Ultimate Foodie

I have to admit I was really skeptical when I got a call out of the blue a couple of months back from Bruce Bjorkman, the Marketing Director at Traeger Grills and all around BBQ god.  He’d checked out the UltimateFoodie Podcast and asked if I would be into reviewing a Traeger Grill - he asked for my address and a few days later one was on my doorstep.  After my wife and I put it together (not too tough of an assembly job) I was anxious to get cooking.  It’s been a love affair ever since.  Bruce has become a friend and a favorite UltimateFoodie.com guest as well/

The Traeger Grill is a different kind of animal from my gas grill or from my charcoal grill in that it runs on compressed “pellets” made of different hardwoods.  Instead of adding chips to get flavor, the pellets function as fuel and flavoring all at once and the smokey flavor you get from the Traeger is outstanding.  Coolest of all is that you have your choice of a ton of different “flavors” of pellets including Hickory, Alder, Apple, Cherry, Maple, Onion, Garlic, Mesquite, Grape Vine and more.  I have found myself mixing and matching chips like I would spices in a rub to get subtle flavoring combinations in my grilled food.

The Traeger is really set up for “Barbecuing” as opposed to “Grilling”  it is all about indirect heat provided by a small auger-fed firebox with a blower - so no direct flames are ever all that close to your food.  The Traeger Grill is essentially a convection over powered by natural wood and with the associated wood smoke flavors. This convection action also makes it possible to do some nice baking on the Traeger - I have used mine to make some dynamite hot sandwiches, baked potatoes and best of all PIZZA.  Traeger actually partners with Papa Murphy’s Pizza and it is a winning combination for sure.

Traeger Pellet Grills are not something you can pick up at Walmart - they are not cheap - but are worth every penny.  They are hand made in the USA by folks in Oregon here in the great North West with pride.  If you are  a serious outdoor cook, I highly recommend that you pick one up either directly from Traeger at http://www.traegergrills.com or through one of their local dealers.  Tell them Wade from UltimateFoodie sent you and before long you will have a man-crush on your Traeger Grill too.

I’ll do some follow up posts with recipes and reviews of the food I have made on my Traeger in coming weeks.

I was excited to receive this pan for review from the fine folks at SwissDiamondStore.com - initially because I was dying to have a smaller fry pan around that I could use for making little things like breakfast for my daughter and I without dragging out a full sized skillet. The 8″ Fry Pan from Swiss Diamond turned out to be the perfect fit.

I will say right off that I am not an easy guy on kitchen equipment and I am picky about my tools. I like good quality, heavy duty stuff that will hold up to a beating and not need to be replaced every 6 months, (especially at a $49.95 price point.) The first thing I did was applied what I refer to as the “Bourdain Test” this simply means that I ask myself the question “If I had to hit someone over the head with this pan - what would be dented? The pan or the skull?”

In Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain recommends the use of this test in picking pans as heavier pans will distribute heat better, eliminating hot spots and will last longer. I’m happy to say, the Swiss Diamond 8″ Fry Pan passed this test with flying colors. It’s very solid for a small pan and I have full faith in it as a compact self defense weapon. It was a pleasant surprise from an aluminum pan.

The claim to fame of these pans is that the non stick surface is made up of a “non-stick nano-composite using diamond crystals, up to 200,000 per pan, – the hardest material known to man – to form a virtually indestructible non-stick cooking surface that will not peel, crack or blister.” All I know is that after an initial seasoning, this pan has been slick as all get out with a number of different meals cooked in it from omelettes to huevos con chorizo to singles steaks and pan sauces.

One thing I found curious is an advisory to cook over low to medium heat due to the heat conductivity of the coating. I thought this was really odd as a tend to cook on high and medium high heat a lot when searing, etc. The Swiss Diamond 8″ Fry Pan performed admirably after a slightly extended warm up to medium heat and was able to sear chicken breasts and steaks just fine thank you - I actually had to back off the heat a bit.

The folks at Swiss Diamond claim that the plastic handle on the pan is good up to 500 degrees - but I haven’t done a Frittata or anything that required heat like that or oven finishing. I’ll update when I have given it this test. They also claim that the pan is dish washer safe and metal utensil safe, but I just wouldn’t do that to my pans in any case, so those claims are unverified with this tester.

All in all - I am pleasantly surprised and give the Swiss Diamond 8″ Fry Pan a hearty thumbs up. It has the feel of a pan that will both perform and last. If anything changes, I’ll be the first to let you know.

More reviews are coming on the ScanPan Titanium Professional Series 11″ Fry Pan and Classic Series 11 Inch Fry Pan from ScanPanCookware.com and on Debbie Meyer Green Bags for veggie storage (they rock) and Debbie Meyer Bread Bags (duh… for Bread) and the plastic Knork from the fine folks at Kitchen Collection.