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[Chris__M]

Thought I would reintroduce myself, as before today, my last post was in 2018.

I went through a couple of years of not really doing much with BBQ for multiple reasons - partly illness (I'm fine now), partly apathy. My trusty Traeger had give up on it's controller - I fashioned a relay and timer mechanism to control the auger for routine cooks, but nothing exciting.

Anyway, I finally pulled the trigger on a grill to replace it - a Louisiana Grills Legacy 1200. I didn't actually intend to buy this, but the grill I had bought was no longer available, so I ended up with this.

So I can see me getting to experimenting again!

[Kristin Meredith]

Nice to see you back Chris.  I always enjoy the perspective of international members!

[Brushpopper]

Glad to have back with us!  I've often wondered what happened to you because I always enjoy reading your posts.

[Bentley]

I am assuming Lincolnshire has 300 to 325 sunny days a year?   

[pmillen]

Yes, welcome back, and glad to hear that you're "okay" now.  I, too, have enjoyed your perspective on sauces, stuffing and such.

Your most recent posts have me jonsin' for a Louisiana Grills Founders Series Premier 1200.  You probably didn't do me a favor, there.

[Canadian John]

 Have a pleasant return Chris!  We all need a break of sorts @ some point in time.

[Chris__M]

Glad to have back with us!  I've often wondered what happened to you because I always enjoy reading your posts.

It really didn't seem that long ago, but it is. A mixture of things - in 2017 I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and the following year I was in hospital with cellulitis. Then my blood pressure became an issue. 

After that, I was actually mostly ok, but each time I felt I was really recovered, something else would knock me back, like a death of a thousand cuts. Nothing really serious, but just enough to keep me tired, and not active with interests.

Anyway, last year we got my medication sorted, and I looked out at my garden and it was a mess. So I started sorting that out, and then COVID happened! Can't catch a break!

But I started cooking properly, rather than living off convenience food; and did some BBQ on my old Traeger, running on self-built timer/controller. I've also been making bread a lot, and at Christmas bought myself a home flour mill, which has been fun.

Oh, and I got a dog, a 7 year old beagle called Katie, who makes sure I go out walking every day.

The grill is part of a plan for my kitchen, which is small and lacking in storage. I already do a lot of routine cooking with a Ninja Foodi Multicooker (Pressure Cooker/Slow Cooker/Air Frier), and realised I hadn't used my kitchen's gas oven/hob for over a year. So I am actually getting rid of it, which gives me more cupboard and more top space. I can do almost all of my daily regular cooking in the Foodi, or other counter devices I have (my microwave is also a small combi oven. For the rare times I need a big oven, I can use the Legacy 1200 - so it will be both a grill and an oven for me. It won't make my little kitchen too hot, as well. Plus, with temperatures up to 600°F, I reckon it should be a good bread oven as well.

[Brushpopper]

I got my wife a Ninja Foodi for her birthday a couple of years ago and she was very apprehensive about it and somewhat overwhelmed by everything it could do.  Now we use it three times a week give or take and she loves it for the simplicity and ease of everything for something quick.  And we need pictures of Katie please.

[Chris__M]

I started off with an Ninja Air Fryer, and then I got an Instant Pot.

I then wanted to buy a friend a present, went to get her an Air Fryer, but they were all out of stock at the time. But they did have this all-singing all dancing Ninja Foodi. My friend was scared of it at first, but then she started using it for everything. Then other friends started buying them, and they started a small friends-only FB group for Ninja users.

I started it all, and yet I felt left out. So I gave my Instant Pot to a neighbour who could use it, and bought the Foodi. Like you, I use it 3-4 times a week.

[Chris__M]

Meanwhile, here is Katie. My groomer is very good at taking pictures of the dogs she does, and Katie looks so innocent here. Don't be fooled.

[Chris__M]

And more normally her...

[Brushpopper]

Looking guilty of some crime about to happen...  I should tell my wife about the Facebook group to see if she can find one around here.  She just got back on there for some reason.  I have never partaken.

[yorkdude]

Glad you are back and great looking dog as well.

[Chris__M]

Another interesting thing that has happened since I was last here is that Pellet Grill availability in the UK has grown.

Still a rarity, compared to charcoal and gas, but no longer "what the heck is a pellet grill?" I have a couple of friends who have them now, and a cafe in town with things like pulled pork sandwiches and wurst and similar on the menu has moved from buying in product to smoking their own on a Traeger.

I'm aware of a couple of garden centres who now have at least one pellet grill in their BBQ range, and John Lewis, a nationwide chain of high-end department stores, has 3 different Traegers on their online store (I haven't seen one in store yet, but I don't go there a lot).

Brands we are seeing here include Traeger, GMG, Louisiana/PitBoss, Big Horn, and Weber; and Cookshack and Fast Eddy's on the more commercial side. I am sure there are more that I have forgotten.

I think some of the acceptance of pellet grills has come via the Ooni Pizza Oven, which has become quite popular (and affordable) here. From there, a full pellet grill is not a huge leap.

Sadly, pellet costs have not got any cheaper - in fact, the average cost has gone up, as the supply of super-cheap "Lil Devils" appear to have dried up here. Very sad at that, as I'd quite got to like them - in fact, I was cooking with one of my last bags on Saturday.

Very roughly, we are paying £18 ($25) for 20lb of pellets, which I think is about double the cost in the US. Even so, it is still cheaper than cooking on gas.

[Canadian John]

 Drifting off into pellets.  The prices you list are comparable to Canadian cooking pellets .   @ ~ $ 25/ 20 lbs. I don't use them. Much too costly for what they are. I use heating pellets where the sawdust

 sourced to manufacture them is known  as well as the wood species, and that is: Maple, Oak, Cherry, Hickory and some Walnut. The mills that generate the sawdust are either lumber or furniture.  The pellet

 mills either are part of the process or acquire the sawdust.

 The cost has gone up. It's now $6.50/40 Lbs.

 Not sure about the UK. However Germany is heavy into wood pellet use. Heating pellets may be an option depending on pricing, and most important, verifiable content..

 BTW, I have  been using heating pellets exclusively for 8 + years. The only issue is the 40 Lb bags are heavy.

 Oh yes - When Joe Traeger started with the first wood pellet pits, "food grade pellets" didn't exist.  As I have always said. Traeger could give their pits away and still be very profitable if their pellets were used
 
 exclusively. They tried.