Gravy's Cooking Thread

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Lanx

Lanx

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Denaut said:
I've never used pellets but my guess is that it is similar to other kinds of smoking. Cheap pellets are probably low quality soft wood bulked out with additives and very expensive pellets made entirely of flavorful wood (like apple) with little to no additives. There is probably a range in the middle with cheaper hard woods that burn well but don't have as much as the pricey wood.
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figured out the pellets i was looking at was for home heating, apparently you can use pellets for your furnace too, so yea not gonna use those
 
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LiquidDeath

LiquidDeath

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Lanx said:
figured out the pellets i was looking at was for home heating, apparently you can use pellets for your furnace too, so yea not gonna use those
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Sam's Club has 40lbs of pellets for $15.

Costco has 33lbs of Traeger pellets for $19.

Both are mixes of hard and fruit woods. I'll be using the Sam's stuff for a brisket next weekend, so I'll let you know what I find out.
 
LiquidDeath

LiquidDeath

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First go on my pellet smoker. Pork butt that was going to be pulled pork but I didn't get on the heat in time and had to settle for slices since I wanted to sleep tonight. It was delicious. I ate most of the bark straight off of it. I'll probably be sick tonight I ate so much of it.

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Lanx

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BrutulTM

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Ace Hardware has the Traeger pellets 3 bags for $45 pretty often. That's how I generally buy them. I once looked into buying them in bulk but the shipping pretty much negated any savings. It might work better if you live somewhere that it's easier to get freight delivered.
 
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moonarchia

moonarchia

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BrutulTM said:
Ace Hardware has the Traeger pellets 3 bags for $45 pretty often. That's how I generally buy them. I once looked into buying them in bulk but the shipping pretty much negated any savings. It might work better if you live somewhere that it's easier to get freight delivered.
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Or just get Amazon Prime?
 
mkopec

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Can you cold smoke on those pellet smokers? I need one that does like 150F steady.

I want to start making my own kielbasa since the best in town Polish dude we used to get out Kielbasa from in Detroit sold all his shit and retired. And the other authentic kielbasa in town is on the other side of town and not even worth a drive. So I have a recipe, I have the equipment, I might as well start to make my own. I just need a place to cold smoke.
 
Lanx

Lanx

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mkopec said:
Can you cold smoke on those pellet smokers? I need one that does like 150F steady.

I want to start making my own kielbasa since the best in town Polish dude we used to get out Kielbasa from in Detroit sold all his shit and retired. And the other authentic kielbasa in town is on the other side of town and not even worth a drive. So I have a recipe, I have the equipment, I might as well start to make my own. I just need a place to cold smoke.
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traeger temp range is 180-450, beyond that, idk, don't have one
 
Deathwing

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Got an instant pot for Christmas. I was ambivalent about it because my wife is a pseudo hoarder when it comes to the kitchen. I still don't have any idea where the fuck it's going to go.

But, that said, this is an impressive gadget. We have an electric oven/range, so maybe this is just me used to how slow electric burners heat up. This thing heats up fucking fast. The time saved in slow cooking -> pressure cooking and just regular "pan frying" cooking is worth it alone. I'm not sure this thing enables me to cook anything I couldn't before with other devices, but meh, don't care at this point.

The only downside I noticed is that after finishing a dish, I noticed some shit at the bottom sticking and starting to brown. It was shutoff but I suspected when I came back after dinner it would be burnt(it was). On a cook top, you just move the pan to a burner that is cold. How do you do that with this thing? I wasn't completely trusting taking a really hot pot out of the device.
 
Khane

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I would assume the best way to handle it is to pour water into it. That also has the benefit of deglazing the bottom thus cleaning the "stuck on" shit so you don't have to soak/scrub as hard later.
 
mkopec

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It will allow you to make meals that usually take 4-8 hrs in like 1 hour. Thats the beauty of this thing. typically shit like brazing meats.

Also dont worry abou sticking stuff on the bottom, it comes right off.
 
BrutulTM

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150 isn't cold smoking, but I think a pellet grill could do that. It can't actually cold smoke but I've seen people say they got them down into the 140-150 range. That's not really what it's designed to do though. If you really want to cold smoke you need your fire in one place and the smoke going through a dryer tube into your smoke box. Or you could try the Alton Brown cardboard box method.

 
Lanx

Lanx

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mkopec said:
It will allow you to make meals that usually take 4-8 hrs in like 1 hour. Thats the beauty of this thing. typically shit like brazing meats.

Also dont worry abou sticking stuff on the bottom, it comes right off.
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i'll also add, set and forget bone broth/soup stock you don't have to babysit for a few hours
 
mkopec

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Im thinking I will probably have to build something. And yes, I would consider 140F cold smoking, because although it heats up the meat, it never cooks it, never renders the fat, or starts to extract moisture from the protein.

You still have to bring the internal temp up to 154, but you do this with poaching in like 170F water. Oh and def curing salt.
 
Deathwing

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Khane said:
I would assume the best way to handle it is to pour water into it. That also has the benefit of deglazing the bottom thus cleaning the "stuck on" shit so you don't have to soak/scrub as hard later.
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This doesn't damage the metal? I've certainly cracked hot glasses by pouring cold water in them. Yes, I know that's a bit apples and oranges, but same idea kinda? Rapid change to the temperature might affect the tempering?
 
Khane

Khane

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Not cold water, turn the tap to warm or even hot. And if you can't deglaze it (i.e. pour any liquid into it), it doesn't seem like a great cooking device.
 
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Lanx

Lanx

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Deathwing said:
This doesn't damage the metal? I've certainly cracked hot glasses by pouring cold water in them. Yes, I know that's a bit apples and oranges, but same idea kinda? Rapid change to the temperature might affect the tempering?
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naw, that's common, also tempering stage is like 1500f

and the instapot is a big glob of stainless steel, it's even 3clad on the bottom, is why it heats up so fast.
 
mkopec

mkopec

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Youre not going to crack stainless with thermal shock, lol. At worse it will deform a bit, but I even doubt this because it has a welded on thicker base. Also cooking pots are not tempered. At least not that I know of.
 
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