I've got a new (old stock) American made Traeger 075 (Texas) that I picked up quite cheaply from a dealer going out of business. My other pellet cooker is a Memphis Advantage. A metaphor for these two machines would be that the Memphis is a Rolex and the Traeger is a sundial. The Memphis locks on temps and is super insulated and reliable. The Traeger clunks and thunks but will still do a great job if you don't turn your back on it too long.
Today I'm cooking wings -- one of my favorite snacks! Nothing fancy or requiring great care, so I fired up the Traeger. Here's the start of the cook: Twenty wings fairly liberally coated with Smokin' Guns Hot
I let them "marinate" in the rub for an hour or so in the fridge then laid them out on a Frogmat. I have most of the barbeque toys but Frogmats are one of the best inventions ever
The Traeger originally came with the world-famous 3-speed "controller" but it was DOA and wouldn't even fire up. However, there was a 225 "uncrontroller" in a box and I installed that. Traeger users will know that this device can be most entertaining and has sparked a whole market it replacement electronics. In this picture it is set to "smoke" and is sort of working. Temps will vary all over the place but its the average that counts and I'm not doing rocket science here
A friend of mine calls the lid thermometer on a Traeger the "hood ornament". With 180 indicated on the controller, this thing sorta comes off the peg. I don't believe either indication very much. Good wisp of blue smoke coming out of the stack, though . . .
In the next post I'll finish the saga.
Hub