For nearly fifteen years I treated my smoker like a second job. Then a pellet grill changed what a Saturday cook actually looks like.
I ran the Traeger Pro 22 through eight months of weekend cooks: brisket, pork shoulder, ribs, a whole turkey, and a dozen long overnights. Here is what held up and what did not.
Two pellet grills, two very different ideas about what a backyard cook should be. I ran both for a season. Here's how I'd tell a friend which one gets loaded into the truck.
I cooked on a stick burner for close to twenty years before I touched a pellet grill. Here is the honest list of why I reach for the Traeger now, and it is not the list I expected.
For nearly fifteen years I treated my smoker like a second job. Then a pellet grill changed what a Saturday cook actually looks like.
A plain, step-by-step walkthrough for smoking a whole packer brisket on a pellet grill, so it turns out tender with a real bark and not a dried-out slab.
I ran the Traeger Pro 22 for a full season and kept notes on the parts most reviews skip. This is the honest second opinion you get from a guy at the pit, not the one from the ad.
I burned through a case of Camp Chef Competition Blend pellets across four months of weekend cooks: brisket, pork butt, ribs, and more. Here is the truth about burn rate, ash, and smoke flavor.
Two bags of hardwood pellets, two very different price tags. I've burned both through a full season in my backyard. Here's the plain-language version of which one I'd pour into the hopper next.
I ran my pit on wood chunks for the better part of twenty years before pellet smoke got its hooks in me. Here is the plain list of why I stopped fighting the fire and let the pellets feed it.
Two years of fighting off-flavors that I blamed on my whole setup, when the real culprit was sitting in a twenty pound bag the whole time.
A plain-talk guide to picking pellets that match your meat and your smoker, minus the marketing folderol.
I ran three full 20 lb bags of Camp Chef Competition Blend through my pellet grill over five months. Here is what I found, including the ash mess the marketing never mentions.
I've run the MEATER Plus on every long cook for seven months, from 14 pound briskets to a Thanksgiving turkey. Here is the honest truth about range, battery, app reliability, and accuracy.
Two wireless probes that both end the old open-the-lid guessing game. The winner depends on where you want to watch your cook from.
I have run a wired probe on every long cook for the last decade. Here is the honest list of why I finally switched to a wireless thermometer, and it is not just about sleeping through a brisket.
Fourteen hours of babysitting an overnight brisket with a crappy instant-read and a flashlight, and the night I finally slept through it.
A straight walkthrough of using a wireless meat thermometer the way I have for a whole season on my backyard pit: where the probe goes, what to set, how to read the stall, and when to pull it so dinner comes out right.
I ran the MEATER Plus on my pit for a season. Here is the straight truth about the range, the app, the accuracy, and the people it just is not built for.
I've run the LIZZQ 12-inch pellet smoke tube nearly every weekend since January. Here is what it really does for a gas grill, a pellet smoker, and a batch of cold-smoked cheese, and where it falls short.
I ran both tubes through a full season of cold and hot smoking. Here is the honest breakdown on burn, capacity, price, and who each one actually fits.
A fistful of pellets and a metal tube is the cheapest thing on my patio that changed the way I cook. Here is the plain list of why a smoke tube earns its spot on every grill and smoker I own.
A backyard pitmaster's honest story about the little stainless tube that finally put real smoke under his gas grill, from cold-smoked cheese to finishing burgers.
Cold smoked cheese is two hours of careful smoke and two days of patient rest. A smoke tube makes the smoking part easy. Here is the whole process, start to finish.
I've run this 12-inch LIZZQ tube through a full year of gas-grill cooks, cold-smoked cheese, and one frustrated relight. Here is what nobody tells you before you buy it.
I ran the Ofargo stainless steel injector through a full season of butts, briskets, and holiday birds. Here is what held up, what clogged, and how it changed the dry-meat problem I used to live with.
Two stainless syringes that both push marinade deep into a hunk of meat. The winner comes down to how many needles you want and how long you want the plunger to hold together.
I spent years chasing tender smoked meat with brines, rubs, and wrapped towels. An injector is the plainest tool I have found for putting moisture and flavor where the heat cannot take it. Here is the honest list of why.
Three dry turkeys in a row taught me more than any cookbook. Here is how a stainless injector and sixty seconds of patience fixed my worst holiday habit.
A straight walkthrough of injecting a turkey the way I have done it for a full season on my backyard pit: bird thawed, injection made so it flows, straight into the thickest meat, then smoked to a done breast instead of a dried one.
Seven months and a dozen big cooks in, here's what the Ofargo stainless injector actually does, where it fights you, and who should save the money and just use a rub.
I ran the Traeger Pro 22 through eight months of weekend cooks: brisket, pork shoulder, ribs, a whole turkey, and a dozen long overnights. Here is what held up and what did not.
I ran the Traeger Pro 22 for a full season and kept notes on the parts most reviews skip. This is the honest second opinion you get from a guy at the pit, not the one from the ad.
I burned through a case of Camp Chef Competition Blend pellets across four months of weekend cooks: brisket, pork butt, ribs, and more. Here is the truth about burn rate, ash, and smoke flavor.
I ran three full 20 lb bags of Camp Chef Competition Blend through my pellet grill over five months. Here is what I found, including the ash mess the marketing never mentions.
I've run the MEATER Plus on every long cook for seven months, from 14 pound briskets to a Thanksgiving turkey. Here is the honest truth about range, battery, app reliability, and accuracy.
I ran the MEATER Plus on my pit for a season. Here is the straight truth about the range, the app, the accuracy, and the people it just is not built for.
I've run the LIZZQ 12-inch pellet smoke tube nearly every weekend since January. Here is what it really does for a gas grill, a pellet smoker, and a batch of cold-smoked cheese, and where it falls short.
I've run this 12-inch LIZZQ tube through a full year of gas-grill cooks, cold-smoked cheese, and one frustrated relight. Here is what nobody tells you before you buy it.
I ran the Ofargo stainless steel injector through a full season of butts, briskets, and holiday birds. Here is what held up, what clogged, and how it changed the dry-meat problem I used to live with.
Seven months and a dozen big cooks in, here's what the Ofargo stainless injector actually does, where it fights you, and who should save the money and just use a rub.
