First Pellet Smoker / Grill

Pit Boss 850 DX from Lowes. I looked at the Traeger, RecTeq, Camp Chef, even Yoder

I figured the Pit Boss is a decent enough inexpensive pellet grill to dip my toes in smoking. I also heard they are pretty good with their warranties. Folks getting internal parts replaced easy peasy before the 5yr mark. So why not? On sale for Memorial Day to boot!

I assembled it myself (yeah, I asked for one in the box cause I like do to the assembly) and did the initial burn off. Tomorrow I'll season the grates and metal surfaces with bacon grease and then do a first grill/smoke of some chicken breast. I figure chicken breast will be a very easy first use of the grill. Got the competition Pit Boss pellets with it.

 

I've been tempted. My neighbor got one of those a couple years ago and says it's the best thing ever bought.

 

Dude I work with got one 2 years ago and also said it was 1000% worth it. I didn't get up in time to thaw and cook the chicken breast (actually, I probably did but lazy). So I'm doing some bacon burnt ends instead. Not exactly true burnt ends. I thought I had a couple packs of thick 1 inch cube bacon but turns out it was just 1 small pack of cubed and the rest were bits and pieces. Probably more so for beans and what not but I seasoned them up with brown sugar and BBQ rub anyway and tossed them on. It's bacon....what's it gonna hurt. And they will get ate just the same.

 

Congratulations JJ!
Enjoy the smokey journey.

 

That certainly looks fantastic!

 

They didn't turn out too bad. But with the right cut of belly fat they would have been soooo much better. I finished them off with a drizzle of honey and globs of butter.

 

Nice!!!!

 

Trying something simple tonight. Smoked cream cheese. Supposedly PDG.
I put the knockoff thermapen in there to see the different temps from each side of the smoker. Quite the difference!
(No, I don't have it set to 300 degrees. The damn thing was beeping and flashing once it hit 240 and I couldn't get it to shut up so I just jacked the set temp way up)

 

2hrs. Turned out PDG! Def can’t eat a whole brick tho. Well…you could. But that’s a lot of cream cheese. I’m wondering now how it would be in a cheese cake. Smoke the cream cheese first then make the cake….

 

Wow! I never would have though of that. It does look good!

I would think it would make a great base for a dip.

 

What's next Jason?

 

Mexican Meatloaf! Turned out amazing. I cut it when it was too hot so it kinda fell a part a little but who cares. Topped with a cheese dip, pico de Gallo, and cilantro. I figure I'd try some less expensive meats for a little bit until I get used to how the smoker cooks and the different temp swings inside. So far so good!

https://h2qshop.com/blogs/malcoms-r...Z0zgLKv17GnDoJXYmU-JpvHZKAXsZqN3yuEmmCoe-32Vr

 

Just beautiful!

 

Thanks! I got one more ground beef / sausage recipe for Saturday. Shotgun Shells. Basically beef stuffed in manicotti wrapped in bacon. After that I’ll give some real meat a try

 

Looking forward to a report!

 

Wow!

 

Did some cheap burgers and brats today. Actually, chicken brats. Starting Memorial Day weekend right.

 

Got some sauces and spices in. Now it needs to stop raining!

 

Smoked a pork loin. Next time I'll use more rub and try it with some BBQ sauce.
220f-240f for roughly 2hrs. It was very juicy!

 

Looking good JJ