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I was given two bags of Treager pellets this week, one hickory and one mesquite. I have read that to use pellets in a non-pellet smoker one makes a pouch out of foil and places the pellets in the pouch.

Question is, how many ounces of pellets do you use? Would it be the same weight as if you were using wood chunks? Or would it be less because they burn faster and more completely?

Any advice?

SmokinMAINEiac
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quote:
Originally posted by Smoke N Italy:
I havn't used chunks for years. I have an 09 and an 055. Pellets offer a much better choice of flavors and clean up is a snap. I tried Treager early on but found
http://www.bbqrsdelight.com/ to be much better, IMO. Call Candy Sue, she is most helpful.

I make a foil pouch and leave the top open a bit. When I'm done, I just throw the whole thing in the trash.
Good luck


Do the pellets turn to ash or are do they just char? My next smoke will be a pellet smoke because I am anxious to try them.
Since this started as an old thread,I'm curious what we are talking about cooking/smoking.

As most of us know,the low/slow cooking method is all about rendering fat and breaking down collagen over long periods of time.

The standard CS models were developed by the owner's family as brisket cookers,when folks cooked packers for 24 hrs at 180*,and they are still great. Cool

I used to try to cook anything that could be crammed into my Smokette,whether it made sense or not. Red Face

After a couple years of proving I could make something smokey and cooked to some degree of doneness,I gradually came to the realization that not all things need to be smoked,and weren't always improved. Frowner

I ,also,tinkered with every flavor/combo of woods in various composition.

After a couple years,I realized that most of us could pick up branch scraps around the neighborhood that would do well in most cooks and I could buy enough wood at a box store for $10 to last for years in my CS.

I realized that after being around the cooker all day,I became desensitized to the change in flavors of the woods and that it was also very rare that any diners could tell one wood from another. Confused

Yes,when grilling, they could stand back and smell the smoke coming off the grill and feel it was pleasant.

They could tell that the efficient CS could oversmoke the product and hurt the flavors. Eeker


Now there are some products that we feel only need a wisp of smoke flavor to enhance them.Short cooks and minimum wood can help these.
Some folks like to cook chicken in their well seasoned cooker with no wood in the woodbox and rely on the subtle flavor blends of light rubs and bastes to enhance the well cooked poultry.

Lastly,there might be the occasional user for cold smoking that is doing sausage,bacon,fish,cheese,etc that is looking for some smoke without cooking the product too soon.

Those folks experiment with accessory smoke boxes,sawdust,wood shavings,and occasionally even pellets.

A couple thoughts would be that it can be fun to experiment , or sometimes in emergency to make do with whatever smoke source we can lay our hands on.

Many of us "older folks" have noticed that good cooks usually tend to settle in with the products that are saved,or enhanced,by the cooker and using the minimum mix of the wood sources that the cooker was designed for.

Plus,when all the secret tips/experiments are behind them,they can focus on learning how to best use their cooker to most correctly cook the product.

Some folks on here call this the K.I.S.S. technique. Cool
quote:
Originally posted by SmokinMAINEiac:
quote:
Originally posted by Tom:
Since this started as an old thread,I'm curious what we are talking about cooking/smoking.


Pags' almonds.


Excuse me, I had a senior moment...I was smoking TN Q's Spicy Maple Almonds and Pecans using pellets and getting an ash tray after taste. I tried another batch yesterday using hickory chunks and did not get the ash tray after taste.
I think we may have missed an important point here. In a smokette I would guess you/we are considering the use of pellets to create smoke for flavor. In a FEC the pellets are as much for a source of heat.

By my memory, Candy Sue's pellets are 100% flavor wood, and intended to tweak the flavor profiles in small ways; as per adding to a smoke box on a grill. (I love Candy Sue's product by the way, and sorry CS I haven't had an opportunity to try "ours" yet).

Contrarily, if you're looking for a heat source, back in Chicago we would burn bituminous coal...way back when... in both our furnace and then our fireplace. BUT, I don't think I'd choose to barbecue with it. The coal was only a heat source. Similarly I would more consider burning Ash or Alder as better as a heat source than a flavor source. (ok, you salmon guys stand down)

So, my 2 cents. Flavor-wood pellets 'can' be a great source of flavor in an electric CS, but they smoke differently than a big chunk of flavor-wood...and pretty much inappropriate for a 12 hour smoke. But used in moderation for a quick smoke; I like 'em.

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