New from Illinois

[Stldan]

Been debating on buying a Traeger for a couple years now and finally pulled the trigger on a woodridge Pro. I’ve used gas and charcoal in the past and am completely new to pellet grills. I’ve never smoked with the gas grill, obviously, had a smoke adapter on my charcoal grill for wood chunks which was a pain to use and had to constantly feed and adjust temperature. I’m hoping this will be much easier. I will say as far as cooking, 75% will be grilling and 25% will be smoking. I’m hopeful this will grill just as well as my previous methods. The only thing I’ve done so far are brats, because it’s hard to screw those up using the new grill for the first time. Thats all I’ve done so far. Any suggestions for typical burgers and chicken would be much appreciated.

 

[Shedd]

Welcome to the Forum!!
You can read so much on here and get some great insight on how to cook anything on your new Traeger. Many great people on here willing to help. You can search and find many recipes and tips for about anything that’s possible to be cooked. Spatchcock chicken is really simple and turn out great every time. You will need a different temperature probe because Traeger’s aren’t really reliable as you’ll read on here and this is what makes most difference. You’ll find that the Traeger inside grill chamber isn’t very accurate at the start but does seem to improve on longer cooks. The more you cook the more you learn how you grill works. They all are a little different. I cook my burgers at 500 degrees, just need to pay attention to temp and not let it go over your desired temperature. I use 80/20 and they turn out very moist and plenty of flavor. Keep us posted with pics of your cooks!

 

[RayClem]

The Traeger pellet grill/smoker is best described as a wood fired convection oven. Although it can be used for grilling, your gas grill is far better at that task as it heats up quickly to a high temperature. Although it does provide smoke flavor to the food, it will not provide the same level of smoke as a stick fired offset smoker.

Where the Traeger excels is in longer cooks. You can fill the hopper with pellets late in the evening and let it run unattended all night long. You cannot do that with an offset smoker.

The Traeger does not quite get hot enough to properly sear steaks or burgers, although it can be used to cook both. Some people purchase GrillGrates to provide enhanced searing, but I did not find them to be all that helpful.

I solved that problem by purchasing a gas-fired griddle. I will smoke my steaks on the Traeger at about 225F until the internal temp reaches about 120F. Then I will fire up the griddle on high and sear the steaks until they finish at my desired internal temp, which for me is 140F (medium), but might be different for you. That way I get the best of both types of cooking.

As for burgers, while I did cook them on the Traeger before purchasing the griddle, I now saute onions, sear my burgers, and toast my Brioche buns slathered in mayonnaise on the griddle.

The Traeger is great for cooking chicken, pork, larger cuts of beef, and cedar plank salmon. It can even be used to bake a pie or a pizza..

One word of advice: DO NOT TRUST the Traeger temperature readout. Get a 3rd party analog or digital thermometer to check the cook temperature. Adjust the controller to give the cook temperature you want on the 3rd party thermometer.
This can avoid a lot of frustration.