Grilling on a Treager

[KPKennedy]

I just picked up a new Traeger from Costco and was wondering what kind of experience you have had grilling burgers, etc on it. Is the texture different? Is it a good replacement for an old NG Weber Genesis?

[Attjack]

I've only cooked on a Traeger 2 times. I made burgers that I smoked and then tried to sear the best I could but I had a hard time getting it very hot. In the end, however, the burgers were delicious.

[glitchy]

Everyone's tastes and expectations are different. Many people are happing 'grilling' on a Traeger, I generally wasn't for steaks, but did like burgers. The biggest thing is how the heat works, a Traeger is indirect heat, so it's not going to sear a steak anything like your Genesis. Burgers on a Treager probably take close to double the time to cook versus a gas grill (but taste a lot better). Some also depends on the particular model you bought. Some Traeger grills top out closer to 400 and take forever to get there as well as a long time to recover back every time the lid is opened. Some of the newer ones top out at 450-500 and recover a bit faster.

Getting a searing station from GrillGrate.com (https://www.grillgrate.com/products/...r-pro-575-780/) could make it a decent griller, especially if yours can get temps closer to 500 easy. Otherwise, you might want to use a cast iron skillet to sear some things. It's definitely going to be a lot different than the intense direct heat of a Genesis. Personally, I find a gasser and pellet grill pair to be great compliments to each other and often use the pair to reverse sear steaks.

[IFindZeroBadCooks]

+1 on the GrillGrate rec

[jfmorris]

KPKennedy the short answer is that yes - you CAN grill on a Traeger. The long answer is that its more a smoking and baking device than it is a grill, and it won't have the same "direct grilling" experience you have on your Weber Genesis. It's just really hard to sear meat with indirect heat. Folks use Grillgrates, cast iron and other items, and crank the heat up as high as it will go (450-500) and let the hot metal sear the meat. It's still not the same though. And it takes a while and a lot of pellets to get a pellet grill up to those temperatures.

With the Traeger, the Genesis is the ideal companion for putting a sear on a steak or grilling burgers and dogs and such. They are companion tools more than replacements for each other. Use the Genesis for direct high heat grilling and searing, and use the Traeger for smoking and indirect cooking in the 225F to 350F range.

I often do "reverse sears" of steaks, where I run a thick steak on indirect heat until the middle is about 115 to 120F, and then sear over high heat to put a crust on it and get it the rest of the way to 135F or so. You would do that Traeger at 225F, then fire up at least one burner on the Genesis on high and toss the steaks over that to sear them.

Once last thought - think of your Traeger as a wood fired convection oven. If you think baking your burgers in the oven is a good way to go... that is what we are talking about. I really think you need to keep the Genesis for the things it does best, like grilling burgers and such.

[radiodome21]

I currently own a Traeger 575 which is in the same backyard as my natural gas weber genesis. We’ve done burgers on both and I prefer to use the Traeger for smoking and the grill for grilling. So for burgers I use the grill. I’ve done steaks on my smoker and then sear on the grill and in the blind taste test I did with my family everyone preferred the smoked and grilled steak to just the grilled steak. Same cut and same rub on both. I don’t use my smoker for burgers/ chicken sandwiches because when you turn up the heat on a smoker you don’t get that much smoke taste and I’d rather just use the grill. But again, it’s still worth trying out.

[RonB]

Welcome to The Pit.

[KPKennedy]

Thanks for all the responses!