Traeger questions

[Paul R]

Crap, I knew I had another question but forgot to ask it. Where do you get your meat? I talked to Dave last night and he said he gets his just at Smiths by his house. I know Jay has mentioned Costco, especially the monster one in SLC. I typically have gotten my tri- tip from costco so I'm aware of what they have. Do any of you go to a butcher? Have you ordered meat online and had it shipped?

Dons meats came up in a search and there is one in WJ, its a little out of the way but I could make that work. Can you get everything you want from a grocery store or costco? I can't say I remember ever seeing pork belly, but I also am not sure I've specifically looked for it.

Thanks for the help guys.

I mainly use Costco, out of convenience. I have also used Smiths but didn't think it was as good. Snider's Brothers (https://sniderbrosmeats.com/) has the best, but I rarely make it out there to get meat because I am not a planner ?.

Costco definitely has Pork BElly, but I haven't ever tried anything with it.

 

[nnnnnate]

So you might have been able to infer this but I bought a smoker last night. I tricked @moab_cj5 and @I Lean into coming over and got them to help me move it from the garage to the back deck. I ended up getting a yoder despite @Jesser04 suggesting I not do that, I guess the shiny new upgrades and wifi board got to me. After Carl and Dave left I filled up the hopper and did a test burn to cook out anything from the manufacturing process and now its ready to go.

I'm going to do beef ribs for sure Sunday and I'd like to do a spatchcock chicken or two tomorrow but have a lot of things going on so I'm not sure if it'll happen. I bought a couple bags of hickory pellets to get started and during lunch ran up to Ace and got some Plowboys Bovine Bold rub I'll give a try on the ribs. I'm excited to have a smoker and am going to get after it. Thanks for the help and suggestions over the last few months.

 

[Jay5.9L]

If I plan on smoking something big for a party Costco is my first choice. Tri tip, pork ribs, brisket, big pork belly slabs. etc. Harmons usually has pork belly and some other good cuts but they get expensive for the amount. Sniders meats is also good but on the expensive side. If its just chicken or brats anywhere is fair game.


Just saw your post on the Yoder. Awesome rig, post pics please

 

[Jesser04]

Pics or it didn’t happen

 

[Tonkaman]

Think of your first week of smoking like a camping trip. You’ve got to ease the family into it. No need to try anything fancy the first week or two. It’s all about if the wife and kid loves it, not you! If you get the meat too smoky or the rub too bold, they will never try it again.



I like bbq pit stop for rubs.

I like Smoking meat forum for recipes and advice.

Best advice I got is to try NOT making the meat taste like smoke. I know that seems counter productive, but honestly it’s all about the subtlety of flavor.

 

[nnnnnate]

That makes a lot of sense Derek and I'll keep that in mind. I really want to do a couple chickens and the plan was to keep one my standard salt and pepper and the other I was going to put yardbird on it.

Something I want to do better is make more than we need for a meal and freeze it for quicker meals later. My mom did that growing up with turkey but I'd like to avoid turkey as much as possible. I've been dicing up tri tip for tacos which is epic but I need to find something else too.

I'm kind of embarrassed to say this but while reading the smoker forums I read a bunch of searing and high temps and whatnot. I realized that I hadn't been searing any meat on my grill. I usually would just keep it indirect and never blast the heat. Well, I changed it up on burgers last week and my wife mentioned how good they were unprompted. She appreciates good food so I'm starting in a good place. When we eat together I always end up cooking too so that helps as well.