The start of the winter season calls for some cozy and warm gatherings over steaming hot barbeques. The holiday season is a perfect time to have such meetings. However, many people do not have comprehensive barbeque grilling options, and those with them have no idea how to use them. A wood pellet grill is the most convenient and famous market option for grilling your food. One of the best wood pellet grills comes from the Traeger Grills Company.
Are Wood Pellet Grills Worth It?
Yes, wood pellet grills are worth it because of the following advantages:
- Versatile cooking options: Wood pellet grills can be used for grilling, smoking, roasting, and baking, allowing you to cook a wide range of dishes.
- Consistent heat: Wood pellet grills use a hopper to feed wood pellets into a burn pot, which creates a consistent and controllable heat source for cooking.
- Easy to use: Set the grill’s temperature, and the pellets will automatically feed into the burn pot to maintain that temperature.
- Flavorful cooking: The wood pellets used in these grills come in various flavors, such as mesquite, hickory, apple, and more, giving your food a unique and delicious taste.
- Eco-friendly: Wood pellet grills use renewable resources, making them a more sustainable option than traditional gas or charcoal grills.
- Convenient: Wood pellet grills are easy to clean and maintain and come in various sizes to fit outdoor cooking needs.
- Cost-effective: Wood pellet grills are an affordable and cost-effective way to enjoy outdoor cooking, mainly if you use pellets as your primary heat source. The average price range for wood pellet grills in the US is from $200 to $500.
Wood pellet grills can be relatively low in price compared to other grills. They have been increasing in use lately. After all, they are more environmentally friendly than other grills because wood pellets use different natural materials, reducing the smoke produced.
Wood pellet grills are also healthy, easy to use, and chemical-free. They are highly versatile cooking appliances for grilling, baking, barbecuing, etc.
How Long Do Wood Pellets Last In A Traeger?
Wood pellets could last in a Traeger for up to 20 hours. The Traeger grill should consume between 1 and 3 pounds of pellets every hour, so the 20-pound pellet bag should last between 6 and 20 hours.
This depends on the burn rate with high or low heat. The bag should last for 20 hours of use on low heat, which is smoking. On high heat, which is grilling, the wood pellets bag would burn faster and could last only 6 hours.
Can You Use Charcoal In A Pellet Grill?
Yes, you may use charcoal in a pellet grill, although it is not advised. When using charcoal in a pellet grill, it is recommended to buy charcoal-flavored wood pellets that fit into the grills instead of using charcoal lumps or filling the charcoal in a metal container before putting it in the drum.
Charcoal lumps cannot be put in the hopper because pellet grills might not be able to withstand the direct heat caused by charcoal fires and, after a while, could cause damage to the pellet grill.
The pellet grill consists of five parts: the controller, the hopper, the auger, the fire pot, and an additional fan. We will review each piece here:
- The Controller: These grills have a set menu or a control panel similar to how you get in the oven. You switch on the electrical power supply and see the temperature setting depending on what you are cooking. This is the LCD-type control panel feature of all the Traeger wood pellet grills. In the previous older models, there used to be a dial with temperature settings that you could turn on and off and set to a specific temperature. There is also nothing wrong with getting the older model; however, some features are only present in the new model.
- Hopper: This is where you will place your wood pellets. The auger forwards them into the firepot. The hopper can be opened and checked anytime to see if you need to add more wood pellets. The Traeger provides pellets in more than twelve flavors and is made of 100 percent natural hardwood.
- Auger: It is the place that feeds the fire. The mechanism is such that when you add the pellets onto the hopper, gravity forces them to move in the direction of the drill, which moves in a circular movement. This drill will send the pellets into the firepot. For a significantly raised temperature and to get a rapid-fire, you should move the pellets in a rapid action way. If you want slow cooking, the drill should be set at a slow and low pace, so pellets also move slowly.
- Fire Pot: Towards the bottom, there is a hot rod that is ignited and starts the firing process.
- The fan circulates the heat around the grill, cooking the food from all sides. The smoke is also distributed, giving the food a woody and smoky flavor and aroma.
To use a Traeger grill, the temperature can be set just like you would an oven with a digital display. Some of the current models are Wi-Fi enabled, so you can operate them using your smartphone from anywhere the Wi-Fi range is. This is highly convenient and easy to work with as well.
A Traeger can be used both as a grill and a smoker. Traeger grills come with a six-in-one technology. These grills can do the following:
- Grilling
- Smoking
- Baking
- Roasting
- Braising
- Barbeques
The grilling part done in the Traeger wood pellet grill is done more slowly than on the traditional grill. This is because it uses indirect heat. Another reason it is being done slowly is that Traeger grills are electric grills, and they do not have a much-raised temperature like the traditional charcoal grills or propane grills. The most expensive Traeger grills can heat up to five hundred degrees Fahrenheit. Compared to others, this temperature is shallow because grills that work with charcoals can heat up to 650 degrees Fahrenheit, and gas grills can heat up to 600 to 650 degrees Fahrenheit.
Charcoal and gas grills also allow two-sided cooking, where only one side is more heated than the other. Therefore, the grill is done over direct or indirect heat, which is slightly lower.
If you only want a Traeger for the grilling option, you might as well get a charcoal or a gas grill. The only downside would be that you will not have the control panel option, but you will have control over how something is cooked and to what degree. You can also grill your vegetables similarly to your regular grilling.
The upside or a significant advantage of using a Traeger is that you cannot overcook or burn food in it. This is because it does not use direct heat.
Compared to gas and charcoal grills, a Traeger grill is super convenient and easy to light up. You can turn it on by choosing the option on the LCD, just like you do with the oven. You can start with the smoking option. If you have the WiFIRE-enabled models, the grill will work simply with a connection to Wi-Fi from your smartphone in range. This makes it much easier and more convenient as well.
If there is no smoke temperature, you can keep the temperature from 160 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Ensure that you do not put anything to cook inside, as it will take ten minutes to preheat properly. Depending on which model you are using, it might take less or more time, but the newer models take up less time. When the preheating process is initiated, you will hear a roaring engine sound, which is normal. It would help to keep the lid closed so that no heat escaped and it got preheated quickly. The display screen will then show the temperature you want to set.
Unlike in the oven, the Traeger wood pellet grill temperature will vary, plus or minus twenty degrees.
The Traeger will use a wood pellet that is different from the charcoal grill. It will use the propriety wood pellets as fuel for cooking.
Conclusion
The best advantages of the Traeger wood pellet grill are:
- Flavorful cooking: Traeger wood pellet grills are known for their ability to infuse food with a unique and delicious wood-fired flavor. The wood pellets come in various flavors, such as mesquite, hickory, apple, and more, giving your food a one-of-a-kind taste.
- Consistent heat: Traeger grills use a hopper to feed wood pellets into a burn pot, creating a consistent and controllable heat source for cooking. This allows for precise temperature control, making cooking a wide range of dishes easy.
- Easy to use: Traeger grills are designed with the user in mind, with a simple and intuitive control panel that makes it easy to set the temperature you want and let the grill do the rest. The pellets are automatically fed into the burn pot, ensuring a consistent cooking temperature so you can focus on other things while your food cooks to perfection. Ideally to buy:
Traeger pellets come in three different categories that are as follows:
- Pro series– Starting at $799
- Ironwood series– Starting at $1,199
- Timberline Series– Starting at $1,799
Although you can research according to your cooking needs, we believe the Pro series is a good buy. For fewer than a thousand bucks, you can grill, smoke, braise, and roast in this one. It also has the feature of being operated with Wi-Fi.
As an avid reader of cookbooks and professional chef blog posts, I will try to create helpful articles.
I enjoy researching different food industry topics such as sustainability in farming practices, health benefits of certain ingredients, food marketing tactics used by large companies, etc. This helps him stay informed on the latest nutrition news and develop a deeper understanding of how our food choices can directly impact our overall health and well-being.
As someone who truly values good quality food combined with nutritional awareness, I hope to inspire others by highlighting healthy food and offering the best deals from stores and restaurants.
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