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wrote:
> Tinman ---
> Where are you in AZ? I have a son in Mesa who has been doing a lot of
> experimenting with his Traeger. Maybe you two can get together.
>

I'm in Lake Havasu City. We're about 3-4 hours NW of the PHX (and Mesa)
area--and in the summer we actually get a little warmer. We head down
there to "cool off." ;-)

> Have you contacted Traeger on your unit?

No, but I probably should. I didn't think they would be able to do much
more than send a little touchup paint.

>
> The "smoke" quantity is determined by how fast the pellets are
> introduced to the firepot. It is set so that the fire burns down to
> coals and then more pellets are dropped which "smoke" before they
> ignite. Therefore, the higher you set the temp, the less "smoke" is
> produced.

Yep, I'm catching on. I was--am--just clueless about BBQing in general.

Amazingly, I just had the two last ribs from my "mistake" batch for
lunch, and I actually thought they tasted pretty darn good. Not like the
ribs I cook on the grill, but still good. They seemed to get better the
older they got. Plus, I think I was wrong about the bacon flavor. It was
more like, for lack of a better term, rib jerky (in taste, as the meat
was not tough or even that dry). I used to wolf down a whole rack of
ribs by myself (not for lunch!), and these smoky ribs don't work that
way.

By the time I got to those last two ribs, I even ate them slower. I also
nuked them, whereas I had been eating them cold. My grilled ribs never
really tasted as good when nuked. The smoked ribs seemed to improve.
Taking my time chewing, I was able to taste the flavor a lot better.
There really was a lot of flavor packed into those babies. I don't think
I'll make them like that again, but I sure didn't throw any of them
away. My in-laws seemed to like them cold from the fridge--and took a
rack home.

Being as these were tender babybacks, I believe I smoked them too long
and used way too much rub. I also should have wrapped them in foil right
after cooking, and let them sit for a little while. It's kind of amazing
that I liked the ribs at all, after all of the mistakes I made. Next
time I'm going to try the recipe on Traeger's Web site: a sprinkle of
shake; 1-2 hours on Medium and 30 minutes on smoke; brush a few times
with sauce while smoking; remove, wrap in foil and let sit for 15
minutes.

--
Mike | There are 10 kinds of people in this world: those
'04 FLHTCUI | who understand binary, and those who don't.