The use of wood pellets as the primary fuel source has been known to far surpass the efficiency of charcoal and gas. It is for this precise reason that pellet grills have become a popular alternative to garden variety outdoor cooking options.
Any cooking expert will tell you just how difficult it can be to get just the right temperature and exact flavour, a feat that has become much easier to achieve with modern day pellet grills.
Now the main question here isn’t just which is the best pellet smoker to buy? But also how to extract the best flavour. There are about a dozen smoking recipes that are guaranteed to ensure you get to master your grill.
So if you are ready, here are 5 recipes that are a sure-shot way to get you right up there with the best of them.
Competition Pork Ribs
Ingredients
2 racks (Ribs), a ¼ cup of vegetable oil/yellow mustard, 2 AP Dry Rub, 2 sticks butter. 1 ½ cups of brown sugar.
Directions
All you have to do is coat your ribs with mustard, put a bit of rub on them and refrigerate them for 6-8 hours.
Once the 8 hours is up, let the ribs sit, at room temperature for about ¾ of an hour.
Take your mist ingredients and mix them up thoroughly. Preheat your pellet grill to around 250 degrees, place the ribs on the grill and allow them to cook for an hour. Periodically dust the ribs at intervals of about a half hour until the ribs become slightly moist.
Foil the ribs up after about 3 hours. Then put on about 1/3 cup of brown sugar on the foil with one stick of butter. Do this on the bone side of the ribs as well, and then ensure you check on the ribs every 30 minutes.
The meat pulling back from the bone is the first indicator that your ribs are done, at which point you can lay down a thin layer of sauce and serve.
Dino Bones
Ingredients
2 tablespoons of butter, 1 cup of red wine, 1 cup beef broth/stock, a ¼ cup of Worcestershire sauce
Directions
You’ll need to trim off any excess fat or meat that isn’t uniform from your ribs, pour olive oil over the meat and coat it with the beef rub.
Then, using a baking pan (deep dish), combine the red wine, butter, sauce, beef broth. Then mix the apple juice and the cider vinegar to create a spritz.
Preheat your pellet grill to between 200-250 degrees, place the ribs on the rack for roughly 3 hours. The spritz also needs to be sprayed on the ribs on hourly intervals.
You will need to place the ribs on the grill for an additional 2 hours after wrapping it with foil, just to get the best results.
Baby Back Throwdown
Ingredients
Spare ribs/baby back, AP rub, Apple juice, Thick and bold, competition pellets
Directions
Set your pellet smoker grill to around 250 degrees. Then apply the AP rub to both sides of the rib rack. Place the ribs directly on the grill and periodically apply the rub. You can use water to spritz in case you don’t have access to apple juice, at 30-minute intervals.
The ribs usually take about 4-5 hours to be well done, at which point you can sauce the rack a couple of minutes before you take them off the grill.
Turkey Sandwich
Ingredients
Leftover turkey, 1-gallon water, stuffing, toast, cranberry sauce, brown gravy, ½ cup sugar, 8 lbs. ice, ½ knorr chicken bouillon, 1 cup kosher salt
Directions
Heat the salt, water, sugar, and bouillon in a stock pot until it all dissolves, rub the herbs together, drop it into the brine and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Then you need to throw some ice into it to prevent it from cooking your leftover turkey too quickly.
Get your turkey and put it into the brine for around 12-24 hours depending on the size of it. Then you need to rinse off the brine from your turkey, rub a little oil on it and season it with the AP rub
Lastly, set your pellet grill to around 375 degrees and cook it for around an hour to about an hour and a half.
Grilled shrimp
The grilled shrimp requires a rather complex process, but a simpler version just requires some Roma tomatoes, some black pepper, vinegar olive oil, mozzarella and 15-20 shrimp. You’ll get the best results with a 275 preheat grill.
Bottom line
To become a pellet smoker master isn’t as hard as people make it out to be, all you need is a little bit of practice.
