TRAEGER IRONWOOD 650
Simply a superb wood-pellet-fired BBQ grill and smoker
Load the meat, download the program and just click go – it’s that simple
The Traeger Ironwood 650 is a wood-pelletfired barbecue that can grill, roast and smoke basically anything you throw at it. For all intents and purposes it is a bona fide outdoor oven and smoker, that can cook any food fast or slow.
Download the official Traeger app and you can control the grill remotely, and it will also provide notifications for key things like when the BBQ hits temperature. Which is useful for the grill master who likes to mingle.
The downloadable cooking programs are where the app is at, though. These let you effectively program your Traeger Ironwood 650 to cook specific things in an optimal way, such as brisket, ribs or a whole bird. You prepare the meat and load it into the Traeger, then download one of these programs and just click go – it’s really that simple.
Priming the auger and waiting for the grill to ignite can take up to around seven minutes, give or take, and it is at that point the grill starts to properly heat up to the selected temperature. You’d need about 20 minutes to reach a decent cooking temperature on the Traeger Ironwood 650, so factor that into your cooking time.
With the grill at temperature, you can start the good bit – loading the grill up with meat. And this is where it all comes together instantly. Everything cooks so evenly and, for want of a better word, well. The patina coating on chicken is crisp while the chicken itself moist and tender. Sausages brown beautifully and with a delicate smoky finish to the skin, while kebabs and burgers are succulent.
Being honest, just cooking for a family is almost beneath the Traeger. There’s so much room in its cavernous insides, split over two shelves, that you could cook probably over 10 different things all at once. It’s a grill that will reward experimentation for sure.
The Traeger Ironwood 650 is a superb barbecue that can grill, roast and smoke food to a professional, artisanal level – and everything comes with a delicious, flavourenhancing wood pellet infusion. You can cook for an army of people, too, due to its large size and capacious dual grill shelves, and the way you can download cooking programs to it through the app so you can just sit back while, say, a whole chicken is perfectly cooked, is very welcome.