Traeger Lil' Tex Elite

[crocodile1]

Hello everyone, just bought a Traeger Lil' Tex Elite. I was going to buy the Pro, but Home Depot had the Elite on sale for almost $300 less than msrp. This is my first non gas grill . I was turned on to Traeger by a friend who had purchased one. As being an infant in smoking/grilling, where do I start? What are some of the things I should and shouldn't do. I actually have a lot of questions, but I don't want my post to be a thousand words. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[Gator]

Welcome to pellet cookers.

1. Wrap your drip pan with foil for easier cleaning.
2. It holds temp like a champ.
3. I have never had to do anything else to mine other than refill pellets and clean it.
4. Papa T is our resident expert - he will have some good advice.

[crocodile1]

Gator, Thanks! I'm excited to try this thing out. Been reading the manual, and a lot of it seems to be pretty common sense. I am just a little confused with the smoking/grilling and searing. Is there an order? When I've grilled in the past with gas, I just cooked, never paying attention to anything except when meat was done, but after tasting some meat off of a smoker, I was hooked. Just want to make sure I'm not going to put the wife and I in E.R.

Welcome to pellet cookers.

1. Wrap your drip pan with foil for easier cleaning.
2. It holds temp like a champ.
3. I have never had to do anything else to mine other than refill pellets and clean it.
4. Papa T is our resident expert - he will have some good advice.

[Gator]

Gator, Thanks! I'm excited to try this thing out. Been reading the manual, and a lot of it seems to be pretty common sense. I am just a little confused with the smoking/grilling and searing. Is there an order? When I've grilled in the past with gas, I just cooked, never paying attention to anything except when meat was done, but after tasting some meat off of a smoker, I was hooked. Just want to make sure I'm not going to put the wife and I in E.R.

Welcome to pellet cookers.

1. Wrap your drip pan with foil for easier cleaning.
2. It holds temp like a champ.
3. I have never had to do anything else to mine other than refill pellets and clean it.
4. Papa T is our resident expert - he will have some good advice.

No worries, just season a hunk of met; ribs, pork butt, brisket...ect. Set the temp and forget it until its done.

[Papa Tom]

Actually if you follow Traegers advice you will be good. Check their recipes.
Most of the complaints I have heard were from folks trying to use experience from offset smokers or gas grills on their Traeger.
I don't try to grill on the Traeger I don't believe that they work that well at high temps but everything else works just fine.

[spacetrucker]

I have done pizza once or twice on my traeger, but the pellet consumption is too great to achieve the higher temperatures...
they are best suited to the lower temperatures for smoking, say 250 degrees or so...
a pork butt is a great place to start, as they are not expensive and very forgiving.
The grilling takes place at higher temperatures than the smoking does and the traeger does a good job at the lower temperatures.
Since Thanksgiving is coming up smoked turkey is a great thing to have, just crank the temperature up to 350 or so to finish off the bird and crisp the skin as it won't crisp at 250. Be sure and post some pictures of you cooks and most of all enjoy the adventures along the way to your bbq sweetspot

[Gator]

I was talking to the Traeger guys last week, a new model has wi-fi (AKA you can control from anywhere) a high heat setting and a bunch of other cool features.

[crocodile1]

Thanks for all the feedback! This weekend I grilled some baby back ribs. 1st time cooking ribs, and first time using the new grill. I started a little late, we planned on eating around 5 and did not even get to seasoning the grill till around 1. So I talked to my friend that turned me on to the Traeger and he suggested (since we're on such a short time line), to cook at 350 for 1.5 hours, flip and baste then another 1.5 hours. I actually cooked the ribs for 3.5 hours, and was still impressed, very little crisping on the outside and meat was better than I had planned. I used the Hickory pellets this time, but going to get some of the other flavors and experiment.

When I would hear people talking about smoking, I used to think that they are way too much in to it, but now I get it. Funny how life has a way of calling you out

[spacetrucker]

I could be wrong but in my experience with pellet munchers the heavier smoke such as hickory or mesquite work better, the pellet fired cooker is extremely efficient and to run it at higher temperatures provides less smoke flavor. There have been lots of folks looking to intensify the smoke flavor using the pellet mechanism, that being said the fruit woods do produce some really good results especially the apple and cherry...

[Okie Sawbones]

Mojobricks work well for extra smoke.

[crocodile1]

I was talking to the Traeger guys last week, a new model has wi-fi (AKA you can control from anywhere) a high heat setting and a bunch of other cool features.

I wonder if this is just the controller, and if it's something that can easily replace the existing controller?

[Papa Tom]

I was talking to the Traeger guys last week, a new model has wi-fi (AKA you can control from anywhere) a high heat setting and a bunch of other cool features.

I wonder if this is just the controller, and if it's something that can easily replace the existing controller?

As I said before you will get the best results by following Traegers procedures.
There is a "Smoke" setting on the controller for a reason. I don't believe Traeger makes the best controller but many or maybe even most of the "better" controllers are worse than the Traeger when it comes to smoke flavor. It seems folks made a big deal out of consistent temps and the controllers were then designed to that end and in doing so the smoke decreased.

[Gator]

I feel like I get a little less smoke, but it holds a temp with 5 degrees for the entire cook.

Papa I saw a new Traeger with a cool down setting...the have a grill version - looks just like a grill on the outside, Traeger on the inside. I was a little disappointed that they didn't have a high temp range...its goes up to 375, then the next setting just says "high", not sure what that is.

http://www.traegergrills.com/shop/grill ... _color=BLK

[Papa Tom]

The cool down cycle is certainly a good thing.
I'll bet that "High Heat" is the auger running continually.
I paid about that price for my PG500 (yeah it was a special deal) and it certainly performs well and is all stainless.
I also have a Danson built pellet pit that I got from Cabelas and it's controller produces good smoke, has a cool down cycle and hits high temps (450°) quite nicely.
There is better and worse but my family has six Traegers and they're all pretty satisfied with the things.

[spacetrucker]

how do you like your pg500? I have considered them and several of the other pellet munchers... due to the insulated cabinet the cookshack stuff seems to be very conservative with the pellets compared to the traeger in my experiences.