By Cheri Sicard
I was curious to watch this video from the Long Long Honeymoon about Traeger Portable Smoker Grills. That’s because quite a few people mentioned them in our poll about favorite RV cooking gadgets, although not enough to make the overall list. But those who mentioned this gadget LOVED it. I was intrigued as my only experience with Traeger was a HUGE patio model that would not have been practical in an RV.
If you’re not familiar with the brand, it was invented in the 1980s. What makes Traeger smokers so unique is their wood pellet fuel that comes in a variety of types, depending on your BBQ preference. This produces smoke and cooks the food over indirect heat—in other words, true barbecue.
The other nice feature about Traeger grills is they do not require you to constantly monitor them. You set the temperature and start cooking! There is even an integrated meat thermometer that checks the meat temperature for you while cooking.
In the video, they show the smaller Ranger model and the larger Tailgater model.
One downside is they do require electricity. Any 120 V household outlet would suffice.
The team from the Long Long Honeymoon uses their lithium power station to power the grill, so that works too. Sean says the grill will demand around 150 W while getting up to temperature, then the power demand drops off to around 50 W to maintain the temperature. Likewise, a modest-sized lithium power station will power one of these puppies for hours, long enough to smoke almost anything you want to make.
Another downside if you are nearing your weight limit is, these grills are heavy. The small Ranger model weighs 60 pounds.
If you have the room, the Tailgater only weighs two pounds more and has a much larger cooking area. But it is substantially larger. Probably a good choice for those with large motorhomes or 5th wheels.
Be sure to watch the video for how it all works. It is pretty interesting how the pellets get fed into the smoking chamber.
I know it is a little early in the year, but I think I already found what I want for Christmas next year. A Ranger!
##RVDT2074
We use the Country Cooker with great success. We either smoke or grill.
Three years ago we purchased the RV size Traeger Scout Grill at Costco. We had it for several months and when it worked we loved the results for smoking meat, especially ribs. However, more often than when we tried to use it as a smoker at 225 f it would continue heating and would get up to 450-500 degrees burning the meat. I called Traeger and they provided no help. Subsequently we spoke to customer service at Costco and they told us to return it despite it being 9 months old. We have used the larger Traeger smokers with no problem, but the Scout cost me many pounds of burned meat. Traeger may have improved the Scout during the past couple of years.
For 3+ years, I have been using a $99 mini propane smoker purchased at Wal Mart, modified to hook up to motorhome gas supply and with a needle valve for fine control. It worked OK but needed constant attention to regulate temperature and sometimes had a hard time going low enough, or high enough (to bake potatoes). I put it in a garbage bag and haul it around in a motorhome hatch.
This winter, I ordered an Asmoke AS350 portable pellet grill and smoker. Much like the Treager, it is heavy and a pain to wrestle into a motorhome hatch. I haven’t actually had a chance to use it yet but looking forward to it in a couple of weeks.
Those looking for a portable should check out the Asmoke line as well as Traeger. I noticed there is also a Cusinart that looks very similar to the Asmoke units.
We carried the original tabletop Traeger; the PTG and it was garbage. It constantly over fired, under fired, and sometimes just went cold. It went in the recycle along with the $250 it cost. The newer versions are most likely better but I shy away from them because I’ve been burned.
At home we use a larger patio model with great success. It isn’t much good for grilling because it puts out a relatively small amount of radiant heat to the food. It excels though at smoking and baking. It’s great for fish, pork chops & loin, and even pizza. I also use it to smoke burgers and steaks prior to grilling on an infrared grill.
I love our Traeger! We use a variety of pellets to provide unique smoking effects to various types and cuts of meats (even pizzas!). It is a Silverton model that sits on our patio. Would love to take a Traeger (perhaps the Ranger) with us on our travels, however there is just no room in our Class B!