We Have Become Chain Smokers

Rick and I had been debating about getting a grill and/or a smoker for a while. We decided to purchase the Traeger Ironwood XL. The idea of having a wood pellet smoker with many convenient features that allow us to focus on the food and not the fuss was very appealing. It has only been a week since we purchased it, but we have already made so many things!

Here is a quick write-up of how we smoked each item. I hope to have more in depth posts at a later time, but these are here so I don’t forget what we did!

Hamburgers: 8 minutes at 450F. Flip and smoke for an additional 8 minutes. Optionally, add a slice of cheese during the last minute.

Spatchcock Chicken: 2 hours at 225F. Increase temperature to 375F and cook until internal temperature of 160F (took an additional 45 minutes). Note: the skin didn’t quite get to the crispy stage.

Baby Back Ribs: 3-2-1 Method. 3 hours at 180F or until internal temperature of 160F. Wrap in foil then 2 hours at 225F or until internal temperature of 205F. Take off the foil and brush with sauce. Then cook for another hour or until the sauce tightens.

Brisket: We started at 10:30pm smoking at 200F. When the internal temperature hit 160F the next morning (around 8:30am), we increased the temperature to 225F. When internal temperature hit 175F (around 12:45pm), we wrapped it in butcher paper and continued to cook at 275 until the internal temperature hit 200F and was probe tender (around 3:00pm). It was then left to rest for an hour, finally finishing at 4:00pm.

Pork Shoulder: Smoke at 275F until internal temperature of 200F and is probe tender.

Salsa: Smoke veggies for 2 hours at 225F. Blend together with seasoning.

Hard-Smoked Eggs: Smoke eggs for 2 hours at 225F.