Charcoal Addict

You definitely have to have the new gaskets. Some people might have to modify their bands by removing the pin on back of the lower band. KJ kept changing the design of the base on the Big Joes every year up to 2017. Those regular changes to the base makes the install harder on some Big Joe Models.

The one great thing about the new hinge is being able to put the bands on first and the hinge on after. I’ve filled a whole shelf full of swear jars trying to remount the old hinge back onto the Big Joe. The old hinge has no wiggle room. You have to install the old hinge with the bands pre-attached. The weight of the old hinge made it very hard to keep the bands even. The new hinge is a Breeze by comparison.

It’s not stainless either. It’s not a Timberline but it much better than the Pro model. The Iron wood will end up outselling the Timberline since it’s in the sweet spot average consumers are willing to spend for a pellet cooker. The Timberline caters the more demanding crowd like us.

People on a tighter budget also have for option for the Iron Wood too. The Iron woods is the most adorable insulated pellet cooker to hit the market.

It why I refuse to do goFund me’s outside of making charitable donations. There’s not enough legal protections to prevent you from getting screwed over.

Several people will do a side by side video review of both models that’ll provide a more accurate and fair comparisons between the newer and older models. Anyome who has the older Timberline still owns one of the top five pellet grills on the market. They’re not hurting. Here’s the splashy marketing video for the D2. https://www.traegergrills.com/d2-direct-drive

I’m been thinking about getting a Timberline. It means parting with one Big Joe to make room for it. Putting together money for a massive Kitchen Reno has been consuming my discretionary fund for the past year.

That’s a quote of the sales pitch from the Marketing Agency Traeger hired to promote the new D2 system. We’ll have to wait for independent reviews comparing the old and new units in the coming months to see what the real world performances differences are between the two model gens of Timberline. Most Marketing teams love adding their own version of “extra thick blue smoke” when promoting products. Let’s see what the reviews say in the coming months.

None of the Pellet Grill makers consider upgrades outside of controller upgrades. People who buy the Timberline 2 will feel the same way in 2021 when they release the Timberline 3. If you’re enoying your food I wouldn’t worry about it too much. The biggest difference is a faster recovery time, slightly better performance in freezing weather and a slightly stronger smoke profile.

They made changes to the Auger system that required some changes to the internals. They could’ve done way with the magnetic cutting board on the new model. It’s really not a huge selling feature. I would’ve preferred a storage area of some kind.

It official. The 2nd Generation Timberline will hit selves in April. It sound like they’ve done a lot to address some of the shortcoming in the first generation model with a redesign D2 system and an improved controller with improved smoke circulation. We’ll have to wait for reviews to see the difference. What do you guys think of the 2019 Timberlines?

Pricing problems in the UK have more to do with Brexit driving down the buying power of the Pound than anything KJ did.

I like purple onions for anything with fruit flavours in the sauce. It has a bright flavour that stands out. The flavour of Sweet onion gets lost in a sweet fruity sauce. The purple onion adds a little punch. I always prefer purple onion in sweet & sour sauces for the added vibrancy.

I decided to make a summer meal favourite to shake the winter blues with 4 weeks of cold miserable weather. Grilled Mango Chicken and Farro. This was actually a very labour intense meal with a lot of prep work being done in the morning. I used my Vitamix blender to make a mango sauce and marinade for the chicken. Mango Sauce (Blended) - 1/2 cup of Chicken Broth - 1//2 of Orange Juice - 3 cloves of Garlic - 3 tablespoons of fresh grated ginger - 1 Knorr Gelitan Bullion Cup (don’t use cubes) - Cup of Fresh Mango Cook in a Pot later - Add 3 1/2 teaspoon of Cornstarch in cold water add to thicken sauce as you cook it over the stove. Marinade Blended - 1 Cup of Pineapple - 1 Cup of Chicken Broth - 1/4 cup of Burbon of your choice - 3 teaspoons of brown sugar - 1/2 cup of Mango - A sprinkle of Dizzy Pig Pineapple Rub Ser Chicken in Fridge for 8 hours or more in Marinade The Instant Pot was used for the Farro. The Chicken was spun at 400 F on the Big Joetisserie. The Vegetables, Purple onions, diced mango and red peppers were done in Lodge double handle pan and the Zucchini was grilled next door to the pan. The light reflecting off the snow banks makes the Zuchinni glow like it’s radio active. Relax it’s just a bizzare lighting effect cause by my led lighting and reflections from a high pile of snow behind the grill as pictured below. The result is oddly glowing nuclear Zucchini when photographed. I plated everything up in layers like a professional chef topping it off with a dash of fresh cilantro. This was a marathon. The combination of an Instant Pot, a Kamado Joe and a Vitamix did make things a little easier. I can imagine it would’ve taken another hour without the Vitamix and Instant Pot in the mix.

What can I say. Us poor pitmasters have such fragile egos. We get the shakes because we don’t see the right shade of blue smoke coming out of the chimney. You’ll see us shed a tear if we’re 1 degree over the perfect steak. Then comes the grand daddy of them all, to wrap or not to wrap, that is the question. It looks great. Brag about that smoke ring, not because it’s necessary; it just what us proud Grill masters love to do.