Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Wait. Wat?

 

Reverse seared steak is the way, the only way, to cook them.

 

I think I did one once years ago. I haven’t had steak in a while now. Hate to say it, I actually have decent luck with aldi for steak. They aren’t high class but I’m not a big red meat guy. Chickens on sale Wednesday so I’ll be going then. Might grab me a steak and be fat Wednesday.

 

Well, if you spend any time on the BANNED From Rec Tec FB page, you'd think that the quality is horse crap. Anecdotal evidence is some of the worst, "well, this happened to me, so it's going to happen to everyone", but I've been pretty satisfied with mine. When I got it, there was a tiny little dent on the edge of the hopper, which gets covered by the lid, and a couple of paint scuffs, but I didn't lose any sleep. They finally added alarms to the app a couple of weeks ago, but didn't put a lot of time/thought into the design, as the notifications are very basic, and can't be customized. Yesterday's rib cook was the first time I had used something other than RT's pellets, splitting the hopper with RT and Jack Daniel's. I suspect the JD runs hotter/inconsistent, causing the temp to fluctuate between 225 and 237. Every time the temp exceeds 10 degrees over the set temp, I get a notification. Every time it goes back under that 10 degrees, I get another notification. I was in Home Depot, and was wondering why my phone kept going off. A user can't set the temp swing that will turn on the notification, nor turn the notification off entirely, within the app, (had to do it in my phone settings). They'll get it figured out, but you would think a company would spend a bit more time/money in designing/creating/modifying the app.

 

Yep, that divider goes almost to the top of the auger. I removed the RT pellets from the left side, or most of them, then put the JD pellets in. Because the divider doesn't go right down to the auger, I couldn't get all the RT pellets out of the left, (some from the right kept pushing in, due to pressure), but within the first hour or so of cook, they were mixing 50/50. Some people have suggested that Rec Tec fix the design to run the divider all the way down, but I think that would probably lead to auger issues.

 

Probably get me banned from this thread, but my go to for steak is sous vide then a ripping hot sear on the grill in cast iron. Perfect every time and allows me to concentrate on other things.

 

Well, it is the internet...

Remember the Third Gen section on this forum?!

 

I actually don't, didn't spend any time there, but can imagine. I didn't get banned from the main one, but did join the banned group, just to get a few chuckles. People act like they have a god given right to bitch on a company's FB pages, and not get booted off.

 

Ya I take complaints from the Internet lightly. I have a Traeger and I can tell a lot of people still to this day have issues with their cheaper models and some of those people are on here. Now the more expensive stuff they seem to have sorted out. A lot of the issues with them after they first sent manufacturing over there was poor build quality and thinner metals than had been used before. By the time I bought mine they had corrected the problems they were seeing and mine has worked like a champ for 6+ years now.

I will be upgrading at some point because I want something bigger and with features that weren’t out when I got mine. I thought about building a new controller myself and have the parts but came to the conclusion it was going to be more hassle than it was worth to me.

 

Wise man.

 

Do you really notice that much of a flavor difference? I'm genuinely curious, I can't really tell the difference I use either apple or hickory, pretty much comes out the same. I'm going to try Oak next, maybe even try a brisket

Hey, whatever you like. There's no right or wrong way, as long as it's to-temp, you're good!

 

With good pellets you notice some difference. I use a comp blend and you can definitely pick out the sweeter notes in the food than if I use a mesquite or just plain hickory or something like that.

 

I think pellets definitely make a difference, but there are so many variables, like rubs/sauce/meat. I just saw a bag of the JD when I was at Academy on Saturday to pick up a drumstick rack. Hell, on this cook alone, I was using RecTec Apple Pie rub on one rack, Meat Church Holy Voodoo rub on the other two, paired with two kinds of sauce and cherry pellets and chips in the smoke tube!

 

Seems like just the JD pellets would probably be strong....what say you?

 

They weren't bad, I've used the chips before.

 

Do they add any real flavor? I’ve thought about them and trying the Lumberjack charcoal pellets.

 

You don't say

 

I know the smoke was a bit different. Just get a bag and check 'em out, what is the worst that can happen?

 

Will have to grab some when I see them.

 

Good lord! These were $12.99 at Academy Sports on Saturday!

$43 Jack Daniel's Smoking BBQ Pellets 20 Pounds

https://www.amazon.com/Delight-Jack-Daniels-Smoking-Pellets/dp/B00PIVDAD0

https://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/ja...and-tennessee-whiskey-20-lb-pellet-grill-fuel