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Traeger's smart grill app comes to the Apple Watch
Traeger's smart grill companion app is now available for the Apple Watch, complete with temperature controls, a pellet sensor and timers and alerts.
Kamado Joe unveils a WiFi-connected pellet version of its popular ceramic grill
Kamado Joe has combined the efficiency of ceramic grills with the ease of wood pellets in a new WiFi-connected model.
Masterbuilt's latest Gravity Series smart grill comes with a griddle insert
The Gravity Series 800 Griddle can manage high temperature searing and low-and-slow smoking just like its predecessors, but this grill also comes with a flat-top griddle insert.
Pit Boss adds WiFi to its latest Pro Series pellet grills
Pit Boss has added handy WiFi connectivity to its Pro Series grills without increasing the price.
Masterbuilt Gravity Series 560 review: A versatile smart charcoal grill
Masterbuilt offers the familiarity and convenience of charcoal with a WiFi-connected setup that works well as both a smoker and a high-temperature searing machine. The 560 lacks some of the more advanced features pellet grills have, but at around half the price, the company does a great job covering the basics.
Weber’s SmokeFire smart grills just got a lot better
When Weber debuted its first WiFi-connected pellet grills earlier this year, there was a lot to like. However, the Weber Connect app lacked basic features. The company was clear from the start it planned to release regular updates to improve its SmokeFire grills, and the first set of new tools is here.
Traeger's redesigned grill app offers cooking videos and customization
Traeger’s WiFi-enabled smart grills already benefit from a robust app packed with recipes for meat, seafood, side dishes and more. First, Traeger has added video-guided tips and recipes to the app. That’s in addition to the company’s team of chefs and grillmasters walking you through recipes.
Traeger's Ironwood smart grills now ship with a handy pellet supply sensor
If Traeger's Ironwood series caught your eye, the company is now including a handy feature in the box, rather than making it a separate purchase. Traeger is now shipping its WiFi-equipped Ironwood 650 ($1,200) and Ironwood 885 ($1,500) pellet grills with the pellet sensor add-on that it announced in November. Until now, you had to pay $80 to get one of these for your backyard barbecue machine. And, sadly, if you own one of the 2019 Pro Series grills, you still do.
How Weber used decades of expertise to improve smart grilling
The Weber Kettle is arguably the most iconic grill of all time. There are other companies that have made a name for themselves with novel designs and features. But when you think about charcoal grills, I'll bet the kettle shape Weber pioneered comes to mind. I would argue that overall design is timeless. Invented by George Stephen in 1952, the first model was inspired by the shape of a buoy. Stephen worked at Weber Brothers Metal Works in Chicago at the time -- where the company gets its name (which technically is Weber-Stephen). Stephen discovered that a rounded bowl and a removable lid could drastically improve grill performance. So he cut the top off of a buoy, attached legs to the bottom and a handle on the top. The Weber Kettle was born.
Weber's grilling hub equips any grill with WiFi smarts
It may seem unnecessary, but WiFi has become an essential barbecue tool. Companies like Traeger have been equipping pellet grills with the wireless connectivity that allows you to control and monitor your grill remotely -- even when you're not at home. The feature is very helpful for longer cooking sessions, so that you don't have to constantly check on a brisket, or stay near the grill, for the entire 12 hours it takes the smoked slab of meat to finish.
Weber embraces modern grilling with a WiFi-enabled pellet model
WiFi-enabled pellet grills are having a moment, and rightfully so. They allow you to control and monitor your grill from afar, which is very convenient, especially you're smoking a piece of meat for eight hours or more. Several companies have already jumped on the bandwagon, with Traeger, Rec-Tec, Green Mountain Grills and others all offering models with built-in connectivity. Until now, one of the biggest names in backyard grilling had yet to do the same: Weber. Today, the company is changing that with the introduction of its SmokeFire grills.
Traeger WiFi grills monitor your wood pellet supply with an $80 sensor
When Traeger debuted its 2019 lineup of grills, one feature reserved for most expensive models is a sensor that will help you avoid "pellet panic." It's a tool that monitors the amount of pellets in the grill's hopper and alerts you when you're running low. Or if you happen to have the grill on while you're at the store, you can check to see if you need to pick up a refill. It can be a handy thing if you're doing longer cooks where you might not be near the grill the entire time. Starting today, Traeger is offering the same feature on the more affordable Pro and Ironwood Series models with an $80 upgrade.
How a Harvard class project changed barbecue
"A hundred inches of snow that winter, it was really quite terrible." There are several factors to overcome when trying to cook a 14-pound slab of brisket during the winter. Not only do you have to contend with freezing temperatures but you also have to keep your grill or smoker from getting too wet with moisture from the snow. On top of that, you have to keep the fire going for several hours, or you've just wasted a pricey cut of beef.
Traeger Ironwood 650 review: WiFi is the ultimate pitmaster
I'll admit it: I was skeptical that a WiFi-connected grill could really improve my casual culinary exploits. During my review of Traeger's Timberline 850 though, I would discover it's actually very useful -- especially for things that take several hours to cook like pulled pork, brisket and ribs. With its 2019 lineup, Traeger extended that WiFi tech to all of its new grills instead of reserving it for the premium Timberline Series. At $1,200, the new Ironwood 650 still isn't cheap, but it offers a lot of what the more expensive Traeger grills do while saving you a few hundred dollars.
Traeger makes built-in WiFi a standard grill feature
In 2017, Traeger added WiFi connectivity to its line of wood pellet grills with the Timberline series. While being able to control and monitor your grill remotely is more handy than you might think, the privilege was limited to two models with a starting price of $1,700. Sure, you could also send recipes from the company's app to the Timberline 850 and Timberline 1300 too, but that's still a big investment for a grill. Today, the company revealed its 2019 lineup, and the so-called WiFire technology is available across the board. And the best part is the most affordable model starts at $799.
Traeger Timberline 850 review: BBQ goes high tech
Between chopping or hauling wood, shoveling coals and moving around large cuts of meat, it can be exhausting. But a little technology can help ease the relentless grind.
Harvard engineering class tries to make the best BBQ smoker
As part of a 14-week-long assignment, 16 Harvard engineering students were given the task to create the perfect brisket. But what did they need to do that? A really, really good BBQ smoker. To build one, Engineering Sciences professor Kevin Parker landed his class a big-name client willing to fund the project: kitchen goods retailer Williams-Sonoma. The catch? It had to outdo the Big Green Egg -- a charcoal-powered kamado-styled ceramic smoker considered to be the best in the business. And, after months of working on it, the result was The Harvard Smoker, which is designed to consistently produce the best possible brisket. The contraption's hourglass shape is meant to spread heat evenly throughout the meat, while a slew of heat sensors send temperature readings to a smartphone -- and this becomes extremely important in what's typically a cooking process that takes 12 to 15 hours.
New research says e-cigarettes are safer than real ones, no cigarettes safer still
Research swayed back and forth on the health risks associated with e-cigarettes since their debut in the US about three years ago. The faux cigs, which are essentially nicotine inhalers intended to help smokers kick the actual smoking habit while still getting their dose of nicotine, the main addictive ingredient in tobacco. In the first truly comprehensive study of the somewhat controversial nicotine replacement method, researchers at Boston University's School of Public Health has found that not only are e-cigarettes much safer to "smoke" than normal ones, they may also aid in kicking the addictive habit altogether. According to the researchers, "few, if any" of the chemicals found in e-cigarettes pose serious health risks, and carcinogen levels in them are up to 1,000 times lower than in actual tobacco. This research, of course, disagrees with the FDA's findings that essentially, the chemicals found in e-cigarettes were risky and unknowable. The FDA has yet to evaluate e-cigarettes the way that they have done with all medications and other nicotine replacement products, so we can't be sure, but it's looking more and more possible that if you just need to smoke, an e-cigarette may be a safer route... for everything but your dignity, of course.
USB e-lighter concept could fire up your next carton
Those trying to kick the habit should seriously consider looking away. The e-lighter concept, designed by Tao Ma, looks to come in black or white motifs, and can apparently fire up your next cigarette with nothing more than the mere 5v current from your nearest USB port. As these things typically go, not much information beyond that is readily available, but Tao does mention that reservations could be fielded if this type of habit-supporting device suits your fancy. Click through for a darker shade.[Via EverythingUSB]
Golden Dragon's Ruyan e-cigarettes deliver nicotine sans toxins
While overseas firms like Thanko and SolidAlliance are kicking out random bits of fun that surely generate a solid profit, China's Golden Dragon has probably found the real road to riches with its toy. The brilliant Ruyan e-cigarette purportedly "feels like a cigarette and looks like a cigarette, but it isn't bad for your health." The battery-powered device is used exactly like a typical, harmful cigarette, but rather than delivering tar and toxins to the lungs along with nicotine, the poisons are stripped away and doses of nicotine are still provided. Interestingly, the company claims that its product is simply the best way to kick the habit, but if these things actually do what they claim, it honestly seems like a marvelous ploy to get folks to shift their funding from tobacco-based cigarettes to the Ruyan. The gizmos are already available in China, Israel, Turkey, and a number of European countries for around $208 apiece, and while profits have "more than doubled" in just a year's time already, bringing this thing to the US would certainly provide a few early retirements.[Via TheRawFeed]
