What's cooking today? 🔥 Pics are necessary!

[FLsmoker]

Thanks to everyone for the newbie advice yesterday so today I am attempting my first EVER smoke! Pork Butt following the Matt Pittman Meat Church video someone recommended. I'm still having wifi issues but I think it's a small setting on my end. The good news is the used Traeger I got very cheaply seems to work great now that I have it all clean! Not super important to have the wiwif today as I am home all day and can "babysit" I have company coming in tomorrow for a week so it was more important to get to cooking! Next up tomorrow or the next day I'm going to smoke up a bunch of chicken breasts for chicken tacos.View attachment 23289

Congrats on the first smoke!! Cheers!

 

[RayClem]

Thanks to everyone for the newbie advice yesterday so today I am attempting my first EVER smoke! Pork Butt following the Matt Pittman Meat Church video someone recommended. I'm still having wifi issues but I think it's a small setting on my end. The good news is the used Traeger I got very cheaply seems to work great now that I have it all clean! Not super important to have the wiwif today as I am home all day and can "babysit" I have company coming in tomorrow for a week so it was more important to get to cooking! Next up tomorrow or the next day I'm going to smoke up a bunch of chicken breasts for chicken tacos.View attachment 23289

I see you are using the Traeger meta probe thermometer. Since you are a newcomer to Traeger, I wanted to caution you about potential calibration issues with both the RTD thermocouple and the meat probe. Many Traeger owners have found these thermometers to be inaccurate. I used my meat probe for my first cook, but quickly realized that 3rd party probes were more accurate. Likewise, the RTD thermocouple is inaccurate. I have to set my controller to 230F to achieve a cook temp of 225F. That is not bad. However, I have to set my controller to 460F to achieve a cook temp of 400F. My experience with the Traeger is not unusual. Many owners have similar issues. Once you realize this problem, it is easy to adjust cook temps to compensate. Also, never cook based on time and temp alone. Always use an accurate temp probe to confirm the final temp of the cook. With beef, a 5 degree F temp error can make the difference between perfect and undercooked or overcooked. Purchase a good instant read thermometer with a +/- 1 degree F accuracy and no more than 3 seconds read time. There are lots of "instant read" thermometers that can take 10 seconds to read. When you need to probe multiple points in a large roast or multiple pieces of steak, pork, chicken or fish, 10 seconds read time is frustrating as you are losing heat anytime the lid is open.

 

[Smokin In Bama]

AS PROMISED…

Pickle juice brined baby back experiment. Most of the pictures have text on them but here is a summary

1.. Brined baby backs for 12 hours in Pickle Juice

2. Determining if there is any pickle flavor or change of texture in ribs

3. No noticeable pickle flavor in any of the ribs I tasted. Even the ribs that are ugly categorized as A on one of the posted pictures.

4. There’s a fantastic sourish , acidic punch on the backend of the bite that is a great addition to the flavor profile.

5. I believe it was RustyJake that said a sweeter rub or sauce would probably work well with this experiment and I think that would really balance out the sour. But let me be perfectly clear. The sour aftertaste is SUBTLE. It’s nice. See comment 7.

6. The Goldees’s rub and sauce was actually really good with this. It wasn’t too salty for my taste and the vinegar in the sauce went well with the pickle juice brine. I was shocked. I thought the rub would be way too salty and the sauce would ring out the sour too much from the brine. I was wrong.

7. The Sweet Baby Rays was REALLY good with the sweet, salty, sour, bite. Once again, I only put it on during the last 15 minutes after spritzing with only water and foiling with only water. They were basically steamed in water after a 12 hour pickle juice brine.

8. MY RANKING

#1 The Goldees AP Rub with the Goldees sauce in the foil wrap and sauced with Goldees last 15 minutes


# 2. The brine with Sweet Baby Rays


#3. Was there as a control to see if any pickle juce flavor came through. It ABSOLUTELY DID NOT.

9. Final findings. The 12 hour pickle juice brine did not change the texture of the ribs at all. It did give a very nice subtle , sour after bite that I believe is WELL WORTH EXPLORING FUTHER. I believe RustyJake is spot on and maybe the Killer Hogs The Rub Would be great here. It’s definitely sweeter than Goldee’s and less saltier. However, the Goldees was fantastic for my Alabama pork bbq taste buds. Maybe a shorter brine too? There are 30 different directions for me to take this and it should be fun to experiment….. HOWEVER


10. MY NEXT SLAB will be what I call a Cross Dressing Pig I found a 100% authentic recipe for Chick Fil A Brine. Who the hell doesn’t like Chick Fil A ?. I’m going to brine a slab of Baby Backs in it and see what happens. I will tinker with the pickle juice as my boredom continues

 

[janetmojo]

I see you are using the Traeger meta probe thermometer. Since you are a newcomer to Traeger, I wanted to caution you about potential calibration issues with both the RTD thermocouple and the meat probe. Many Traeger owners have found these thermometers to be inaccurate. I used my meat probe for my first cook, but quickly realized that 3rd party probes were more accurate. Likewise, the RTD thermocouple is inaccurate. I have to set my controller to 230F to achieve a cook temp of 225F. That is not bad. However, I have to set my controller to 460F to achieve a cook temp of 400F. My experience with the Traeger is not unusual. Many owners have similar issues. Once you realize this problem, it is easy to adjust cook temps to compensate. Also, never cook based on time and temp alone. Always use an accurate temp probe to confirm the final temp of the cook. With beef, a 5 degree F temp error can make the difference between perfect and undercooked or overcooked. Purchase a good instant read thermometer with a +/- 1 degree F accuracy and no more than 3 seconds read time. There are lots of "instant read" thermometers that can take 10 seconds to read. When you need to probe multiple points in a large roast or multiple pieces of steak, pork, chicken or fish, 10 seconds read time is frustrating as you are losing heat anytime the lid is open.

Thank you that is a very good point, luckily I have a few instant read so I just checked it as I pulled it at 200 and it's pretty close, within a degree or two. I do plan on purchasing some wifi wireless ones though!

 

[Slimpicker]

Thank you that is a very good point, luckily I have a few instant read so I just checked it as I pulled it at 200 and it's pretty close, within a degree or two. I do plan on purchasing some wifi wireless ones though!

You talked about "do I have to foil, towel, and cooler" my butt... You can keep a butt not only very hot but very "pull ready" for up to 4 hours in a cooler.

So you can just about meet any 'dinner time' you want with that 4 hour 'no fear' window.

 

[janetmojo]

You talked about "do I have to foil, towel, and cooler" my butt... You can keep a butt not only very hot but very "pull ready" for up to 4 hours in a cooler.

So you can just about meet any 'dinner time' you want with that 4 hour 'no fear' window.

Thanks, how in the heck do I turn this thing off properly? Nothing in the manual that I downloaded about proper shut down? Just turn it off with the switch? It's an older AC unit and I don't have the wifi enabled so?

 

[RustyJake]

AS PROMISED…

Pickle juice brined baby back experiment. Most of the pictures have text on them but here is a summary

1.. Brined baby backs for 12 hours in Pickle Juice

2. Determining if there is any pickle flavor or change of texture in ribs

3. No noticeable pickle flavor in any of the ribs I tasted. Even the ribs that are ugly categorized as A on one of the posted pictures.

4. There’s a fantastic sourish , acidic punch on the backend of the bite that is a great addition to the flavor profile.

5. I believe it was RustyJake that said a sweeter rub or sauce would probably work well with this experiment and I think that would really balance out the sour. But let me be perfectly clear. The sour aftertaste is SUBTLE. It’s nice. See comment 7.

6. The Goldees’s rub and sauce was actually really good with this. It wasn’t too salty for my taste and the vinegar in the sauce went well with the pickle juice brine. I was shocked. I thought the rub would be way too salty and the sauce would ring out the sour too much from the brine. I was wrong.

7. The Sweet Baby Rays was REALLY good with the sweet, salty, sour, bite. Once again, I only put it on during the last 15 minutes after spritzing with only water and foiling with only water. They were basically steamed in water after a 12 hour pickle juice brine.

8. MY RANKING

#1 The Goldees AP Rub with the Goldees sauce in the foil wrap and sauced with Goldees last 15 minutes


# 2. The brine with Sweet Baby Rays


#3. Was there as a control to see if any pickle juce flavor came through. It ABSOLUTELY DID NOT.

9. Final findings. The 12 hour pickle juice brine did not change the texture of the ribs at all. It did give a very nice subtle , sour after bite that I believe is WELL WORTH EXPLORING FUTHER. I believe RustyJake is spot on and maybe the Killer Hogs The Rub Would be great here. It’s definitely sweeter than Goldee’s and less saltier. However, the Goldees was fantastic for my Alabama pork bbq taste buds. Maybe a shorter brine too? There are 30 different directions for me to take this and it should be fun to experiment….. HOWEVER


10. MY NEXT SLAB will be what I call a Cross Dressing Pig I found a 100% authentic recipe for Chick Fil A Brine. Who the hell doesn’t like Chick Fil A ?. I’m going to brine a slab of Baby Backs in it and see what happens. I will tinker with the pickle juice as my boredom continues

Thanks for posting the details on this cook along with the pictures. I will be trying the pickle juice brine on some ribs this season as well now. I kind of like that flavor profile you mentioned on the tongue after eating the ribs.

 

[RustyJake]

Thanks, how in the heck do I turn this thing off properly? Nothing in the manual that I downloaded about proper shut down? Just turn it off with the switch? It's an older AC unit and I don't have the wifi enabled so?

Press and hold the power button on the front. It will initiate a shutdown procedure
Of course the app has another way, but you don't have that....yet

 

[Smokin In Bama]

WHO LIKES CHICK FIL A ?

I call it TURK- FIL-CHICKEY-LA ….Brand new recipe I am trying tonight. Didn’t read it anywhere but thought about it yesterday.

The brine recipe is on one of the pictures below. FYI… there is a difference between dry measuring cups and liquid. Use the individual metal for dry and the glass Pyrex type fr liquid. Don’t believe there is a difference? Measure out a cup of something in the individual metal measuring cup and pour it into a Pyrex glass measuring cup. . It’s not equal, it will be less than the cup line on the glass.

I marinated a turkey breast overnight in this Chick Fil A Baptism Brine. This Chick Fil A brine is as close as you will ever get to the real deal. Very easy and inexpensive. I have not included the recipe for the breading because I’m not frying this. However, I bet it would be good!.

Soaked the Turkey breast overnight in the Baptism Brine

Rinsed and patted dry

Seasoned with KosmoQ. Killer Honey Bee and Dirty Bird

Used the TRAEGER Turkey pellets but did not use their brine.

250 degrees TRAEGER temp

Pellet Tube about 30% full with the Turkey pellets

Total cook time about 5 hours… I don’t cook to time but I keep track of it.

Pulled at an internal temperature of 163 to allow it to rise to 165 when tented with foil and resting


Absolutely delicious. Maybe try a sweeter rub with less salt if you are sensitive. About the first 1/4 -1/2 inch is where you will taste any noticeable salinity but it’s delicious. Deeper than that and it is a juicy and delicious turkey breast with no noticeable salinity. It has a mild smoky flavor with no lingering aftertaste which is what I like on turkey. In my experience, Turkey has a really small window of going from good to gross.

IMO The Chick Fil A brine is fantastic on turkey. It’s subtle, delicious and different.

 

[RayClem]

I fired up the Ironwood around 7:30 this morning. The outside temp was below freezing, so the Traeger was slow in starting up.

I think the turkey my wife purchased already had been brined, so I just dusted it with Montreal Chicken Seasoning. The temp (measured independently) is now up to 225F, so it is time to introduce the turkey to some smoke.

It is supposed to reach 55F this afternoon about the time the turkey breast is ready to remove from the smoke. It is supposed to rain tonight, so I am glad to have had a windows of opportunity to cook the turkey outside. I tastes so much better after smoking.

I will try too add photos later. Update.... here is the result:

2nd update: We carved the turkey breast on Easter Sunday. The meat was tender, moist and had a wonderful smokey flavor. I have cooked a lot of turkey over the past 51 years, but the turkey I have cooked on my Ironwood are the most flavorful.

 

[Hogan]

Recently joined the Forum, so spent the dark months of winter catching up on the "What's Cooking Today" string. Found a few good recipes to try and lots of tips, so 2 weeks ago as I sat on the deck in my shorts basking in the warm sum waiting for the last of the snow to melt I wondered which of those recipes was up first. Ribs? Smashed burgers? Some snapper on an inverted pan? Turkey breast sounds good and appropriate.
Then last week I sat inside pondering the new one foot dump of white stuff while looking longingly at the pix sent by a friend currently holed up in Costa Rica. And then it warmed up again, so I renewed thoughts of firing up the Traeger. And - you guessed it - woke to another inch of fluffy white everywhere, with more forecast for the day. And the Flames lost again.
Maybe living at the 51 degree latitude at 3200 ft elevation is the wrong place for a `que fanatic.

 

[RayClem]

Recently joined the Forum, so spent the dark months of winter catching up on the "What's Cooking Today" string. Found a few good recipes to try and lots of tips, so 2 weeks ago as I sat on the deck in my shorts basking in the warm sum waiting for the last of the snow to melt I wondered which of those recipes was up first. Ribs? Smashed burgers? Some snapper on an inverted pan? Turkey breast sounds good and appropriate.
Then last week I sat inside pondering the new one foot dump of white stuff while looking longingly at the pix sent by a friend currently holed up in Costa Rica. And then it warmed up again, so I renewed thoughts of firing up the Traeger. And - you guessed it - woke to another inch of fluffy white everywhere, with more forecast for the day. And the Flames lost again.
Maybe living at the 51 degree latitude at 3200 ft elevation is the wrong place for a `que fanatic.

There are lots of members who live in various parts of Canada, but maybe not at 3200 ft elevation. You will just have to learn to adapt your outdoor cooking, just like you adapt to everything else in life under those conditions. Never fear, warmer weather will come.

I live in the Chicagoland area. Ever since I moved here I tell people that you cannot count on it staying warm until the 2nd week in June. Then by the 3rd week, it is hot.

 

[Tedro C]

Hi all! I’m new here, but not new to my Traeger. Stumbled up on this thread and figured I’d throw the turkey breast that I smoked up this morning up on here. 7.5 lb’er for just short of four hours. Started out at 225f with supersmoke, then dropped it down to 185f after about an hour.
In the brine all day yesterday, Kendrick BBQ Pork and Poultry all over it this morning before the smoke.
Everybody loved it came out moist and tasty, per usual!

 

[RustyJake]

Mixed up some kielbasa for smoking this weekend. 15 lbs. Mixed up. It is 65% ground and 35% chunks.
I will make a few coils to enjoy fresh and a bunch into dogs/smokies for summer BBQ'ing

 

[MarkC18]

Threw some baby back ribs and corn on the cob on the Traeger today. 3-2-1 method is always money for me!