Breaking in the Pit Boss Griddle!

After years of saying that I wanted to get a griddle I finally pulled the trigger and bought a two burner tabletop griddle from Pit Boss.

The griddle cost less than $100 and I think I will get at least that much fun out of playing with it! I wasn’t sure if I should get the Pit Boss or the equivalent Blackstone griddle but I think the Pit Boss will resist rusting better.

The first cook on the griddle was pretty simple. I sliced open a couple of cajun sausages and slapped them down on the hot griddle. It only took a few minutes for the sausages to cook through and then we ate them on a slice of white bread with plain yellow mustard. It was almost like a fried bologna sandwich but better!

My pups got to share a sausage….I couldn’t resist those begging eyes.

For my second cook I seared some steaks and for the third I made some breakfast tacos!

This griddle is making me happy and I look forward to using the heck out of this thing!

A question for you: What is your favorite thing to cook on a griddle? I am looking for some fun ideas to try. Thanks!

How to Sear With a Z Grills Pellet Grill

Pellet grills are increasing in popularity as they are easy to use and can be used to produce great slow smoked food as well as high heat grilling.

The big drawback with most pellet grills, especially the more affordable models, is that they just don’t get hot enough to do serious searing. Most pellet grills top out at a maximum temperature of 450-500F which is great for chicken wings and smashburgers but it falls a little short when it comes to the temperature needed to properly sear steaks.

I finally figured out a simple hack that lets me take my Z Grill up into the 600-700F range to properly sear a steak! Here is a look at what I did!

If you don’t feel like watching (although I wish you would!) then the setup goes like this:

1. Remove the grease tray.
2. Remove the heat deflector.
3. Place a set of GrillGrate panels on the cooking surface and turn the grill up to 450F.

Boom! Now you are grilling directly over a raging fire pot and the GrillGrates will be in the 600-700F range.

This is the type of grilling that makes me happy!

Although I did this with a Z Grills pellet grill you can do the same trick with a Traeger as the grease tray, heat deflector and fire pot location are pretty much identical between the brands.

By the way, I would really appreciate it if you would click this link and easily subscribe to my YouTube channel! Thank you!

Spider Grills Pellet Adapter

Have you seen the pellet adapter from Spider Grills that converts a standard Weber kettle into a fully functional pellet grill? I can’t decide if this thing is the best accessory made for a Weber kettle or if it complete blasphemy!

I bought a Spider, it costs a little under $300 and tried it out. This is about the cheapest way to start playing around in the world of pellet grilling. Here is what it looks like 🙂

I love that the Spider has a PID controller as it holds temperature more steady than my other pellet grills.

This attachment only works with the Original 22 inch kettle and the Weber Mastertouch. The grill must have the One Touch cleaning system to allow the fire pot to be in the kettle. The attachment will not fit on any kettle that has a side table like the Performer.

The Spider turns the job of low and slow smoking into a simple task. I used this guy to make some of the best baby back ribs to ever come off my pit. I let the ribs sit in “Smoke” mode for two hours (180F) and then cooked them at 250F for another three hours. They were amazing!

So what do you think? Did these guys have the best idea ever or have they committed the ultimate sin in grilling? I suspect the barbecue community is going to be pretty divided on this device!

All I know for sure is that this little guy makes me happy!

Keep grilling, folks!!

Oklahoma Joe’s Rider DLX Pellet Grill Review

The folks at Oklahoma Joe’s have entered the world of pellet grills and have done so in a big way!

The flagship grill is the Rider DLX and it is a beast. The Rider DLX functions like most pellet grills and can be used as a great smoker.

The flaw with most pellet grills is that they don’t get hot enough to put a serious sear on steaks. The Rider solves this problem by adding a massive sear grate into the middle of the grill that can reach temperatures of up to 700F. The experience of cooking on the sear grate is close to cooking on a charcoal grill.

I made a video showing the Rider in action…the video is a bit shaky and I apologize for that…still learning this video stuff!

A few months after I made the original video I made another showing a few things that I didn’t like about the grill. I still think the Rider is an amazing grill but I wanted to provide a full, balanced review.

I have been having a blast using the Rider and am delighted to have it in my grilling arsenal. It makes me happy 🙂

Do you have one of these grills? If so, then leave a comment down below and let folks know what you think of yours!

Z Grill Pellet Smoker Review

Today’s post is about another smoker that I have been using for a while, the Z Grill Model 7002 Pellet Grill.

I have been using the Z Grill for two years now.  This was my first pellet grill and I quickly learned how fun and easy it was to use this style of cooker.

Here is the Two Year Review of the Z Grill that I put together.

This grill is essentially a clone of the early Traeger grills.  It is a no frills type of product so there isn’t Wi-Fi connectivity or a fancy PID controller.  What you get with a Z grill is an inexpensive cooker that works great as a smoker but mediocre as a grill.

When I first got this grill it maxed out at a temperature of 400F.  The last time I tried getting this guy up to high heat 385F was the best that it could muster.  On the flip side, this grill can get you anywhere in the 225-275F range and hold it all day.

The end result is that I started smoking all of my ribs on the Z Grill and grilling all of my chicken wings on the Weber kettle.

The Z Grill has help up great over the years.  The only issue that I ever had was when the connector between the temperature probe and the control panel got wet.  This caused the control panel to throw an error code and the grill wouldn’t start. It took me about 30 minutes to get the connector dry and after that I have not had any problems.

All in all I have been pretty pleased with the grill.  It has made me happy!

I hope all of you cool cats out there are having a great week 🙂