Is a Traeger grill worth it?
We enjoy grilling, or barbequing if that’s what you prefer to call it. We’re not passionate about it and we don’t intend on joining the competition circuit. We just like good food with good flavor. I’ve previously mentioned that we have spent years using our outdoor gas grill for steaks, burgers and hotdogs.
Last summer, we made the move to go back to a simple Weber charcoal grill. This year, I intended to purchase something a little more substantial for smoking meats. We made the mistake of visiting our local Costco last weekend only to run into a Traeger sales guy that made us a deal we couldn’t refuse.
Getting it home and setting it up
The first step was just getting the thing home. At least you would think so right? Let’s back up for a second. The first step turned out to be selecting the correct Traeger. At Costco, they had two sizes of two generations of grills. Initially, we went with the least expensive grill but then thought better of it. This resulted in making a return trip to Costco and upgrading to the newer generation. I mention this because I want to share our mistake so you don’t have to make it.
Mrs. Cubert Nine has a fantastic approach to product selection. When in doubt, don’t buy the cheap one or the expensive one, buy the middle one. She will usually trend towards the higher-end side of things, but stop short of the highest end. Her point has always been that you get the most for your money without being wasteful by doing this.
Once we had our Traeger picked out, the folks at Costco helped us get it into the car. Make no mistake, these things are heavy. The unit we selected wasn’t their biggest grill or we probably wouldn’t have been able to handle it without another adult.
Unboxing the Traeger Grill and assembling it was straightforward. Traeger has done a good job of providing instructions and the tools required. One unique aspect of this part of the experience happened when we realized that the shipping box was printed on the inside and could be turned into a kids’ play fort. Very cool.
Using the Traeger
The Traeger guy (very knowledgeable) explained to us to start by smoking a chicken. This is a fairly quick process and you wind up with a great first experience. He also explained to us that it teaches most users to trust the grill.
As I mentioned, we have spent years using a gas grill. We loved the simplicity of lighting the grill, tossing on whatever we wanted to cook and then walking away. Grilling on the Weber provides a significantly better result but the effort required was much higher and our resident chef always walked away just as smoked as the meat.
The Traeger removes all of that hassle and brings the experience of grilling back to being very close to what a gas grill provides while providing a match for the flavor we got from cooking over charcoal. Traeger has recipes for everything under the sun. Simply Googling whatever you were wanting to cook yields a result that gives you what you were likely looking for. For example, I looked up “Brisket Traeger Recipe” and found this (click here). I followed the directions and the result was a restaurant-quality brisket that we devoured in a single sitting (we went with a 4lbs brisket).
Our unit includes a temperature probe and is connected to our Wi-Fi. I was skeptical about the usefulness of having a grill with an app. After using it just once, I’m completely sold. It is far more useful than I ever expected to be able to monitor the temp of the grill and the meat I’m preparing. This is especially true when cooking something for several hours. My initial perspective was that of a backyard cook preparing hot dogs. Now that I’ve pulled off a chicken (70 minutes), pulled pork (12 hours), and a brisket (10 hours), I get why you would want the awareness of what the grill and the contents are doing.
The Results
Everything we’ve thrown on the Traeger has been fantastic. We’re extremely pleased. The meats have been juicy and tender. The grill doesn’t put a direct flame below the meat, so nothing dries out and everything cooks evenly. It has been extremely cold here the last few weeks and the grill has still managed to come up to temperature and to hold steady.
The Traeger is a joy to use thus far. I anticipate using it frequently and would highly recommend this product to anyone.
C9
