What is the purpose of preheating when using a lower temp?

[Cyndi]

Recipes always seem to say to preheat to a desired temperature. I understand this when a high temp is desired… but instead, let’s say I’m going more for the smoke, perhaps 225 to 250. Once the smoke cycle is complete, why wouldn’t I just put my meat on at that point and then let it heat up to its target temperature? Seems it would only result in a little extra smoke. Thanks!

 

[RustyJake]

Recipes always seem to say to preheat to a desired temperature. I understand this when a high temp is desired… but instead, let’s say I’m going more for the smoke, perhaps 225 to 250. Once the smoke cycle is complete, why wouldn’t I just put my meat on at that point and then let it heat up to its target temperature? Seems it would only result in a little extra smoke. Thanks!

Part of the reason may be due to 'dirty smoke' being created during the start up phase. The goal from Traeger is to provide thin blue smoke which is the desired smoke for smoking food. During heat up you can usually see white billowing smoke which can be akrid and bitter.

 

[JPSBBQ]

I’m gonna say there’s nothing wrong with your suggestion. No way can a short time in preheat or warmup stage can you get anything bad going on. The above suggestion is absolutely the basic idea and I would say if you were on an offset that required some tinkering to get good smoke and were burning logs, maybe it’d be an issue. No worries either way with a pellet cooker.

 

[Slimpicker]

I put my food in my grill almost all the time without pre-heating to the final temp.
I've had some pretty big smoke-outs when in pre-heat so I am probably guilty of what Jake mentioned, but I'm too lazy and impatient to care.

 

[RustyJake]

I agree with both @Slimpicker and @JPSBBQ , shouldn't be an issue doing it. Everytime we pop in a smoke tube we are pumping the white smoke in the smoker. All the smoke generators work the same way. I too have added food well before the warm-up is completed. I don't have an issue with the white smoke, it is mild coming off pellets.
Pellet grills are not like stick burners, I get and understand that. My reply was to the heading of this thread by the OP, I still believe that will be the reason Traeger suggests it.

 

[Slimpicker]

I still believe that will be the reason Traeger suggests it.

Agreed

 

[MidwestSmoker]

I also think that there tends to be greater temperature swings during the preheat phase and it settles down once it reaches the set point. Again, for most meats this will not be an issue, but if you are worried about temperature swings, then its better to wait until the preheating is complete.

I generally get the grill started and then prepare the meats with rubs/marinades. The preheating is always complete before I am ready to load the grill.

 

[CMTiger]

If I’m ever using the Traeger time really isn’t of the essence, so I’m pretty patient with the preheat process.

I think the above posters are likely correct though

 

[JPSBBQ]

I’m with the crowd that’s not in a hurry, personally. I just think too many people get waaay too caught up in temp swings and recipes. I would strongly suggest these things are far more critical in baking which is quite stringent and structured. BBQ is more art than science. Sure there are absolutely elements of both involved, but there are tons of variables and numerous paths that can be taken to the same end. I can’t count the times I’ve heard stories of some unfortunate individual who had a major problem while navigating their recipe or BBQ plan only to have the end product turn out to be not only ok but the best xxxx they’d ever done. It just isn’t that stringent a discipline. Now competition cooks require very strict timing and presentation issues not required of backyard cooks. Even comp guys have had plenty of unintended successes born out of a screw up.

Don’t sweat the small stuff and you’ll enjoy your hobby even more than you’d thought possible. Cheers!

 

[Timmy]

I also think that there tends to be greater temperature swings during the preheat phase and it settles down once it reaches the set point. Again, for most meats this will not be an issue, but if you are worried about temperature swings, then its better to wait until the preheating is complete.

I generally get the grill started and then prepare the meats with rubs/marinades. The preheating is always complete before I am ready to load the grill.

I do this also, just want the grill to stabilize while I get the meats ready.

 

[WCBBQ]

Part of the reason may be due to 'dirty smoke' being created during the start up phase. The goal from Traeger is to provide thin blue smoke which is the desired smoke for smoking food. During heat up you can usually see white billowing smoke which can be akrid and bitter.

That's a very good point Rusty Jake, some pellets, like ours, are toasted before being made into pellets. This removes all the volatile compounds that can create that bitter flavor. I was reading Meatheads article in the Oct '21 Barbecue News and he was discussing how the smoke ring is formed. Apparently it happens early in the cooking process when the meat in in the presents of NOx. NOx is formed by a hot fire. I believe that putting the meat in the grill and then raising the temp may produce that pretty pink ring because the fire will need to run hot for a while to get there. I'm going to be trying this on my grill.

 

[kofficer]

Super Newbie here so pls clarify and advise. Keep hearing about super smoke. Pls explain. Is it an accessory you put inside while cooking that creates more smoke when the treager when cooking? If so how does it work and how do you obtain them?

 

[Murphy's Law]

Super Newbie here so pls clarify and advise. Keep hearing about super smoke. Pls explain. Is it an accessory you put inside while cooking that creates more smoke when the treager when cooking? If so how does it work and how do you obtain them?

Super Smoke is a mode on their higher end grills (Timberline, Ironwood) that produces more smoke below 225 degrees. They way I understand it is that it's available on these models due to the physical design of the grill (no smoke pipe) and a change in the firmware (fan control).

You can essentially get the same thing using a cheap smoke tube, or some even say that super smoke doesn't make that much difference anyway.

 

[GrillMeister]

Being an old egger, I come from the school of pre-heating and then letting the thermal mass of the smoker settle in.

The reason is, when doing BBQ, you are probably putting in 10-20 lbs of very cold meat into a pre-heated smoker.

If the smoker just came to temp, it still needs time for the thermal mass of all that steel or ceramic to also come to temp.

BBQ goes much better when you put you meat in a pre-heated and stabilized smoker. It's better off prepared when we add 20 pounds of cold meat to the smoker.

 

[JPSBBQ]

Being an old egger, I come from the school of pre-heating and then letting the thermal mass of the smoker settle in.

The reason is, when doing BBQ, you are probably putting in 10-20 lbs of very cold meat into a pre-heated smoker.

If the smoker just came to temp, it still needs time for the thermal mass of all that steel or ceramic to also come to temp.

BBQ goes much better when you put you meat in a pre-heated and stabilized smoker. It's better off prepared when we add 20 pounds of cold meat to the smoker.

I let mine get to temp, but I see no real issue with not doing so when using a thermostatically controlled unit. It’s not the same as trying to stabilize a ceramic cooker or a huge offset cooker which requires some adjustments and tinkering. You set the temp and you walk away. Done. Either way, you certainly will never ever be able to discern between a pork butt done one way or the other. If you think you can tell the difference, I call bologna. Again, I’m in the habit of letting it reach set temp, but I can’t possibly imagine it makes a hill of beans difference really. It’s thermostatically controlled for crying out loud. That’s why the pellet grill is wildly popular. You do need to make sure the unit is heated up enough to meet the preheat criteria. So hot (100 I think) in so many minutes. Maybe not put it on before, but all the way heated, meh.