Country Smokers Wood Pellet Grill and Smoker

[JEBar]

borrowing on lessons learned, Traveler grill waterproof cover solved .... well, resolved until something better comes along ... this morning at Sam's we purchased the 55 gal trash can liners shown below ..... with a little stretching the bag's opening is large enough pull down over the grill .... its length is way longer than needed so we just fold it over and use a bungee to keep it from flapping .... by the time we use up these bags we should know for sure if we want to continue to use them or to find something else

[JEBar]

they've just upped the chance of rain tonight to 60%, looks like our new and improved Wink water proofing may get doused

[JEBar]

rain has moved through .... the single bag appears to have worked (as anticipated) but I won't know for sure until it is removed .... as a secondary plus, the 55 gallon bags give us a bunch of emergency rain coats ...

[BigAl52]

I thought you bought a cover for that grill and it worked?

[JEBar]

I did buy a cover .... the cover does a good job but it is "water repellent" not waterproof .... my hope is this grill will last us a very long time, it actually comes with a 5 year warranty .... it will sit out most of the time while we are at home and on the road .... adding a cheap layer of plastic will help placate at least some of my paranoia ...

[BigAl52]

I see ok. I showed this to Dolly and she thought it was neat. Im thinking of ordering one for us. Id rather cook with the pellets than the gas grill we use now.

[JEBar]

I first heard about from a longtime friend on an RV'ing forum that I help run .... he's been using it for over a year with really positive reviews .... since then another fellow has bought one and like me, he's just getting started with it .... so far he's very happy .... there are several YouTube videos and all I've watched have been positive .... burning pellets instead of propane while traveling does have some advantages .... the two biggest concerns for me remain its weight and not it being made of stainless .... with the way we camp, the weight is manageable .... by keeping it dry, we help mitigate the fact it isn't stainless .... one major plus that hasn't been discussed is cost .... Traeger offers 2 similar portable grills .... they are heavier and much more expensive .... they also have considerably more negative reviews

[BigAl52]

You have a big truck I wouldn't think the weight would effect you to much other than you yourself lifting it. It weights more that the weber I have but its not that bad. The pellets weight more than what I carry to run the gas grill now. But the end result of cooking with that would be more enjoyable for me. Im willing to sacrifice the heavier grill.

[JEBar]

we have a pullout tray in the basement f our camper .... clearing space for the grill isn't a concern .... with the combined weight of the items on it are adding something weighing 40 pounds is going to have to be dealt with .... I'm not exactly sure how but it can be done

[JEBar]

yesterday I decided to test our Traveler by boiling a large pot of collard greens .... as repeatedly noted, the Holland Companions we used for years were fine grills but on their hottest setting, they simply couldn't boil a large pot of water .... the Traveler proved to me that if required, it is most certainly capable of doing so .... as can be seen below, I left the pot on the traveler long enough to get the water boiling .... generating the heat needed to bring the pot to a boil burned a bunch of pellets .... no surprise there .... at that point I moved the pot over to our camp stove where the collards were fully cooked ....

[JEBar]

today we smoked our first rack of baby back ribs on our Traveler .... our process remains the same ===> remove membrane, dry ribs, rub with yellow mustard, sprinkle heavy with Tex Joy Steak Seasoning, pats of butter along the way to add moisture, smoke at 225 - 250 degrees for 3 hrs, more butter, wrap in aluminum foil, back in smoker for a couple of hours, remove from foil and smoke for an additional hour, wrap in foil and let rest a while .... the ribs turned out OK .... lesson learned for the future ===> next time set temp at 225 and leave it there, start earlier to give the ribs the full 6 hours to cook ....

[JEBar]

today we grilled Bacon Wrapped Sirloin Steaks on our Traveler ===> https://countrysmokers.com/recipes/baco ... loin-steak .... its a simple recipe that yields really good eating .... we follow the recipe to the letter but grill them longer at a lower temperature ....

[JEBar]

one of the things I noticed in reading through many pages of pellet grill/smoker recipes is, a good number of recipes require the use of a cast iron pan .... largely due to the size of its grilling grate, it took a good bit of looking to find one .... with the long handles on standard round cast iron pans, using one really wasn't practical .... I finally found a TableCraft Pre-Seasoned 10" Cast Iron Square Fry Pan ====> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011K ... UTF8&psc=1 .... it arrived today and very much lives up to info in the link .... the lid closes perfectly .... it cost a bit more than I anticipated but it is a restaurant quality pan and most importantly, it fits .... I hope to get it seasoned tomorrow and then find something to cook ..

[fortyshooter]

Looks very tasty!! I had my ol' smoker going Sunday with a pork loin. Buster of course was keeping an eye on it too!

[JEBar]

first cooking in our cast iron grill pan .... bacon first, followed by sausage .... both cooked well .... made one fine sandwich ....

[JEBar]

Looks very tasty!! I had my ol' smoker going Sunday with a pork loin. Buster of course was keeping an eye on it too!

does your smoker use pellets, chips or chunks .. .. good looking ham

[JEBar]

earlier today we smoked our first Pork Tenderloin on our traveler .... the loin was purchased at Sam's and was 24" long .... to fit it in our Traveler smoker, we had to cut it in half

[JEBar]

today we smoked/grilled Baby Back Pork Ribs 6 hours at 225 degrees .... no leftovers ..

[JEBar]

as noted earlier in this thread, historically, we use pure Hickory pellets/chips/chunks in our smokers ..... the more we spend time smoking various foods we have found that they do a great job for short periods ..... for longer periods we've found that the hickory taste can get much heavier than we like .... I just got back from our local Walmart where, based on a recommendation from a fellow I trust, I purchased 2 40lb bags of their Pit Boss Competition Blend Pellets ===> https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pit-Boss-Com ... 5/40583459 <=== for $14.86 per bag .... contrasting that price with the one in the link, I'll probably drive back over there tomorrow and literally load up .... as a side note, I've found that a standard 5 US Gallon bucket will hold about 30 lbs of pellets

[JEBar]

earlier today we used Pit Boss Competition Blend Barbecue Pellets (link above) in our traveler for the first time .... in my eyes, the results were rather dramatic .... basic observations :

1. while burning they give off a much softer (for lack of a better term) aroma than the solid Oak Pellets we have been using

2. they do not seem to burn as hot as the solid Oak Pellets

3. they appear to be a bit longer and to have a tiny bit larger diameter than the Oak Pellets

4. compared to Oak, they leave almost no ash which cuts cleanup time to almost nothing ....

5. they impart a much milder flavor which to my taste is a good thing

bottom line is we are very pleased with them