Thread: Sausage and Smoke Cooking

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Cured and smoked up to 155 then sat to dry a little in the fridge, then pickled in vinegar and spices.

I didn't do an ice water bath, I just let them cool slowly and wrinkle.

I used the pickle recipe in the first post of this thread, except I added more cayenne and red pepper flakes and did not add any allspice. I really dislike allspice.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/t...recipe.289223/

After a lot of consideration I decided to give my big guy a companion--
https://sharprazorpalace.com/plate-g...ml#post1745750

It ate up 100% of my tax refund plus++$'s $'s----------I did ask around about whether or not it was worth the funds and was told YES. Thanks guys--


So it's unpacked and fully assembled. The destructions were quite detailed but one thing really didn't sit right with me--after getting the unit to work and start smoking I was to put the heat diffuser and the drip tray along with the porcelain grate back in and then re-fire it up to High to 'Season it'--well the diffuser and the drip tray were coated with oil so being the anal guy I can be and since the diffuser and drip tray were Stainless Stll--I put the grate, diffuser and the drip tray in the dishwasher to clean them before 'seasoning'.

Here's my new unit a Traeger Eastwood 22--



While it has it's own readout for the temp inside it does have an access to put your own probes in so I did. I found them close--very close.



I found it surprising as the picture will show you how different the probe locations are--(with that said since it uses a fan it's kind of a 'convection' cooker so that may account for the closeness of the readings.



There are things going on in my life that will probably prevent me from test cooking with the new unit for now but I'll be sure to post some pics when I can do a bit of playing with it.

Way to go Roy!!!!!

I've found when seasoning, it's good to use some really cheap fatty bacon. Just go lower, like the 200-25 range, and let all that grease coat things. It's also nice, as you can see where the heat zones are in the cooker itself. Some guys I know make biscuits to see the areas as well.

And for the location of your probes, I'd say the Traeger is spot on!!!

Smoke on and enjoy Brother

My little guy staring at me out in the rain.... Wont stop me today. I'm responsible for bringing pork and beans for Easter dinner tomorrow. I'm going to whip it up today so it's ready to go. I'll pull my little guy under my steel Costco gazebo and get at it. I have some thick cut pork belly I'll smoke with applewood, and then my beans I'll smoke for a bit on there as well. Molasses, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar...... Any other secret ingredients you guys can think of adding?

Ya Slap Your Mama,s! Roy who enabled you.
Well it would have been cheaper to get a knockoff, but speaking as a man with 5 grills, I still bought the Traeger, you are opening up a new world of cooking my friend. Simple. As for seasoning, listen to my expert buddy Dave, I latch on to cheap cut store brand bacon on sale. Lay it on the grill every inch, I even double it up ( I’m just seasoning). The grease from bacon is a great grill seasoned plus yes it shows your hot spots. Also chicken fat it good too.

You got the small one so check and see if a brisket will fit, if not separate the flat from the point to fit. The probes they give you work well, I use them in the grill also, one I run along the far side and the other in the middle so I get all areas. Also I have a Weber 4 probe Bluetooth thing too, do you have a Bluetooth phone? If so load the Weber Igrill app on line and I’ll send you a single probe one I have laying around here, then you have the temp of your meat on you while sitting in the old chair in the living room drinking a beer

Originally Posted by HARRYWALLY

My little guy staring at me out in the rain.... Wont stop me today. I'm responsible for bringing pork and beans for Easter dinner tomorrow. I'm going to whip it up today so it's ready to go. I'll pull my little guy under my steel Costco gazebo and get at it. I have some thick cut pork belly I'll smoke with applewood, and then my beans I'll smoke for a bit on there as well. Molasses, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar...... Any other secret ingredients you guys can think of adding?

Mustard powder, black pepper, worcestshire and Guinness, because Guinness makes everything taste better.. If you want a bit of a kick, add some dried red chilli peppers.

It’s coming along nicely!!

This morning was my first cook with the Traeger. I'm going to be heading out to help my old friend Annie as her pickup won't start and she needs it to haul yard waste and do other projects and even though Lent has ended she requested Salmon for supper so I decided to use my new toy.

I lightly seasoned the fish with salt and pepper and in they went.



I do have some concerns as I set the cooker at the lowest setting which is 'Smoke' the next setting is 185 F, however once going both the factory temp probe and my ThermaTemp Smoke's probe read 196 F and ended up at 201 F. I've sent an email to the company questioning this problem and I do hope it's solved quickly and to my satisfaction as that kind of inaccuracy for the price I paid isn't acceptable.

I had made some clarified butter then simmered some yellow onion slices in it along with a bit of white wine until the onions had released some of the oil but were no where near cooked then removed the onion.

After about 45 minutes I brushed the flesh with it and did so off and on until the internal flesh was 140 degs. I had set the internal probe for 146 and when it went off I immediately pulled the fish.



I've got the fillets cooling in the frig as I write and once cold I'll pack them in vacuum bags, remove the air and seal them. Once it's time for supper I'll use 140 deg water on the stove to gently rewarm them. I've done this many times and the food comes out like it was just taken off the heat.

I'm sure I'm really going to enjoy this new cooker. Even with the inaccurate controller it was a pleasure to use.