How to Season Rec Tec Pellet Grill? – Initial Burn-in and Startup

how to season a Rec Tec grill
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So, you just got your Rec Tec grill and you are very much excited to throw pork butt for the first time.

Hey wait…

You are missing some important steps before going to start your cooking.

Yes! It’s the seasoning of your grill!

Seasoning of your new Rec Tec grill is a vital step for both delicious as well as hygienic BBQ results.

So, today, we will get to know how to season your Rec Tec grill and initial burn-in.

Here will explain a handy step-by-step guide on how to season your Rec Tec Pellet Grill properly.

What is Seasoning of Grill/Smoker?

Generally, there are forms of debris inside the new grill during the process of manufacturing and shipping.

There is an unwanted odor from the production stage.

But it is just normal and occurs with other types of products also.

The debris is typically in the form of dust, oils, grease, cardboard, and wood particles.

The manufacturers apply a light coating of oil inside to prevent rusting.

Seasoning helps to get rid of this debris, contaminants, seal the pores, and bakes the paint of your new grill.

Seasoning of the grill is essential to remove the impurities of the grill.

Seasoning makes your grill ready to use and must be done after the assembly of the grill.

The whole process about to take an hour to complete but it is a must-do process before your first cook.

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Why Do You Need to Season Rec Tec Pellet grill?

You may wonder, why do you need to season Rec Tec grill? Is it that much important?

Get rid of impurities during the manufacturing process

As mentioned above, there are some kinds of solvents or impurities on the new grill that occurs during the manufacturing process.

When you receive your grill, it’s likely been sitting in a warehouse and been collecting dust.

Seasoning helps to remove these impurities on the grill.

By seasoning, you will remove the unwanted debris and odor from the manufacturing stage.

 

Protect the grill from rust and weather

Seasoning of the grill is essential for keeping your grill safe for longer.

It helps to protect your grill from rust and weather.

When you season your grill, it looks like brand new for the next many years as it helps in curing the paint on the grill.

 

Prevent food contamination

Seasoning prevents the undesirables in the smoker from contaminating the taste or smell of your food.

If the grill isn’t seasoned, it will ruin the taste of your food.

In some cases, there may be solvents or glues that are burned that can be dangerous if consumed.

It also helps to add the smoke and grill flavor to your food since you are lining inside with wood smoke.

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How To Season A Rec Tec Pellet Grill?

Seasoning of Rec Tec is very easy. Following are the steps to season the Rec Tec grill.

These steps are the same for Rec Tec 700, Rec Tec Trailblazer, Rec Tec Stampede, or Rec Tec BFG.

Following is the process of seasoning especially for Rec Tec grill prescribed by the manufacturer.

 

Things You’ll Need:

An electrical GFCI outlet

A bag of wood pellets

Raw fatty meat like bacon

 

Make sure the grill is assembled properly

Assembling the Rec Tec grill is not that much hard.

You can assemble your grill as per the Rec Tec manual mentioned.

But you should follow all the steps carefully as prescribed in it and make sure it is assembled in the right way.

 

Find a safe place for your grill

Find a safe place for your grill. An open place such as a backyard or garage is good for your grill as it is for outdoor use only.

Don’t store in a small place or near the vehicle. Keep the grill away from combustible material.

Before starting your grill, inspect the burn area inside the grilling area.

 

Take everything out

Open the main lid of the grill. Take out the stainless-steel cooking grate, drip pan, and flame deflector.

Make sure all packing material is removed. Open the pellet hopper lid and check for foreign objects if any.

 

Turn on your Rec Tec grill

Plug in your Rec Tec grill into the nearest 110 Volt AC GFCI outlet.

If you don’t have a GFCI outlet, install it with an electrician.

Since there are no pellets in the auger, you need to put some pellets into the fire pot.

Put 1/2 cup of pellets directly into the fire pot. It will provide fuel to burn while the auger tube self-primes.

Fill the Rec Tec pellets in the pellet hopper. A 40-pound bag will perfectly fit inside the Rec Tec grill hopper.

Wash the cooking grates using mild soap and water.

 

 

Reinstall everything

Again, install the stainless-steel flame deflector, drip pan, cooking grates, and close lid.

During reinstalling, be careful not to damage the temperature sensor.

Line up the drip pan with aluminum foil for easy clean-up.

When lining the drip pan, keep foil inside the drip pan edges. Do not wrap around as this can restrict airflow.

When putting back the drip pan, center it within the air gap.

Start your REC TEC grill by pressing the power button at the left of the panel.

 

Set the temperature

Set the temperature of your grill to 400ºF by turning the temperature control knob.

Within a few minutes, you will notice the smoke, and your grill will light.

Once the grill achieves 400ºF, let it run for 1 hour.

This will provide a final cure to your grill. It will also remove any residue that may have accumulated during manufacturing and shipping.

During the initial burn-in process, you may hear the sound that is not used to you, you may hear a clunking and clanging sound as pellets are feeding into the fire pot through the auger.

You may also hear a blower fan or motor whining noise.

You will notice nice blue clean smoke coming from the smoke stack.

You may also notice the temperature overshoot that 400 degrees.

But you don’t need to worry about it, as the residual pellets are burning that we initially prime the fire pot with.

The initial burn-in process is completed. your Rec Tec grill is ready for cooking.

 

Seasoning with raw fatty meat

Before first you need to season a Rec Tec grill with some raw fatty meat.

The fatty meat helps to season the inside of your grill by splattering the fat and grease around.

For this set the grill temperature at 350ºF.

Place the raw fatty meat like bacon (laying on the tray/grill mat) in your grill cooking chamber.

Avoid putting the meat in the air gap as they likely to burn.

Approx. after 1 hour at 350ºF, your bacon will be cooked.

You can also use chicken thighs for the seasoning of your grill as they contain a lot of fat.

If you are cooking chicken thighs for seasoning, you need to cook it at 400 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes.

So, it can reach an internal temperature of 175 degrees.

 

Store your grill after it cools down completely

The grill is going to be tremendously hot after the initial burn-off.

If you’re not going to cook immediately after seasoning the grill, let the grill cool down completely then cover it with a grill cover.

Store it in the right place that you decided.

If you are leaving the grill outside, make sure you have a grill cover. It helps to keep the pellets dry inside the hopper.

 

Should I Apply Cooking Oil to the Inside Surfaces for Seasoning Rec Tec?

You might have seen many other brand’s grill videos shows that cooking oil applying inside the grill surface.

But you don’t need to do with the Rec Tec grill.

As per Rec Tec, you don’t need to season the grill with any kind of oil like olive or grapeseed oil.

Over the time the grill will season itself with the fat from the food you cook in it.

When it comes to the seasoning of your Rec Tec grill, the primary thing you should focus on is fat content.

You need something fatty to season the grates.

Rec Tec suggests Chicken thighs, pork butt, & bacon are best for seasoning the Rec Tec.

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Final Thoughts

So here is your Rec Tec ready for your grilling adventures.

I do hope, this will help you for seasoning and initial burn-in of your Rec Tec grill.

Spending just an hour for seasoning will make possible the long relationship with your grill by preventing rust.

Before the first cook, it’s important to perform a burn in to remove machine packing oils still in the grill body.

I know you don’t want that stuff in your food.

Seasoning also will make your food better tasting as it doesn’t have any impurities.

It also removes those harmful elements that make you sick.

 

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