One of my favorites is this one, the BBQ Box. In contrast, the Big Green Egg is a strictly analog experience. This is the reason why different varieties of wood are available—the smoke plays a big role in the flavor of the meat. On the Egg, I got lucky and produced, our entire suite of free newsletters here. I’m someone who collects rubs, and you can never have enough BBQ sauce and marinades. For a dinner party the other night, I used that cast iron to put a more significant sear on two antelope shoulders before roasting them in the Traeger for an hour at 300 degrees. The tri-tip is fickle and if you’re averse to medium-rare meat, then this might not be the cut for you. Like other wild game, venison is incredibly lean and, as a result, very sensitive to cooking temperature and time. With a maximum achievable temperature of only 450 degrees, you’re not getting the kind of quick, high temperature effect you’d achieve on the Egg or with a cast iron pan on a stove top. So get it hot and let the grill do its thing if you are doing a traditional grilled steak. That might cost me a few pieces of meat, but that benefits Wiley. A typical tenderloin will weigh in at about 1-2 pounds. For this test, I wanted to try a side-by-side comparison on the same cut of a difficult-to-perfect meat: venison backstrap. Both propane and charcoal briquets pollute the taste of your meat. The best way to get ready for the big game is with a great tailgate party, fun games, and great food like smoked beef chuck ribs. There's nothing dramatic or dangerous going on inside the Traeger, it's just getting on with the job of producing tasty meat. Overcook it by even a few degrees and it’s ruined. It offers precise, digital temperature control integrated with meat thermometers. When it comes to a great cut of meat, pork loin takes flavors better than most. However, when we smoked with the meat side down, the bark got stuck on the grate and we lost some precious meat. I fitted a, You could tackle a smoked brisket—a notoriously difficult thing to barbecue, and an expensive hunk of meat—for the first time on a Traeger with near a 100 percent expectation of success. But, is one better than the other? The steak was cooked perfectly, was very tender, and the flavor was throughout the entire meat. Skirt steak is from either of the two muscles of the beef’s abdominal and chest cavity or what is called the beef plate primal cut. It’s not until that point that you can close the lid and begin manipulating temperature via the adjustable intake and exhaust. It is a GREAT gift for the BBQ fans in your life. Because airflow is your only tool to adjust temperature on the Egg, forced induction can be a major help in more quickly varying temperature or achieving extremely high temperatures. This allows the steak to cook more evenly. If you treat cooking as an art form, and enjoy playing with fire, you’ll want the Big Green Egg. It takes much more careful attention to temperature than you’re used to from making chicken or steak, and typically lower temperatures for less time. For the Traeger, I followed their own recipe exactly. Prime steak can be hard to find in regular grocery stores, but we’ve had good luck at Costco. Traeger’s $800 Texas Elite 34 has a 22-by-19-inch main grilling surface (let’s discount the second, smaller top rack for now) for 418 square inches to cook on. Preheat your grill to 225° following factory instructions. Slide your roasting pan on to your Traeger grill grate. This is what the grill looks like at 1,000°F+. This cut is the most flavorful of all the cuts of beef, and even though it can be more robust because of many connective tissues, it is still the best cut for grilling. What should I serve with Pellet Grill Ribeye? I’ve used both extensively for grilling everything from. I haven’t noticed more cost in fuel for either grill—you can be pretty economical with both if you’re good about only lighting them when you’re ready to cook, then shutting them down immediately when you’re finished. Because the Traeger is combusting unburnt wood, it produces a significant amount of smoke throughout its cooking cycle. Also, it is hard to beat a Traeger pellet grill for mild smoke and ease of use. ... 16lbs), roasts, ribs, and other cuts of meat, the Big Easy is just that: big … It is worth it! The Traeger is ready to smoke, grill, or roast out of the box. I put an arrow through this blacktail one day last fall just before dark, gutted it, then carried the deer off the mountain with a few friends, before butchering it that night with the aid of a 13-year-old girl. I recently asked my followers on Instagram what they like to consume at tailgate parties, and the overwhelming answer was beer… yall are a bunch of lushes. So, it doesn’t look as impressive but it actually tasted better. Not the most cleanly-cut backstrap, but I guess some user error is the price you pay to do it yourself. The T-bone or Porterhouse is the best of both worlds, as on one side of the bone you have a small piece of tenderloin, and on the other a nice sized sirloin. You don’t have to futz with a lighter or vents or anything like that, there’s just a switch, a dial, and a digital temperature display. You could tackle a smoked brisket—a notoriously difficult thing to barbecue, and an expensive hunk of meat—for the first time on a Traeger with near a 100 percent expectation of success. Check out our entire suite of free newsletters here. While both grills produced meat that was moist and well cooked, it surprises me to say that the Traeger produced notably more tender results. So, while we’ll be comparing both grills’ on that piece of venison, this review will also be drawn from wider long-term experience on both products. With the egg, you only need to be able to reach it with that hair dryer. I was rusty and screwed up the first six inches of the first five-foot backstrap I pulled out of it. Cook the meat for one hour. Throw down a little bit of high-smoke-point oil, such as avocado oil. For this test, I wanted to try a side-by-side comparison on the same cut of a difficult-to-perfect meat: venison backstrap. Pork loin is a much larger cut of meat compared to the tenderloin. On the Egg, I got lucky and produced a perfect brisket on my first try, created a second one that wasn’t quite as good, and totally ruined my third. How to stuff tenderloin. Remember that your meat will continue to cook after you remove it from the grill, so allow for a 3-5 degree raise in temperature while resting. So give them a shake of salt and pepper right before they hit the grill but after you pat them dry with a paper towel. Be my best friend. For venison, Traeger calls for a 20 minute cook time at 450 degrees. It’ll hold that temperature evenly for that much time or longer. I fitted a $33 aftermarket, high performance gasket to mine, but after three months, it’s already shot. Figure 10 minutes from putting the lighter down to reaching 1,200 degrees, if you’re using that hair dryer or another, less redneck method of forcing air in. An instant-read digital thermometer is the best and easiest to use. The grills featured here are not equivalent in size. You should always choose your cut of meat according to how you plan on cooking it. Speaking of resting, always allow your steak to rest for 5 minutes before serving. Let’s talk about that medium-rare meat for a minute. As I went, I put six Vaseline-coated cotton balls where they could best ignite the charcoal. The brisket muscles support about 60% of the bodyweight of a cow, so it has a lot of tough connective tissue. My regular steak cooking method on it involves 1,200-degree sears. To operate it, all you have to do is fill the hopper with pellets, turn it on, and dial in whatever temperature you want—anything from “smoke” to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. You can use wood chips to flavor meat on the Egg, but I typically only do that for smoking. Once the hour has elapsed, carefully pour the reduced marinade over the top of the pork loin. And your best friend's best friend. The key to a good sear is high temperature. (Link below). You don't need to clean ash out of the Traeger with the same regularity as the Big Green Egg, but it does still collect it. I also have the Smoke which is a wireless leave-in probe and is one of my most-used grilling tools. Subscribe to our newsletters to stay up-to-date on the latest outdoor news. A huge variety of accessories are available for Big Green Eggs, but most are very expensive. I put quotes around “sear” because this is a big limitation on this grill. That’s why serious barbecuers use either pellets made from select hardwoods or natural lump charcoal, containing only hardwood. As an analog experience, the Egg is fun to use, will often burn you, and offers unlimited cooking possibilities. Both pieces of meat were good, but the Traeger's was tastier. To start the Egg, I first cleared out all the ash in its trap to ensure best-possible results, then loosely stacked large lumps of natural charcoal in its fire pit. I’ve used both extensively for grilling everything from dove breasts to venison to antelope heart, and even regular ol’ ribeyes, smoking, searing, and roasting them for large dinner parties or just meals for me and Wiley. Steaks are best grilled, but you can pan fry if you have to at a high temperature, and usually a medium-rare temperature allows for a tender, juicy piece of meat. A Big Green Egg requires a significant learning curve just to cook simple things, but encourages experimentation and artistic expression with your cooking. After 3 hours, your ribs should have an internal temperature of 165 degrees. BBQ box is a monthly subscription box that sends you a rub, a sauce, some wood chips, and something snack to eat like a jerky or meat stick. To smoke on the Egg, you’ll need the, If you’re using the Egg at high temperatures, you’ll go through lid gaskets with disappointing regularity. We have all of the BBQ Side Dishes you ever need, but if you want some specific suggestions, I recommend a few of the following: “The cooking suggestion for the ribeyes was so perfect. The height of flames and amount of sparks I get to come out of the top of the Egg with that hair dryer (or leaf blower!) Keeping this as my go to recipe.”. To inspire active participation in the world outside through award-winning coverage of the sports, people, places, adventure, discoveries, health and fitness, gear and apparel, trends and events that make up an active lifestyle. You’ll need an outdoor outlet or long, three-prong extension cord for the Traeger. With the reverse sear you want to pull them about 5-7° under where you ultimately want them to end up. The Ribeye is considered to be one of the most flavorful and tender cuts of steak available. The Ribeye steak is cut from the prime rib, or the standing rib roast. Both are available at my local hardware store and you can buy both from Amazon Prime, with free delivery. I’ve owned the Egg for two years now, and Traeger sent over this Lil Tex Pro for the test in December. To start, you plug the grill in, open the lid, turn it to smoke, and wait five minutes for the grill to warm up. You’ll never need to clean any grease out of the Egg as residual heat burns it off, but you will need to regularly clean grease from the plate under the grill of the Traeger. To cook the venison, I used the same method I use for a good ribeye: a quick sear on both sides at 1,200 degrees, then pull the meat off and allow it to decompress while I shut the vents on the Egg and bring it down to 300 degrees. Click the image below for more information! Both are made from corrosion-resistant materials and show no signs of wear or tear from living outside for extended periods, but both also benefit from being covered, if only to keep them clean. So not the prettiest presentation, but still a great tasting hunk of venison utterly free from the gaminess that results from non-immediate kills and tardy meat processing. This allows the juices to tame down and remain in the meat when you start cutting into it. That makes it loosely equivalent, in terms of the amount of meat you can get on there, to the $1,200 Big Green Egg XL. If you are tracking these things for medical purposes please consult an outside, trusted source. I prefer the reverse sear, but it takes about 3x as long as a regularly grilled steak so if you are pinched for time, either option is totally awesome. While the Egg can use any natural lump charcoal, Traeger strongly recommends that you stick to its own brand pellets. I love subscription boxes. You could use a similar method to Traeger’s with the Egg and simply bring it to, and keep it at, 450 degrees. To smoke on the Egg, you’ll need the $110+ plate setter accessory, a metal dog bowl to hold water under the grill, and a separate bag of wood chips. Traeger has been in business for a long time, so positive customer reviews weren’t hard to find. The Egg is more capable of hitting both extremely low temperatures (150-degree smokes are possible) and extremely high ones than a typical charcoal grill. One of the nine beef primal cuts, brisket is a favorite type of barbecue. Steaks are best grilled, but you can pan fry if you have to at a high temperature, and usually a medium-rare temperature allows for a tender, juicy piece of meat. As luck would have it, that also happened to be the piece of meat I pulled out of the freezer the night before the test. I’m including instructions here for both a traditional grilled steak and a reverse seared steak also.