Tested: Ironwood 650 | WiFi on the grill

Beyond its futuristic Internet control, the Ironwood 650 from Traeger is a magnificent wood pellet barbecue that gives a smoky taste and precise cooking. But it is not suitable for all uses or all budgets.

Karim Benessaieh
The Press

WE love

Let’s start with the most down-to-earth observation: the Ironwood 650 from Traeger is beautiful, a heavy barrel of black metal on legs and wheels.

It is a wood pellet barbecue, a technology still rather rare that an Oregon heating expert, Joe Traeger, invented in 1985. These small cylinders of wood of different essences are placed in a tank to the right of the unit and routed to a burner and fan with an auger. The burner is covered by a metal plate, so the food theoretically does not touch the fire. Grease and liquids are drained by gravity into a small bucket on the left side.

It has a control panel and a small liquid crystal display. Ignition is done automatically with a succession of four buttons that allow you to choose the target temperature, 500 ℉ or 260 ℃ maximum.

The temperature detected inside the barbecue is displayed and there is a probe that can be planted in food, to precisely monitor its internal temperature. Also on the control panel, there are buttons to trigger smoking (“Super Smoke”), to keep food warm after cooking or to start a countdown.

All post-ignition control can be done with a mobile app. Small note here: you cannot light the barbecue remotely with your phone, which would be very dangerous. All the information related to cooking is available on the telephone screen, the parameters of which can be changed.

The app contains 1600 recipes, most of them translated into French, which you can follow step by step manually or send to the internal memory of the barbecue, which can store four of them. This will make all decisions related to temperature and cooking time. Notifications are sent each time a step is completed.

The experience of this smart barbecue whose parameters you control with your phone is amazing. The use of the probe, a first in our case, ensures that no food will be overcooked, and we also have tables clearly indicating the ideal internal temperature to reach for fish, chicken, burgers or beef you want rare or well done. The remaining level of granules is displayed at the very bottom.

After three weeks of testing with skewers, vegetables, steaks, sausages and fish fillets, the findings are generally enthusiastic with family and friends. Food has a subtle smoky flavor and is impeccably tender, with a lightly toasted surface. We reached the pinnacle of experimentation the day before writing this review, with a 2.5kg brisket of beef smoked then cooked for 12 hours at a low temperature, a ‘brisket’. And a pure delight.

As for his pellet consumption, the verdict is unclear. We spent an entire 20lb bag costing $23 the first two weeks for about ten hours of use, which is pretty ruinous. But the 12 hours of cooking the brisket only consumed 40% of a bag, which is more reasonable.

We love less

If you like frankly grilled meats, almost charred, you will be disappointed by cooking with granules, which is more balanced. An expert friend advised us of an effective remedy: finish cooking in a “broil” oven.

At $1799.99, even discounted all over the place right now at $1649.99, the Ironwood 650 is expensive. Everything is relative, of course, barbecue enthusiasts do not hesitate to pay much more for a Kamado or a Napoleon.

With such technology, we are far from the barbecue whose burner or parts will be changed at the local hardware store. Despite the three-year warranty, we shudder at the thought of having to change the auger or the electronic controls.

One buys ?

The Ironwood 650 is a far cry from the basic grill for occasional summer grilling. You have to like exploring, discovering new cooking methods, in short, wanting to go beyond the beginner level while putting a substantial price on it. WiFi connectivity is an impressive and useful addition, but not essential.

One thing is certain, we are dealing here with a very well thought out and robust product, which is very easy to use despite its technological capabilities. In short, a highly recommended purchase.