New Traeger Owner

[alancorey1979]

Hello,

My name is Alan. Most people call me Al. I am the proud owner of a new Traeger Pro 575 which my wife bought me for our 20th wedding anniversary. We nicknamed it the Lil Miss Piggy Smoker. I have had a smoke box for about 15 years now so smoking food is not a new adventure to me. However, I am looking forward to learning the ropes of my Traeger.

The biggest first question I have... How does one do a wet smoke in their Traeger. In my other smoke boxes, I have always added water to help keep the temperature in check but also to help keep the meat from getting too dry. Traeger does not have the temperature fluctuations of a traditional smoker so I am not concerned with that, however, if I smoke a brisket for 10-12 hours without a wet smoke, it's going to be boot leather.

 

[traeger860]

Welcome. You can put a tray of water in there if you need to or want to. I've never done it with a brisket and still they come out great.

The only time I really ever use a tray in my Traeger is if I'm cooking something that drips a lot. Pork shoulder for example. I'll usually put the meat on the top shelf and then put a tray under it to catch everything. Much easier to clean up at the end. If it's going to be cooking for a while, I will add some water or other liquids to the tray just so the drippings don't burn.

 

[RayClem]

There is moisture both in your meat and in the wood pellets (although not as much as in sticks of wood). I have done some cooks with a pan of water and some without. I have not seen a lot of difference either way. However, I do tend to spritz with a mixture of water and apple cider vinegar when I start to see the surface of the meat getting too dry.

In your finished product, the juices come primarily from fat, not water. Many pitmasters will add beef tallow or butter to their cook if they plan to wrap it in foil or butcher paper. If you think you need more moisture to braise the meat, you can also add water, apple juice, vinegar, etc. One up and coming ingredient for cooking briskets is to use Wagyu tallow when wrapping, but it is not cheap.

I have only had one cook turn out like shoe leather. That was my first attempt at smoking boneless, skinless chicken breasts that were too thin. Never again....now I use large split chicken breasts with skin and bone and they turn out nice and juicy. A little butter or oil helps as well.

 

[GrillMeister]

I use a drip pan filled with water under briskets & pork butts when they cook overnight. Works great adding some moisture and collecting the drippings.

 

[RustyJake]

I use a drip pan filled with water under briskets & pork butts when they cook overnight. Works great adding some moisture and collecting the drippings.

View attachment 10228

The drip pan is a big bonus for making cleanup easier, and another benefit is that it can help to control temperature fluctuations in the grill as well when filled with water

 

[primeone]

I use a drip pan filled with water under briskets & pork butts when they cook overnight. Works great adding some moisture and collecting the drippings.

View attachment 10228

That's something I haven't done before, but going to give that a try next time.

 

[primeone]

Hello,

My name is Alan. Most people call me Al. I am the proud owner of a new Traeger Pro 575 which my wife bought me for our 20th wedding anniversary. We nicknamed it the Lil Miss Piggy Smoker. I have had a smoke box for about 15 years now so smoking food is not a new adventure to me. However, I am looking forward to learning the ropes of my Traeger.

The biggest first question I have... How does one do a wet smoke in their Traeger. In my other smoke boxes, I have always added water to help keep the temperature in check but also to help keep the meat from getting too dry. Traeger does not have the temperature fluctuations of a traditional smoker so I am not concerned with that, however, if I smoke a brisket for 10-12 hours without a wet smoke, it's going to be boot leather.

Welcome to the forum @alancorey1979

 

[Slimpicker]

Hello,

My name is Alan. Most people call me Al. I am the proud owner of a new Traeger Pro 575 which my wife bought me for our 20th wedding anniversary. We nicknamed it the Lil Miss Piggy Smoker. I have had a smoke box for about 15 years now so smoking food is not a new adventure to me. However, I am looking forward to learning the ropes of my Traeger.

The biggest first question I have... How does one do a wet smoke in their Traeger. In my other smoke boxes, I have always added water to help keep the temperature in check but also to help keep the meat from getting too dry. Traeger does not have the temperature fluctuations of a traditional smoker so I am not concerned with that, however, if I smoke a brisket for 10-12 hours without a wet smoke, it's going to be boot leather.

WELCOME ALAN

I never use water, don't mean it's right, don't mean it's wrong.
I also have a 575, one thing I learned after cooking on regular smokers for years is that Traeger will NOT dry meat out unless you cook it wrong. The "convection" will actually "skin/bark" over any meat you cook, even skinless chicken will come out with a skin from the convection and be nothing but juice inside. Something none of use were used to with the slow air movement of a coal/wood smoker.
I find it does this very well with BEEF also, my chuckies and briskets are hard bark but juice flowing.
Sure, use water if you want, I did all the time in my Ugly Drum Smoker, big stainless bowl full, but your Traeger is a different animal

 

[alancorey1979]

okay! The Traeger has quickly become my personal preference for cooking just about anything. I cooked a pizza in it a couple of times now and now it's the best way to cook a pizza in my household. I cooked a 10lb brisket for 15 hours and it was by far the most tender brisket I have ever eaten. Burgers, brats... it's all great in the Traeger. But...

the food isn't "smokey". Am I doing something wrong here? I love leftover meat that has that wood smoke smell and flavor, but my Traeger doesn't deliver on that front. What do I need to do to achieve that?

 

[primeone]

okay! The Traeger has quickly become my personal preference for cooking just about anything. I cooked a pizza in it a couple of times now and now it's the best way to cook a pizza in my household. I cooked a 10lb brisket for 15 hours and it was by far the most tender brisket I have ever eaten. Burgers, brats... it's all great in the Traeger. But...

the food isn't "smokey". Am I doing something wrong here? I love leftover meat that has that wood smoke smell and flavor, but my Traeger doesn't deliver on that front. What do I need to do to achieve that?

You might want to consider adding a smoke tube, for more smoke flavor. Just something basic like this would work:

https://www.amazon.com/LIZZQ-Premium-Pellet-Smoker-Tube/dp/B06ZZRR7XD/

Check out this thread:

Smoke Tube!

So just read where a proud new Traeger smoker owner cannot keep his 'Smoke Tube' lit! Let me understand you pay a $1000 for a smoker, another $30 for smoker pellets, and then have to buy a smoke tube to get it to smoke! Sadly my 34 has never smoked either. Any correspondence with Traeger gets no...

www.traegerforum.com

 

[RayClem]

There are three frequently heard complaints about Traeger grills.

1. The Traeger thermometers are not accurate. That can be overcome by third party thermometers calibrated to known accuracy.

2. The Traeger grill does not get hot enough to properly sear steaks. That can be overcome by using GrillGrates, a cast iron pan, or carbon steel pan or griddle. You can also reverse sear your steaks on a gas grill or the kitchen stove or broiler.

3. The Traeger grill does not produce as much smoke flavor as an offset smoker fueled by wood sticks. You can enhance the smoke flavor using inexpensive smoke tubes filled with wood chips and pellets or modify your grill to use a smoke generator such as the Smoke Daddy or Smokai. You can get a couple of smoke tubes for under $20 so try them to see if you like the results.

https://www.amazon.com/Lovefish-Pellet-Stainless-Brushes-Smoking/dp/B08JGKK2C7/

Be sure to place the smoke tubes in an area of high air flow in your grill for best results. I suggest ufilling only one tube with relatively mild, sweet wood chips and pellets for your first experiment. I made the mistake of filling two tubes with charcoal blend and mesquite pellets for my first experiment and ended up with bitter tasting smoke.

 

[lagaaduu]

I have only had one cook turn out like shoe leather. That was my first attempt at smoking boneless, skinless chicken breasts that were too thin. Never again....now I use large split chicken breasts with skin and bone and they turn out nice and juicy. A little butter or oil helps as well.
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[RayClem]

I have only had one cook turn out like shoe leather. That was my first attempt at smoking boneless, skinless chicken breasts that were too thin. Never again....now I use large split chicken breasts with skin and bone and they turn out nice and juicy. A little butter or oil helps as well.

That was my experience as well. My first chicken cook was breasts similar to the ones you used and the results turned out just as bad. Like you, I not use the largest split chicken breasts I can find. However, I saw some pretty large boneless, skinless chicken breasts at my local Meijers store and was tempted to try them. However, today I am cooking a turkey, so that experiment will have to wait.

 

[primeone]

Chicken thighs are now the family favorite. They always seem to come out good on the Traeger.

Poultry - Hawaiian Chicken Thighs

I cooked some chicken thighs on the Traeger last night using Grill Mates Hawaiian marinade. End result was pretty darn good! I marinaded the chicken for about a hour prior to cooking. It took about 25 minutes at 350 degrees. (175-180 internal temp).

www.traegerforum.com

 

[Clint62]

I've done chicken and salmon so far on my 575. So far, so good, but I did order smoke tubes.