-law's experience with his Traeger, and because it was time to replace different pieces of all my Webers, I just ordered my new Pro 575 instead. I know the value of a good online forum, so immediately sought one out for my new smoker and found this one. I'm looking forward to participating, and learning!

 

[traeger860]

Welcome & enjoy.

 

[Slimpicker]

 

[Timmy]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[primeone]

Congrats on the new Traeger and welcome to the forum!

 

[Shedd]

Welcome! You’ll find many great folks on here willing to share a wealth of knowledge.

 

[Murphy's Law]

Welcome! This is a great site with lots of info. What do you have planned for the first cook?

 

[Slimpicker]

I'm looking forward to participating, and learning!

Go here and get educated from lessons learned:

READ FIRST ►TRAEGER FAQs & TECH INFO

Traeger Forum is dedicated to the knowledge and total safety of all it's Traeger owning members --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My New Traeger Does Not Put Out The Smoke I Was Expecting!! My Traeger built in RTD probe is off, it is...

www.traegerforum.com

 

[Vindicator]

Go here and get educated from lessons learned:

Did that yesterday, at least I started - will get through more this weekend. Will use the site's recommended break-in process, and have already ordered my gasket. Thanks again.

 

[Slimpicker]

 

[Clint62]

I have the same model you're getting. You still might want to have a little smoky Joe or a gas grill to do serious, searing and for steaks, etc. Having said that, I use the Traeger plenty, because there's all kinds of things you can do with it that you can't with a regular weber grill. I also recommend getting some smoke tubes, the 575 doesn't generate a lot of smoke on its own. It's more like a wood fired oven more than a smoker.

 

[Vindicator]

Amazon delivered the smoke tube today

I haven't gotten rid of any of my Webers yet. I have two different size kettles and a vertical smoker, all of which need some work to one degree or another. I will make that call once I try a few more cooks.

Details over in the "what's cooking" thread (or soon will be), but I did steak today for my first cook. Reverse sear, but I did the low and slow on the Traeger, which I never could on my kettles, and then did the sear on the stove. Worked great. Not sure I'd build up a charcoal fire just to sear a steak for a minute a side, at this point.

Curious to try burgers, hopefully tomorrow. I have an baking/pizza steel - I'm going to try cooking directly on that, in the Traeger, and we'll see how I like the sear.

 

[RayClem]

Many of the folks here use a combination of Traeger grills, offset smokers, vertical smokers, charcoal grills, gas grills, flat top grills, and sous vide circulators.

There is no single cooking method that is perfect for every scenario. Where the Traeger excels is doing an extended cook, low and slow with minimal attention from the pitmaster. Thus, it is great for brisket, roasts, smoked turkey, chicken and duck, cedar plank salmon, etc.

It is not that great at doing hot and fast cooks for searing steaks, cooking burgers, hotdogs, and brats, so keep as many cookers as you have room for. You can get GrillGrates to add to your Traeger to help when you need to cook hot and fast, but I moved my GrillGrates over to my gas grill as I find that is an even better combination. I also like smoking thick steaks low and slow on the Traeger and then bringing them inside to sear in a carbon steel skillet on a gas stove. Basting in butter with a little garlic and rosemary provides a wonderful flavor. There was a time when I never cooked steaks at home as I never liked the way they turned out. Now I prefer my own steaks to ones purchased in steakhouses.

 

[Vindicator]

I also like smoking thick steaks low and slow on the Traeger and then bringing them inside to sear in a carbon steel skillet on a gas stove.

This is exactly what I did on my first cook with the new Traeger - I posted in the "what's cooking" thread. Loved the results!