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  • DIY Pizza Oven Menu: 10 Juicy Recipes for Foods Other Than Pizza

    DIY Pizza Oven Menu: 10 Juicy Recipes for Foods Other Than Pizza

    Looking for a DIY pizza oven menu to test your cooking skills? Here are 10 juicy recipes to get you started.

    Open fires and ovens have been used for cooking since the early caveman days. The concepts have evolved throughout history from early open fire pits to today’s newest gas and electric ovens.

    Did you know that owning a pizza oven does not have to limit you to pizza cooking only? It is so much more versatile than that.

    At this point, you may be asking yourself: What else can I use my pizza oven to cook? Well, there is a simple answer. Anything you cook on a stovetop, oven, or griller from nuts, vegetables, fish, or hearty healthy stews, you can cook in a pizza oven.

    In fact, pizza oven cooking is a healthier alternative and will intensify food flavor. Cooking in a pizza oven is not as daunting as many think. It is actually very simple.

    Keep reading for some fantastic pizza oven menu ideas!

    Compile Your Pizza Oven Menu for Foods Other Than Pizza

    Let’s begin our DIY pizza oven menu. A menu consists of appetizers, main meal, and dessert. Below you will find 10 juicy recipes for foods other than pizza encompassing these three categories.

    Appetizers Cooked in a Pizza Oven

    As your pizza oven warms up, there are many quick appetizers you can cook to share with and wow your guests. Here is a quick peek at some of them.

    1.  Cheesy Mushrooms

    This is one of the easiest and tastiest snacks to make.

    • Buy some medium to large mushrooms
    • Wash and wipe the mushrooms
    • Remove the stalks so as to form a bowl
    • Lay mushrooms on a baking tray
    • Put a teaspoon of garlic butter into each mushroom
    • Season with some paprika, salt, and pepper
    • Top with grated cheese of your choice, such as Parmesan
    • Put the tray towards the front of the pizza oven

    Serve bubbling hot, and enjoy!

    2.  Barbequed Sardines

    This is another easy peasy snack to prepare.

    • 16 sardines
    • 1/4 cup virgin olive oil
    • 1 Tablespoon of coarse salt
    • 2 cloves of garlic minced

    Mix olive oil, coarse salt, and minced garlic in a small bowl. Rub mixture all over sardines. Lay the sardines flat on a baking sheet. Cook in the pizza oven for about five minutes on either side or until the skin is crisp.

    Serve on fresh slices of rustic farm bread with a Picante salsa.

    3. Jalapeno Poppers Stuffed With Cheese and Wrapped in Bacon

    This is a tasty snack with a bite!

    • 12 large jalapenos
    • Hot sauce of your choice
    • 1 cup cream cheese
    • 1 packet of streaky bacon
    • Salt and pepper
    • 12 wooden skewers, soaked in water

    Method:

    • Slice the top off the chilies and scrape any seeds out
    • Mix the cream cheese, salt, and pepper and add an amount to your liking of hot sauce
    • Fill each jalapeno with the mixture
    • Wrap each chili with a slice of raw bacon securing the ends with a toothpick
    • Push a skewer through each chili from top to bottom
    • Lay skewers on a baking tray and bake in the pizza oven until the bacon is crispy

    Be sure to make extra, as these spicy treats won’t last long!

    4.  Corn on the Cob

    Again, this is simple and easy to make. You can serve whole or cut into snack-size pieces.

    Soak the cob beforehand in water. Lay on a baking tray and place it in the pizza oven. Brush and turn regularly with a mixture of melted butter and garlic.

    Comforting Main Meals

    Now that you have had your appetizers, tantalize your taste buds with these delicious dishes that can be cooked in a pizza oven.

    1.  Steaks a la Savage

    There is nothing as easy as this simple but delicious recipe.

    • Thick ribeye steaks, preferably bone-in
    • Salt
    • Pepper
    • Extra virgin olive oil

    Rub the olive oil all over the steak, then season with salt and pepper. Lay the steaks on a baking sheet and place it in the pizza oven. Cook until the desired doneness. Allow the steaks to rest before serving.

    Accompany the steaks with baked potatoes and vegetables, which by the way can also be cooked in a pizza oven.

    2.  Salmon Cooked on a Wooden Plank

    Try cedar or oak wood — it adds a smoky taste to the meat.

    • 1 cup of demerara sugar
    • 1 cup of coarse salt
    • Piece of wood of your choice sized to fit your salmon filet
    • 4 tbsp Honey
    • A single-shot of whiskey of choice

    In a bowl mix the demerara sugar with the coarse salt. Rub all over the salmon filet and wrap in clingfilm. This dry rub works best if you leave overnight in the fridge.

    About six hours before you are cooking the fish, take out the filets and rinse the salt and sugar mixture off, and pat dray. Then leave the filets in the fridge uncovered until cooking time.

    At this stage take your wood and soak in water for a couple of hours. Soaking the wood helps the plank from burning quickly.

    In a bowl, mix the honey and whiskey and place the salmon on the pre-soaked plank. Place this into the center of the oven on medium heat. Brush the salmon filets intermittently with the honey and whiskey mixture.

    Serve with garlic and parsley boiled potatoes, a bourbon mustard sauce, and a simple salad.

    Quick Yummy Meal Ending Foods

    Listed below are some simple ways to end your meal with desserts and savories.

    1.  Baked Apples

    • 6 apples
    • 6 tbsp soft brown sugar
    • 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
    • 2 tsp raisins
    • 1 tsp ginger syrup
    • 4 tsp mixed nuts (optional)
    • 6 tbsp melted unsalted butter
    • Apple juice

    In a bowl, mix sugar, cinnamon, raisins, nuts, and ginger syrup. Cut only the top of the apples and core. Fill the apples with the mixture above and add 1 tbsp of melted butter into each apple.

    Place apples in a deep dish and add the juice to the dish. Make sure you cover the bottom of the dish. Cover with tin foil. Bake in the pizza oven for 30 minutes.

    This dish is best served warm with some vanilla ice cream.

    2.  S’Mores

    Who does not like S’mores? Bring the campfire experience inside with this easy recipe:

    • 1 can sweetened condensed milk
    • 1 chocolate bar, crushed
    • 1 bag Marshmallows
    • 2 packets graham crackers or cookies

    Put the condensed milk into a cast-iron skillet. Sprinkle the crushed chocolate and top with the marshmallows.

    Put the skillet in the middle of the oven. Cook until the marshmallows go golden brown for approximately 6 minutes. Dip the crackers or cookies and scoop out the deliciousness!

    3.  Baked Bananas With Ice Cream

    This dessert does not require any effort whatsoever. Simply place the unpeeled bananas into the pizza oven and leave to cook for approximately 15 to 20 minutes.

    Peel and serve the banana warm with a scoop of ice cream.

    4.  Baked Camembert or Brie

    This is a great end to a meal for non-sweet eaters. You need Camembert or Brie cheese — simply bake until it is soft. Serve with salted crackers or toasted bread. Delish!

    Let’s Wrap It Up

    We hope you have been inspired to venture into the world of the unknown and create your own recipes for foods cooked in a pizza oven. Just remember, anything you cook on a conventional stovetop, oven, or grill can be done in a pizza oven.

    If you are thinking of adding a wood-fired pizza oven to your entertainment area or kitchen, read our latest blogs for more great cooking advice.

    Go forth and create your very own unique pizza oven menu!

  • 7 Best Outdoor Griddle Tips for Great Tailgate Food

    7 Best Outdoor Griddle Tips for Great Tailgate Food

    Want great tailgate food? Here are 7 outdoor griddle tips that will make your life easier.

    Have you ever wondered why your neighborhood BBQ joint doesn’t actually use a BBQ? You might have noticed that they typically use flat-top griddles to grill your steaks and other goodies. That’s because a griddle allows for a more evenly cooked dish and also helps the flavors of the dish to soak in.

    So, don’t you want your very own griddle to make some of the best foods your family craves?

    In this article, we’re going to walk you through how to use your best outdoor griddle, well, the best! Keep reading to learn more.

    Outdoor Griddle Tips

    1. Use the Right Equipment

    The most important part of cooking with a griddle is actually not the griddle itself but using the right equipment. You probably want a good pair of tongs and a soft bristle brush to clean the griddle when you’re done. Here are some other essentials to pick up with your purchase.

    Extra Large Spatula

    Tongs come in handy when grilling with a traditional grill, but with a griddle, you’ll also want to have an extra-large spatula on hand. A good spatula will allow you to move food around on the griddle and it’s especially great for flipping burgers and steaks. Besides that, it helps you cook quicker and more efficiently.

    We recommend stainless steel which can also be used as a scraper to loosen caked-on grease. Not to mention that stainless steel helps to eliminate cross-contaminating your meals.

    Blocking the Wind

    Even though you won’t be cooking on an open flame, you’ll still need to block the wind. Wind will not only cool your food as you cook but also cool the griddle itself. You’ll want to keep your griddle at the optimum temperature to ensure that your food cooks thoroughly so you can enjoy all those delicious tastes to their fullest!

    Propane

    Of course, you can’t have a griddle without propane.  There is no such thing as a charcoal griddle. That is unless you make your own griddle at home but this type of griddle can’t really be transported for tailgating events and other parties.

    Make sure you have the proper propane hose to link your tank to your griddle when you’re on the go.

    Don’t Forget to Cover Your Griddle

    Aside from cooking, you’ll also need the proper equipment to maintain your griddle when you’re not using it. A good cover should be polyester and plastic to ensure that the elements don’t affect your griddle when it’s not in use. Rain, snow, and even too much heat can damage your griddle and leave the cooking surface rusted or warped.

    2. Use Water

    When you’re cooking with a griddle, you’ll want to have at least a water bottle sized container filled with water as one of the essential accessories you cook. This will allow you to cook with steam which adds flavor to your food and makes it taste all that much better. A squeeze bottle is a perfect accessory, but if you’re in a pinch, a plain old plastic water bottle leftover from your last use will do just fine.

    3. The Best Oil for an Outdoor Griddle

    You’re going to need oil to cook on a griddle or else everything is going to stick and make a huge mess.

    You can use canola oil but the best oil for griddle cooking is Avocado oil. It doesn’t burn at high heat and adds flavor to your foods. Not to mention that it’s a healthy oil.

    4. Seasonings Are Key

    The best outdoor griddle recipes are those that you make your own. You can use any seasonings you prefer. The important thing is to use plenty of them. The more seasonings you use, the better chance the griddle has to make a satisfying meal.

    The thing about griddle cooking is that the seasonings don’t have a chance to escape so it’s also important not to use too much of any seasoning, especially salt. Remember, too, that your oil will help the seasoning soak in so while you’ll want to season your meats and vegetable plenty, learn how much is enough.

    5. Prepare Your Food First

    Another thing to be mindful of as you cook with a griddle is that your food will cook much faster than with a traditional grill. You’ll want to make sure you have enough time ahead of time to prepare your foods and get all your ingredients in order so you can just cook and monitor the foods on the griddle without distraction.

    6. Get Creative

    The best part about cooking with a griddle is the opportunity to try new things. Have you ever tried to cook vegetables on a traditional grill? You likely tried using aluminum foil which just falls apart and skillets don’t really get hot enough.

    With a griddle, you have more opportunities to be creative and cook more and more foods that you wouldn’t usually cook outside.

    7. Cleaning Your Griddle

    Finally, don’t spare when it comes to cleaning your griddle. And, clean it immediately after use. You can scrape it and wipe it down while it’s still hot and give it a good cleaning as soon as it cools to eliminate any waste from sticking once you store it away for the next use.

    Finding the Best Outdoor Griddle

    Finding the best outdoor griddle is just the first step. The most important is actually doing the cooking. Or should we say grilling? Lest we should actually say griddling!

    Once you have your new griddle set up, we invite you to check out our blog for all the tips and tricks you can get your hands on to make the best meals at the tailgating party and at home on a random weekday night. We’ve made it easy for you to filter your search and we hope you’ll find ways to make the best meals for your friends and family.

  • Traeger Ironwood 885 Pellet Grill Review

    Traeger Ironwood 885 Pellet Grill Review

    Traeger Ironwood 885 review: Find out what you should know about this grill, including its performance, specifications and care.

    Grilling, broiling, barbecuing, whatever you want to call it, is an art, not just a matter of building a pyre, throwing a piece of meat on it as a sacrifice to the gods of the stomach – James Beard

    Grilling is in our blood. An old aunt of ours used to say that we were born to barbecue and that the art of slow cooking a good piece of meat was a gift that our maker gave us to use to make the world a better place.

    While we never argued with her, as we were always taught that it was rude to talk back to your elders, and if we did she would have paddled us from one end of the yard to the other and back again, the older we got, the more we came to understand and appreciate what she meant.

    As James Beard said, grilling is an art and the only way to get better at it, no matter how gifted you are, is with commitment and dedication to your chosen craft. After all, practice, as every child from here to Hawaii knows, makes perfect.

    But just as every great artist needs a canvas to paint their masterpieces on, we’ve always needed a grill to create our culinary delights with. And we’ve spent our lives searching for the right grill, the one that will allow us to stretch our imagination to its absolute barbecuing limits and indulge our every smoking fantasy with.

    We’ve come close to finding that ideal grill on more than a couple of occasions, and once we even thought that we might have found it, but alas it was not to be.

    Beset by the misfortunes of the grilling world, we feared that we would never be able to fully embrace the potential that our aunt saw in us, and in a moment of darkness even considered hanging up our apron and abandoning the cause of barbecue for good.

    It was in those blackest moments, that we discovered Traeger Grills, and our barbecuing and grilling lives were changed for good.

    Traeger Ironwood 885 Review

    Have you ever had one of the light bulb moments?

    A flash of epiphany when suddenly everything, at long last begins to make sense? You have? Good, then you know what we’re talking about.

    Ours happened the day that we stumbled across and discovered Traeger Grills,  the people responsible for inventing the wood pellet grill in Oregon over thirty years ago.

    They’re a company that was founded on the guiding belief that grilling, and sharing the experience of good barbecue and food with friends and family, makes everything better.

    Shepherded by the idea that there’s a hidden griller in everyone, they invited one and all to join them in the ‘Traeger Hood’ by cooking on wood pellet fired grills, and it was a party that we gladly accepted our invitation to join.

    While they’ve been pushing the technological grilling envelope to its limit and beyond for a couple of decades, Traeger has never quite, at least in our eyes, managed to design the sort of grill that we always hoped they would.

    They’ve been within a hairsbreadth a few times, but they’ve never quite managed to cross the finishing line and engineer the kind of game-changing grill that we’ve always hoped that they would. Until now.

    We’d heard whispers and half-baked rumors that Traeger was working on something special, but we shrugged them off and went right back to barbecuing.

    We kept on laughing those rumors off, right up until the moment that Traeger unveiled the Ironwood 885.

    And from the first moment we saw it, we knew we had to have it.

    Traeger Grills Ironwood 885 Wood Pellet Grill and Smoker

    CHECK PRICE ON AMAZON

    It’s a cast-iron thing of beauty and wonder that the Traeger faithful believe can transform any amateur barbecue fanatic into a die-hard grilling professional in less time than it takes Gordon Ramsay to shatter the dreams and aspiration of a MasterChef contestant.

    This time the faithful, of which we’re fully paid up members, might just be right.

    Infinite Space, Infinite Time and Good Barbecue

    The very first thing that we fell in love with when we started to grill with the Ironwood 885 was the sheer volume of cooking space that it possesses.

    According to the manual, it’s somewhere around eight hundred and eighty-five square inches (hence the name of the grill), which means that you can do an awful lot of cooking on this single grill.

    With that in mind, we thought that we’d try to push the Ironwood as hard and far as we could, so put a brisket, a couple of chickens, a steak, and some burgers on its grill fired it up, and stepped back to let the Ironwood start cooking.

    And guess what?

    It easily handled everything that we cooked on it, and the more we cooked on it, the easier it became until we ended up being convinced that as long as there was even a modicum of space on its grill, whatever you placed on it, the Ironwood would cook it to perfection.

    How Does It Work?

    Like almost every Traeger Grill, the Ironwood uses wood pellets to cook with. You load them into the side hopper, push the auto-ignition button and the Ironwood starts making the heat, which it funnels into its main chamber and grill.

    That heat is then tempered and manipulated by using the incredibly easy and straightforward digital controls that allow you to set the temperature in ten-degree increments, and the time you want whatever it is you’re grilling to cook for.

    Remember we told you that Trager was constantly pushing the limit as of technology?

    Well, the Ironwood 885 is a perfect example of what they can do when they set their minds to it. Using WiFire, Traegers patented WiFi control system, so you can cook whatever you want on the Ironwood with your Smartphone or any other internet-enabled device.

    You just set the temperature and the time, and the Ironwood will do the rest. And while we’re on the subject of the technology that Traeger uses in the Ironwood, you can also connect the Traeger app, and your Ironwood to Alexa, so you can control your cook with a voice command. We tried it, and it was scarily easy and simple even for avowed technophobes like us.

    Versatility and Adaptability

    There’s so much that we adore about the Ironwood, it’s almost impossible to know where to start. So, let’s begin at the beginning, with its hopper.

    It’ll safely hold around twenty pounds of wood pellets, which is more than enough to safely see you through a couple of grilling sessions and backyard barbecues.

    And if you do start to run low on pellets? The Ironwood has a sensor that tells you when you need to add more.

    When you’re finished cooking, that hopper is as easy to clean as it is to fill, and within minutes you’re done and dusted and the Ironwood is ready to go again.

    As we’ve already said, we’re technophobes, but Traegers WiFire made believers out of us. Not just because it’s easy to use and can be controlled using Alexa, both of which are great and incredible time savers and wonderful ways to initiate new would-be chefs to the grilling cause.

    No, the reason we fell hard for the app, was because it doubles up as a recipe book.

    That’s right folks, the app has dozens of recipes and if you want to try one out, you just select it and send it via the magic of the internet to the Ironwood, and before you can say abracadabra, the Ironwood adjusts it’s settings and starts following the recipe, to the letter, that you just transmitted to it.

    And, that’s not all. While most girls will just grill, the Ironwood has six in one functionality, which allows it to braise, roast, grill, smoke, barbecue, and bake.

    So we put it through its paces and used it to do everything that Traeger said it would except baking (every cook has an Achilles heel, and baking is ours), and you know what? Traeger was right.

    It does do all of those things, which as far as we were concerned, were just six more reasons to fall in love with the Ironwood.

    It Isn’t All Sunshine And Roses

    Much as we hate to admit it, the Ironwood 885 does have one glaring fault. It weighs more than a small planet.

    At a tad over one hundred and seventy-five pounds, it isn’t exactly portable. We were kind of worried that we would end up giving ourselves a hernia when we moved it into place, and once it was where we wanted it to be, it stayed there.

    There was no way that we were even going to try and move it again, it just weighs far too much. All that functionality and versatility comes with a heavy price.

    A really, really heavy, weighty price.

    CHECK PRICE ON AMAZON

    Conclusion

    While it’s true that we adore the Ironwood 885 and it’s probably closer to barbecuing and grilling perfection than any other machine that we’ve ever used, the reason, apart from the fact that it’s heavier than Metallica’s discography, that it left us a little cold was that it made everything too easy.

    It sounds crazy, believe us we know it does, but the fact that the Ironwood does everything for you took something out of the pleasure that we get from grilling.

    The Ironwood’s inherent simplicity made grilling feel a little hollow and kind of meaningless and empty for us.

    Maybe it’s because we’re forged from old school grilling fire and we like the experience of cooking to be hands-on, but something felt amiss when we were using the Ironwood.

    That said, the Ironwood 885 is about as close to grilling perfection as we’re ever likely to get, and that’s why it’s steamrollered its way to the top of our list of grills of choice.

    There’s only one way to grill, and that’s the Ironwood way.

  • How To Clean A Flat Top Grill

    How To Clean A Flat Top Grill

    Do you know how to clean a flat top grill? Read on for the step by step instructions on cleaning this type of grill.

    We all love to grill. Barbecuing and grilling foods are our favorite ways to prepare delicious meals, and they are simple to use.

    The great thing about grilling appliances is how easy they are to utilize, and how quickly they can cook up some of our favorite dishes. One of the simplest ways to cook and grill food is on a flat top grill. A flat top grill is perfect for grilling patties, meats, sauteing vegetables, pan frying, browning, you name it.

    The flat grilling surface is great for a completely even barbecue and cooking method, as it can reach high temperatures and cook all across the surface.

    You can even place pots and pans on top of the cooking area to bring more versatility to your meal times!

    Although we enjoy using these cooking appliances, what we do not love is the messy clean up job afterwards. Clearing and degreasing after grilling is a job we usually try to get out of.

    But with this guide, we can help you have your flat top grill ship shape and shining in no time, ready for the next feast! If you are an avid chef, barbecuer, or mean grilling machine, then you already know the importance of keeping your workstation as clean and hygienic as possible.

    The same rules apply for your flat top grill. So you will have to know how to clean a flat top grill properly.

    How to Tell If Your Flat Top Grill Needs to Be Cleaned

    When it comes to a flat top grill, you may start to forget when the last time you cleaned it was. However, there will be some warning signs that it is time to get your rubber gloves on, and your cleaning supplies out! When it is time to clean your flat top grill, you will start to notice food sticking tightly to the griddle, or even worse you may notice some burnt parts in your food.

    This means that your flat top grill may have lost its non-stick abilities, and will need a good deep cleaning to return it to its former glory. In addition, you may notice that your food is not cooking as evenly as it once was. This could be because there is a build up on the flat top grill that is preventing an even heat on your food. You may also begin to taste some different flavors in your food. This is because of the different food flavors mixing on the grill top.

    You do not want to taste last week’s salmon on this week’s beef patties! This is a strong tell tale sign that you should deep clean the flat top grill. Finally, if you give your flat top a wipe over after every use, and you start to notice that there is a build up of grime that will not budge, then it is definitely time to have a deep clean of your flat top grill.

    How to Clean a Flat Top Grill

    For the best upkeep of your flat top grill, then you will need to clean it after time you cook.

    If you simply clean it regularly, then your flat top will last much longer and provide much better results. To do this, you should use a griddle scraper to get rid of any leftover grease residue or food particles from the grill. Wait until your flat top grill is cool, and then spray it with water for a clean rinse of the grill. Then, you can use a rag or some paper towels to wipe away any build up, or bits of grease. This method is intended for the general cleaning of your flat top grill after each use. If your grill needs a real, good clean, then you will need to deep clean the flat top grill.

    How to Deep Clean Your Flat Top Grill

    How you deep clean your flat top grill will depend on what type of grill you have. Make sure you know which method is best for your grill in order to avoid causing any damage.

    We have our favorite methods for both a stainless steel flat top grill and chrome flat top grills for your convenience, followed by some of the best methods that you can also try.

    Stainless Steel Flat Top Grill

    The most common flat top grills are made from stainless steel. To clean these types of grill, you will need to first turn the heat up to 300-350 degrees fahrenheit.

    Once the right temperature is reached, you will be able to grab a griddle scraper, and start to scrape away at the surface of your flat top grill. This will help to remove any leftover food debris, grease and build up from the cooking process. Keep scrubbing with the grill scraper until the majority of the food particles have been removed. Then, you can pour some warm (not hot) water onto the surface to help get rid of some of the grease and grime build up quickly.

    The water may boil on the hot surface, so you should take a step back and be careful when doing this step, as the steam can burn your skin.

    Remember to use warm water, not cold as the drastic change in temperatures on your grill can damage the top. Once the surface has cooled down, you will need to scrub the surface of your flat top grill in its entirety. Use a griddle pad and griddle scrub holder to do this, and scrub until all of the debris is lifted.

    Then, you can rinse the flat top surface, and wipe it down until clear. You can also use a stainless steel cleaner for best results, but make sure that you wipe it off completely afterwards.

    Once this is all clear, then you are free to re-season your flat top grill, ready for the next use.

    Chrome Flat Top Grill

    Chrome flat top grills are a little less durable than stainless steel grills. You will need to use less abrasive cleansing methods on your chrome grill to ensure that you keep it in the best working condition, and do not damage it in any ways. If you have a chrome flat top grill, then the process is slightly different. You will need to use a griddle brush instead of a griddle scrub as it is a little less abrasive than the scrub. Again, you will need to turn the heat up on your flat top grill to about 300-350 degrees fahrenheit. Once it has become hot, then you can use the griddle scraper to get rid of any leftover food and bits of debris from cooking. Next, you will have to pour some warm water on the flat top grill and scrub with a griddle brush until the surface looks much more clean than before. Once the flat top grill is cooled down, then you can use a rag to dry the surface. You can also use a food safe polish on a chrome flat top grill, as long as it is non abrasive and completely 100% food safe! Make sure that you remember to wipe down the surface and remove the polish before using again.

    Other Methods to Clean Flat Top Grills

    In most cases, you can just use some soapy water on the hot grill and leave it to sit. This should help to remove any residue, and then you can scrape off what remains and wipe it clean. This method also works with a concoction of lemon juice and water too! Simply mix one third of lemon juice with two thirds of water to clean away any grime or build up on your flat top grill

    .You can also use raw vinegar to scrub the surface of the flat top grill, using a rag to polish. Make sure the vinegar is washed away and removed before using the grill again. You may be surprised to find that you can also use hot oil to clean a flat top grill! It sounds like it would just make the problem worse, but it actually works.

    Simply pour some oil onto the hot grill and use a pumice stone to scrub and work on hard-stuck residual grease on the flat top grill. Use small, concentrated, circular patterns to scrub, and ensure that you wash away any leftover grease and oil after you are done!

    Feeling fired up?

    With our guide of how to clean a flat top grill, are you feeling fired up and ready to tackle the cleaning challenge?

    With these simple methods, you will have a shining flat top grill surface ready to take on the next delicious meal you want to grill!

  • Traeger Grills Troubleshooting Tips

    Traeger Grills Troubleshooting Tips

    Do you use a Trager grill? Read on for common Traeger grills troubleshooting tips that will ensure you have uninterrupted cooking sessions.

    We live in a world that is full of problems and we are the solution to those problems – Julia “Butterfly” Hill

    There’s an old adage that says, “Expect the best and prepare for the worst” and it’s this idea more than any other that we cling to vehemently and live our lives by.

    It never hurts to be prepared, and if you’re ready to face any sort of catastrophe, no matter how big or small it might be, you’ll be able to greet each morning with confidence knowing that even if things do go wrong, there’s nothing that you can’t handle.

    While some of life’s challenges aren’t as easy to face as others, getting to grips with your grill when it starts to malfunction and heading any potential grilling issues off at the pass is something that any of us can do, especially if we already know what to do when, and if, those problems do present themselves.

    In all probability, the odds of ever having to deal with any grill based difficulties are extremely low and no decent bookie would ever take a wager based on them.

    And if you told your bookie that you had a Traeger Grill while you were trying to make that bet, they wouldn’t stop laughing until you left their establishment.

    Traeger doesn’t do problems, the word isn’t in their lexicon, and with the application of science and technology, they’ve done their utmost to ensure that their grills are gremlin proof.

    But with all the best will in the world, malfunctions and problems can happen, which is why we’ve put this Traeger troubleshooting guide together, so that if, in the incredibly unlikely chance that something does go wrong with your Traeger, you’ll be ready.

    After all, a little knowledge goes a long way, and being forewarned means you’ll always be forearmed.

    Welcome to The Future

    The good news is that Trager has always been futurists, willingly embraced technology, and made sure that all of their grills did the same.

    Almost every Traeger grill is made to connect to the internet and can be controlled by an app and even those that don’t have a digital control unit.

    All of which means that when something does go wrong with a Traeger grill, the grill will do the troubleshooting for you and tell you what the problem is.

    All you have to do is listen to your grill and fix the issue that’s hindering its performance. Of course, when we say listen to your Traeger, we don’t actually mean that it will put an arm around your shoulder, make sure you’re seated in a comfortable chair, take your hand, and gently tell you what’s bothering it.

    That would be crazy. No, what we mean by your grill will tell you what’s wrong is that it will present you with an error code in much the same way that your car does when it’s connected to a garage computer.

    It’ll let you know what the issue is so that you’ll be able to deal with it and get back to doing what you and your Traeger do best; grilling.

    The Codes and The Fixes

    Every problem has a code and every code has a solution, you just need to know what each code means and when you do, you’ll know to address the problem that’s plaguing your Traeger.

    So, let’s work our way through the codes and while we’re addressing them we’ll offer you some solutions to the problems that they’re highlighting. First things first, you’re going to need to know where to find the error codes that will alert you to the specific misfortune that your Trager is suffering from.

    Where will you find it? It’ll present itself on the control panel, and it’ll usually be a three-letter or letter and number combination that’s displayed on the digital readout that under normal circumstances, lets you know the temperature of your grill.

    HEr

    Let’s start with the thing that all grills do best, making heat.

    If you see HEr appear on your display panel, it means that your grill has pushed past the maximum temperature setting and is alerting you to the fact that it’s become a little too hot.

    In other words, it’s a High-Temperature warning and means that your grill is about to start shutting itself down before the problem gets any worse. Once the auger (that controls the flow of pellets into the firebox) has stopped and the fan has cooled your grill down, shut it off and let it rest for thirty minutes so that it’ll be cold enough for you to run a manual check and try to ascertain what the problem that caused the issue to manifest itself was.The first thing you’ll need to check is that your grill is completely clean and that a build-up of grease and ash (from the pellets) hasn’t led your grill going into meltdown.

    If it is clean, the problem could lie with the pellets that you’re using to power your grill. Are they up to the task?

    Sometimes cheaper pellets and less well-known brands make big claims about their pellets that the wood just can’t cash.

    You get what you pay for and cheap pellets don’t burn evenly, which can lead to temperature fluctuations and the HEr error that’ll shut your grill down. If it isn’t grease, ash, or the pellets, the error probably lies with the temperature probe. If the error code persists after you’re cleaned your grill and changed the pellets, you’ll almost certainly need to have someone take a look at your temperature control unit.

    In which case, the best thing you can do is call Traeger and they’ll be happy to help.

    LEr

    You’re probably familiar with the saying “What goes up, must come down”, and having spent your fair share of time in High School science classes, know that for every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction.

    While HEr is a high-temperature error, LER is the opposite, it’s a low-temperature error.

    The rock-bottom temperature for every Traeger grill, while it’s being used, is around one hundred and twenty-five degrees Fahrenheit and if your grill drops below this number for any significant amount of time, it’ll trigger the low-temperature warning.

    And if it shows the error, by the time you’ve seen it, your grill will already have started shutting itself down.The primary reason why your grill might not be able to reach temperature is a fairly obvious one, you’ve run out of fuel. So when your grill is cold, check the pellet feed to make sure that there are still enough in there to keep your grill running, and that the feed isn’t blocked.

    If it is, clean it out, add more pellets and fire your grill up again. The secondary reason could be that your firebox isn’t pulling in enough oxygen to help it burn the pellets.

    This is usually because the ventilation ports that provide the firebox with oxygen are either fully, or partially blocked by sawdust or ash from the pellets and need to be thoroughly cleaned before you can fire your grill up again. If neither of these fixes works, the fault almost certainly lies with your temperature control unit, and if the error code keeps appearing, you’ll need to get in touch with Traeger, who will literally move heaven and earth to help you clear the error code.

    ERR

    This is the error code that means that you’re almost certainly going to need to replace a part of your grill, and it’ll probably be the sensor that monitors, measures, and helps to control the temperature of your grill. Traeger refers to this sensor as the Resistance Temperature Detector, so when you give them a call about it, that’s the part that you need to ask them about so that they can either help you to troubleshoot the issue or help you to get it replaced.

    ER1

    Almost every code that appears on your grill has to do with temperature, and this one like the ERR code refers to the RTD (or Resistance Temperature Detector), but as Trager will happily tell you, it usually means that the sensor isn’t plugged in properly has come loose.

    So check your connections and that all the wires are tight, and if something is, or has come, loose, tighten or reconnect it and your grill should fire up and be error code free.

    ER2

    If you see this combination flash up, just ring Traeger. It’s one of those fatal codes that means something has gone seriously gone and needs to be fixed by someone who knows Traeger grills inside and out.

    You could spend hours trying to figure out what’s wrong, but unless you’ve got a degree in electrical engineering, we wouldn’t recommend trying to get to the heart of the problem yourself.

    Just call Traeger. You’ll be glad you did and you can thank us later.

    Then There’s The Ignition Thing…

    While the error codes that your Traeger will show you if something is wrong cover around ninety-nine percent of any potential problems, the one thing they can’t help you with is your grill failing to light.

    If you’re facing an ignition problem, completely clear the firebox, auger, and pellet feed and take a peek inside the empty firebox while pressing the ignition button.

    If you don’t see a faint red glow, it almost certainly means that the ignition unit on your grill has given up the ghost and failed, and the only way to get it replaced is by giving the folks at Traeger a call.

    Armed and Ready

    And that’s that.

    Now that you know what to look out for if, and in the incredibly unlikely event that, something goes wrong with your Traeger grill, you’ll be able to hit the ground running and be up and grilling again in next to no time.