http://www.traegergrills.com/recipes/detail/74#.VClV7b6Fp4E It was one of the best things I ever cooked on it.
Big Tex. I would do the little tex if I got to do it over. This one burns wood faster. But you can get more stuff on it. Here I made (left to right) baked apples with cinnamon and Balsamic vinegar, top sirloin roast surrounded by stuffed mushrooms, rosemary+olive oil red potatoes. It's a shame to waste all the grill space to cook a burger or something. The apples are great. Sometimes we did pears, sometimes with ricotta cheese on top . The result:
I've cooked burgers and steaks on the smoker, but it burns up pellets quickly that way. My masterpiece so far was last Thanksgiving's turkey & stuffing. I haven't done a pizza yet, but it's on the list. Beef brisket and pork Boston Butt came out like a champ.
Judging by the outside the turkey looks a little overdone. Was it nice and juicy on the inside? My uncle makes a damn good Turkey every Thanksgiving on his traeger. I never want to have it any other way now.
Pizza turns out fabulous. To get your pizza crust perfect you really need to cook it around 700 I think, but the traeger does a better job than any other home cook device, and it comes out with a nice wood fired finish on the bread. My trick, because I make my own pizza dough, is to use my leftover brisket/pork butt/etc and make a BBQ pizza, with BBQ sauce and and cheddar cheese. Sometimes I double smoke the leftovers before they become toppings, but either way its a house favorite.
I did a great thanksgiving turkey also, bonus that most people dont think about is that it frees your oven up for making all the other stuff you need, it makes it 100 times easier to time plan your cook.
Heres what Im up to today with my Big Tex. I have a 10lb brisket and 2 pork butts going on smoke since around 11pm last night. Brisket is for dinner tonight and the pork butts get shredded, divided up and then go in the vacuum sealer for future meals. We make taco's, enchiladas, sandwiches, soups and various other things from it.
basically yes, recently Ive been messing with the P setting though to get a better smoke. P setting effect the offtimer of the auger which allows you to tweak the temperature of the smoke setting which is helpful as the season change, but I target 150 degrees. I think you said you have the Jr, if so you can just set smoke, if you've upgraded your thermostat you have more options. Beef doesnt absorb smoke flavor past 150 internal temp (something like that), so for my briskets I like to get more smoke time in on them. If you dont have one of these already, get one, its like the BBQ magic wand. http://www.amazon.com/Maverick-Rang...0_1_3?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1412091942&sr=1-3
I wanted to add, the colder the temp you can smoke the better. Traegers dont operate well below 150degrees, as they can go out. Also if you get crazy with the smoke setting make sure to account for them in your cook times, because it is still starting the cooking process. Ive over done a few things by smoking to much then cooking to long afterwards. The wireless BBQ thermometer helps with that, and if you want a perfect roast without wrapping it, then its the only way to go.
