Henry Rifle Forums

well, my seemingly unending search for a good smoker/grill to use when we are traveling has taken yet another twist (or turn I'm unsure which) .... in that search I'm looking for a small but solidly built unit that produces good food and can stand up to the rigors of traveling ..... our Davy Crockett Green Mountain grill will remain the unit we use at home ..... for traveling I've ordered a Ninja Woodfire Pro Outdoor Grill & Smoker ====> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B8PJDC63?re ... tails&th=1 ..... there are bunches of YouTube videos about using one for anyone who may be interested ..... their price has gone up $40 since I placed my order 5 days ago ..... originally Amazon said it would arrive during the middle of May ..... I just got an email saying it will be here tomorrow ..... so, let the testing begin ... !!!!

well, arrive it did .... my ace 7 year old assembler jumped right on it ..... today I used it to cook 1.5" thick pork chops and large Russet potatoes ..... its a small unit that is capable of doing many things .... its going to take me a while to figure it out but one good thing is there are bunches of YouTube videos demonstrating how to cook most anything with it .... it will become the grill we take with us while traveling in our camper

Was the Davey Crockett not up to the task

BigAl52 wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 24, 2023 9:20 pm

Was the Davey Crockett not up to the task

nope, Dave is still the smoker/grill that we keep setup and ready to go in our garage .... it does a good job and we are very happy with it .... as you know all tooooo well, the only reason we have it is our much smaller and lighter camping grill went bad .... the Ninja is a third the weight and bulk of Davy .... for me its significant reduction in size is very important ..... having it will free up more than enough space in the camper's basement to get a empty the gear we now have to haul in the back seat of our Sportchassis ....

the first cleanup after cooking was a snap .... the baked on grease from the chops (literally) wiped off with a paper towel ....grease that ran off into a grease pan was easy to take care of .... in fact, its the easiest grill that I've ever cleaned up

Second Cooking

this morning we took a package of our smoked sausage out of the freezer ..... after removing the outer membrane I warmed it in our new Ninja grill/smoker .... the pictures below show the sausage going into the Ninja and as they looked when taken out .... I freely admit I'm still way down on the bottom of the learning curve on how to best use it .... that said, they really turned out well

Im curious when you do some ribs on there how they compare to the Davey Crockett machine

BigAl52 wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 25, 2023 9:06 pm

Im curious when you do some ribs on there how they compare to the Davey Crockett machine

understood, we are curious to see how that is going to go as well .... South Dakota Sirloin steaks are on tap for tomorrow night ..... all indicators point to the Ninja having a much shorter cooking time

So will the steaks be done like the sausages were on the griddle part. Is it possible to smoke the steaks prior to the actual cooking of them?

I have a room issue inside my 5er not outside. I refuse to haul stuff just to be hauling it. My wife seems to think that if there is space in the cupboard it needs to be taken up with something. I dont care for opening a cupboard door and having stuff fall out in my face.

BigAl52 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 26, 2023 10:25 am

So will the steaks be done like the sausages were on the griddle part. Is it possible to smoke the steaks prior to the actual cooking of them?

I don't know of any way to cold smoke with the Ninja providing the smoke .... I can see how something like a XOIEPZE Upgraded 6" Smoke Tube might do the job ====> https://www.amazon.com/XOIEPZE-Upgraded ... r=8-6&th=1 ....

BigAl52 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 26, 2023 10:25 am

So will the steaks be done like the sausages were on the griddle part.

yes but there are several ways it can be done .... grilling setting with added smoke would cook them at a higher temp .... smoking setting can cook them at a much lower temp .... having no clue as to how they would work, I also have the option of Baking, Air Crisping, Roasting, or Broiling them with or without additional smoke .... today, having choices of Low-Medium-High, I think I'm going to simply grill them on Medium .... while i really enjoy smoked flavor on pork and poultry, I'm not a keen on it with beef

BigAl52 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 26, 2023 10:30 am

I have a room issue inside my 5er not outside. I refuse to haul stuff just to be hauling it. My wife seems to think that if there is space in the cupboard it needs to be taken up with something. I don't care for opening a cupboard door and having stuff fall out in my face.

understood .... our storage areas are full to overflowing both inside and out .... weight isn't an issue but bulk most certainly is .... shown below are the Ninja, our Green Mountain Davy Crockett and the way we have to pack it in our camper's basement .... those pictures pretty well reinforce why bulk is a concern .... now that we've eliminated out winter trip to Texas there are some things that I can eliminate .... for me, that's never been easy to do ....

Huli Huli Chicken is a long time family favorite of ours .... for pictures shown at the first of this link were taken back in 2007 ....we've been using the recipe given for much longer than that ====> http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.p ... li#p132112 ..... today I grilled it for the first time using our Ninja Woodfire Grill with both a pork loin and chicken ..... the pork loin turned out well and as always seems to be the case, the chicken turned out even better .... as is also always the case the marinade really gunked up the cooking grate .... I'm delighted to be able to report that the Ninja grate has proven to be easiest to clean of any we've ever owned .... literally soak it in hot water with Dawn and then wipe it off with a sponge

I like this grill and I am interested in seeing your continued use of it. Only negative I have seen is the price of their wood pellets. I would not be buying their 2lb bags for the same price as the 20lbers I use now.

BigAl52 wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 29, 2023 5:44 pm

Only negative I have seen is the price of their wood pellets. I would not be buying their 2lb bags for the same price as the 20lbers I use now.

understood .... naturally, they want folks to buy their high dollar pellets but that isn't necessary .... do some digging you see that their bottom line is you should use food grade pellets .... the ones you are using with your other pellet grill would be fine .... I haven't opened the bags of pellets that came with the grill .... all I've used are the same Pit Boss Competition Blend Pellets that we buy at Walmart in 40 lb .... that's the pellets we have used in from day one of our first pellet grill

the pictures below help demonstrate what I mentioned above about cleaning the Ninja's cooking grate .... the first two show the grate after grilling Huli Huli Chicken .... its marinade contains brown sugar, catsup, Sherry, and ginger which all can contribute to a carbon buildup on the grilling grate .... all that is required to clean the one in the Ninja soak the grate in hot water and Dawn Dish Soap .... after that, its simply a matter of wiping the burnt residue off with a soft, damp sponge

BigAl52 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 26, 2023 10:25 am

Is it possible to smoke the steaks prior to the actual cooking of them?

I've found I have to change my response to this question from one I made earlier ..... I have mentioned in an earlier response that the owner's manual leaves much to be desired .... I haven't seen "Cold Smoking" with our Woodfire Pro model mentioned anywhere in the owner's manual or on the Ninja website .... as can be seen below, more out of luck than anything else, I stumbled onto a setting for cold smoking .... I'm looking forward to smoking some cheese

So would you be using the pellet hopper on the machine to do this with?

so far as I know, yes .... the standard place where you pour in the pellets is on the right side of the lid ... it holds about a half cup of pellets which they say will burn from 45 minutes to an hour .... they say that most foods will absorb the most smoke during that time .... more can be added along the way