Outdoor Cooking (smoking, grilling, barbecuing, open spit, etc.)

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That was going to be my first question, what pellets are you using?

Last year I used Weber and Kingsford I believe. This year I started out with some I got from a farm supply on sale.

[CSW]

I grew tired of charcoal and my limited surface space and picked up a a Camp Chef pellet with griddle. I havent been able to get a good strong smoke flavor and definitely no black meteorite looking chunks of meat. Im thinking of smoking on the lowest temp at high smoke for a couple of hours before switching to 225 and high smoke.
The other thing I am thinking about is using a meat probe as a grate probe on the upper rack and adjusting the controller to give me 225 at the upper grate and spinning the exhaust cover lower to hold the smoke in.
Has anybody found a good method to improving the smoke flavor on a pellet smoker?

Different pellets?

Sounds like you're at max smoke.... maybe different pellets would improve your satisfaction... I've had good results with Pit Boss..
Or try a stronger wood flavor.... Mesquite maybe?

I've found,that while apple is a milder smoke, it leaves a wonderful smoke ring and a good smokey flavor in the meats I've done on the Treager.
They are, by chance, apple pellets from Lowes.

[BobLoblaw]

I grew tired of charcoal and my limited surface space and picked up a a Camp Chef pellet with griddle. I havent been able to get a good strong smoke flavor and definitely no black meteorite looking chunks of meat. Im thinking of smoking on the lowest temp at high smoke for a couple of hours before switching to 225 and high smoke.
The other thing I am thinking about is using a meat probe as a grate probe on the upper rack and adjusting the controller to give me 225 at the upper grate and spinning the exhaust cover lower to hold the smoke in.
Has anybody found a good method to improving the smoke flavor on a pellet smoker?

If you close the chimney off, the smoke will just pour out of the grease port and some will be trapped in the upper part of the chamber so you'll get some dirty smoke taste. Try using the top rack closer to the chimney with it opened all the way. The smoke will be directed towards the meat and the constant air movement makes for a cleaner taste. Last chuck I did (salt/heavy pepper only) sat in that spot for 5 hours at 225 10 smoke before I started spritzing ACV/apple juice every 30 till the tallow wrap at 175-180. Pulled at 205 then rested for 2 hours and it came out pretty close to black. Best one I've done so far and I think wrapping late helps. I've not dialed in my brisket flats though. Just not enough fat for a long cook so it's slightly dry every time. I'm about to start mopping with tallow instead of spritzing. Of course, I still can't afford brisket experiments right now with prices still at $100+ so $30 chuck steaks will have to do.

ETA: Also, I use Rural King competition blend pellets now and I'm very happy. I've heard they're manufactured by Lumberjack but I didn't care enough to research.

[rob_s]

If you close the chimney off, the smoke will just pour out of the grease port and some will be trapped in the upper part of the chamber so you'll get some dirty smoke taste. Try using the top rack closer to the chimney with it opened all the way. The smoke will be directed towards the meat and the constant air movement makes for a cleaner taste.

I think this is a really good point, and something I got wrong for a long time and still see other friends that are long-time smokers get this wrong.

Smoke color (light blue, not dense white) and flow are really important and often counter-intuitive. I’ve gotten much cleaner flavor since I stopped trying to trap all this dense white smoke in the cooker and instead try to keep a good flow of a faint light blue smoke.

On a pellet smoker there’s not much to be done about fire temp, but fwiw I’ve also learned that keeping the fire hotter is how you get that blue smoke.

[CSW]

For cold weather cooking, I purchased a 14 dollar fiberglass welders blanket.
I double it up and throw it over the traeger.
Keeps the Temps constant in the cold and traps a bit more smoke.
Traeger wants a ton of money for the cold weather cover.

[RoyGBiv]

For cold weather cooking, I purchased a 14 dollar fiberglass welders blanket.
I double it up and throw it over the traeger.
Keeps the Temps constant in the cold and traps a bit more smoke.
Traeger wants a ton of money for the cold weather cover.

Move South!

Cold weather here means the smoker holds about 140F on the low setting when ambient is around freezing. That's an "infinity" smoke temp for everything other than steak.

[UNK]

Thanks guys. I still have some experimenting to do obviously. I like the pellet smoker because of the ease. Hopefully I can get some satisfactory results.

If you close the chimney off, the smoke will just pour out of the grease port and some will be trapped in the upper part of the chamber so you'll get some dirty smoke taste. Try using the top rack closer to the chimney with it opened all the way. The smoke will be directed towards the meat and the constant air movement makes for a cleaner taste. Last chuck I did (salt/heavy pepper only) sat in that spot for 5 hours at 225 10 smoke before I started spritzing ACV/apple juice every 30 till the tallow wrap at 175-180. Pulled at 205 then rested for 2 hours and it came out pretty close to black. Best one I've done so far and I think wrapping late helps. I've not dialemy brisket flats though. Just not enough fat for a long cook so it's slightly dry every time. I'm about to start mopping with tallow instead of spritzing. Of course, I still can't afford brisket experiments right now with prices still at $100+ so $30 chuck steaks will have to do.

ETA: Also, I use Rural King competition blend pellets now and I'm very happy. I've heard they're manufactured by Lumberjack but I didn't care enough to research.

I think this is a really good point, and something I got wrong for a long time and still see other friends that are long-time smokers get this wrong.

Smoke color (light blue, not dense white) and flow are really important and often counter-intuitive. I’ve gotten much cleaner flavor since I stopped trying to trap all this dense white smoke in the cooker and instead try to keep a good flow of a faint light blue smoke.

On a pellet smoker there’s not much to be done about fire temp, but fwiw I’ve also learned that keeping the fire hotter is how you get that blue smoke.

[UNM1136]

I'd try reverse searing both: one in the oven instead of sous vide and the other in the smoker to take the sear quality variable out. I've done sous vide vs Kenji reverse sear and you can't dry the meat off well enough w/ sous vide to get the same sear unless you add downward pressure which cooks it more internally.

I've heard for steaks cooked sous vide you can pat dry with towels and then put them on a rack to rest either in the fridge or with a fan blowing at it for ~10 minutes to help dry. I've tried a few times with just paper towels and it doesn't get dry enough to get an amazing sear, so let me know if you try resting the steaks and how it turns out.

I mentioned this once before...since I am relying on my Diskit and a smoker the only really good means I have to grill is a chimney starter. Even with my Diskit at 700 degrees F (the highest my infra red thermometer can handle) nothing touches the sear I get on the chimney. It gets much hotter. The food is on it so little time it almost seems like a waste. But the results speak for themselves.

an article from my favorite cooking periodical.






pat

[rob_s]

Cooking for a work thing today. Been up since 4.

Wings are the first to go on, then salmon later

[rob_s]

Cooking for a work thing today. Been up since 4.

Wings are the first to go on, then salmon later

Wings off and baking/warming, salmon on