I was last month's Grand Price winner on AmazingRips and I selected the Green Mountain LEDGE Prime pellet grill. I have now used it three times and I'm ready to provide an initial review.
Prior to this, I have been mostly using a Large Big Green Egg and less frequently, a built-in gas grill. Prior to my BGE, I used a New Braunfels offset smoker. I really do like the BGE for its versatility to grill, smoke, roast...whatever...and the great charcoal flavor is a hit with everyone. I've had a little bit of experience watching the use of a pellet grill because my son-in-law in CO has been using a Traeger for years and has produced some really good results with it.
First off, the assembly of the GMG was very easy and straightforward and I could do it by myself. There were also plenty of extra bolts and washers, just in case. And, the startup was simple to follow the instructions. The only glitch was that the instructions for connecting the WiFi aren't complete, either in the manual or their website...so I ended up calling Green Mountain and they have a great guy named Nick and all he does is help people get their WiFi set up. The missing instructions are that you have to connect your phone and app to the grill WiFi first, before it can be recognized by your home WiFi network.
On to the first cooks. I decided to start with very easy cuts of meat. My first cook was a Tri-tip roast. I just rubbed it with yellow mustard and used a basic BBQ rub. I used two probes in the meat, one in the tip and one in the thickest part. I started it at 250F for about an hour to give it some smoke, then turned it up to 350F the rest of the way. I had planned to take it off when the probe in the thickest part got to 125F, and then I was going to give it a harder sear in a cast iron skillet. But I got distracted and it got up to 132 before I took it off. So, I skipped the extra sear, let it rest and it turned out perfectly medium rare, with a nice little smoke ring. (see photo)
This was Super Bowl Sunday, so when I started the Tri-tip, I also put some wings in during the low smoke for about 30 minutes. I just seasoned them with salt & pepper. I pulled them out of the smoker and deep fried them at 375F for 6 minutes, then tossed them in melted butter and hot sauce. These were crispy on the outside and tender juicy on the inside, with the perfect hint of smoky flavor. I didn't get any photos of these because they disappeared so quickly.
The next evening I smoked a couple of pork tenderloins, seasoned with a pork rub. Did the entire cook at 250F and got them to 140F, then put a little extra sear on them in cast iron. Served sliced medallions with a slightly spicy reduction cream sauce and cauliflower gratin. They turned out very flavorful. (see photo).
Finally, I purchased the rotisserie accessory for this unit and cooked a rotisserie chicken. I seasoned the chicken inside and out with a good poultry BBQ rub and let it dry brine overnight uncovered in the refrigerator. Got it set up on the rotisserie, started it at 425F for 15 min, then turned it to 350F for about an hour and then finished it at 400F for a few more minutes to get the internal temp where I wanted it and fully crisp the skin. It ended up with a beautiful mahogany color. (see photo). My GMG package came with one of their smoke tubes and I used this for the chicken because pellet grills don't produce much smoke at higher temperatures. I filled the tube with pellets, lit it with a butane torch, and it produced nice even smoke for the whole cook and this gave the chicken a really good delicate smoky flavor.
The package deal I got in my prize also included a really nice heavy duty cover for the whole unit and 4 bags of different types of pellets.
So far, I am very impressed with this GMG cooker. It has some nice, thoughtful features. I like interior light and the window in the hood that allows the ability to observe your food without opening the hood. It also has a window in the pellet hopper to easily see when pellets need to be added. There is a door at the bottom of the hopper that allows you to easily remove pellets to replace with a different flavor of wood. There is also a little AshVac port on the side that connects to the fire box to easily just stick the end of a shop vac hose in to clean ash out of the fire box without taking things apart inside.
Prior to this, I have been mostly using a Large Big Green Egg and less frequently, a built-in gas grill. Prior to my BGE, I used a New Braunfels offset smoker. I really do like the BGE for its versatility to grill, smoke, roast...whatever...and the great charcoal flavor is a hit with everyone. I've had a little bit of experience watching the use of a pellet grill because my son-in-law in CO has been using a Traeger for years and has produced some really good results with it.
First off, the assembly of the GMG was very easy and straightforward and I could do it by myself. There were also plenty of extra bolts and washers, just in case. And, the startup was simple to follow the instructions. The only glitch was that the instructions for connecting the WiFi aren't complete, either in the manual or their website...so I ended up calling Green Mountain and they have a great guy named Nick and all he does is help people get their WiFi set up. The missing instructions are that you have to connect your phone and app to the grill WiFi first, before it can be recognized by your home WiFi network.
On to the first cooks. I decided to start with very easy cuts of meat. My first cook was a Tri-tip roast. I just rubbed it with yellow mustard and used a basic BBQ rub. I used two probes in the meat, one in the tip and one in the thickest part. I started it at 250F for about an hour to give it some smoke, then turned it up to 350F the rest of the way. I had planned to take it off when the probe in the thickest part got to 125F, and then I was going to give it a harder sear in a cast iron skillet. But I got distracted and it got up to 132 before I took it off. So, I skipped the extra sear, let it rest and it turned out perfectly medium rare, with a nice little smoke ring. (see photo)
This was Super Bowl Sunday, so when I started the Tri-tip, I also put some wings in during the low smoke for about 30 minutes. I just seasoned them with salt & pepper. I pulled them out of the smoker and deep fried them at 375F for 6 minutes, then tossed them in melted butter and hot sauce. These were crispy on the outside and tender juicy on the inside, with the perfect hint of smoky flavor. I didn't get any photos of these because they disappeared so quickly.
The next evening I smoked a couple of pork tenderloins, seasoned with a pork rub. Did the entire cook at 250F and got them to 140F, then put a little extra sear on them in cast iron. Served sliced medallions with a slightly spicy reduction cream sauce and cauliflower gratin. They turned out very flavorful. (see photo).
Finally, I purchased the rotisserie accessory for this unit and cooked a rotisserie chicken. I seasoned the chicken inside and out with a good poultry BBQ rub and let it dry brine overnight uncovered in the refrigerator. Got it set up on the rotisserie, started it at 425F for 15 min, then turned it to 350F for about an hour and then finished it at 400F for a few more minutes to get the internal temp where I wanted it and fully crisp the skin. It ended up with a beautiful mahogany color. (see photo). My GMG package came with one of their smoke tubes and I used this for the chicken because pellet grills don't produce much smoke at higher temperatures. I filled the tube with pellets, lit it with a butane torch, and it produced nice even smoke for the whole cook and this gave the chicken a really good delicate smoky flavor.
The package deal I got in my prize also included a really nice heavy duty cover for the whole unit and 4 bags of different types of pellets.
So far, I am very impressed with this GMG cooker. It has some nice, thoughtful features. I like interior light and the window in the hood that allows the ability to observe your food without opening the hood. It also has a window in the pellet hopper to easily see when pellets need to be added. There is a door at the bottom of the hopper that allows you to easily remove pellets to replace with a different flavor of wood. There is also a little AshVac port on the side that connects to the fire box to easily just stick the end of a shop vac hose in to clean ash out of the fire box without taking things apart inside.
Comment