Preparing Your Smoker For Its First Use
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Summer is fast approaching, and there’s nothing more that screams Texas than a barbecue cookout on a hot sunny day. The days leading to summer provide the perfect time to start preparing your smoker for grilling season. So, let’s learn about how to do just that.
For those new to the world of barbecuing, smoking meat can be a tad overwhelming at first. Of course, our initial thoughts are about what we are going to cook – brisket, sausages, ribs, whatever’s on the agenda. However, the first thing you actually need to consider is what smoker you’re going to use. Whether you use an electric smoker or a gas-powered smoker, this cooking appliance is perfect for making barbecue meat that is tender, juicy and full of flavor, with that fall-off-the-bone quality we all know and love.
What is a Smoker?
A smoker is a type of grill in the shape of a long horizontal chamber, which is used to smoke meats. It’s often referred to as a pipe smoker, horizontal smoker, or a barrel offset smoker.
In a smoker, the heat source is placed alongside the grill, rather than below it. While a typical grill uses direct heat, a smoker uses smoke coming from wood chips, which makes for slower barbecuing. As the heat source indirectly cooks the food, the meat retains its juices, meaning it comes out wonderfully flavorful. What’s more, the long smoking process makes the meat softer and more tender. These are some of the main reasons why smokers are popular at barbecue cookouts.
Another reason why smokers are preferred is that you don’t have to move the food out of the way if you want to replenish the wood for your heat source. Super handy!
How to Use a Smoker Grill for Beginners?
When it comes to smoking meat, the first step (rather obviously) is choosing your smoker.
One of the main problems that first time barbecuers encounter is the difficulty of maintaining the desired temperature of the smoker. Accordingly, a good smoker for a beginner should have controls for both temperature and cooking time. For example, you can find smokers with a digital control panel and fan that can be set to achieve a certain temperature.
Grillingdad.com’s top smoker recommendation for beginners is the Masterbuilt Vertical Smoker, which comes with smart device control using WiFi or Bluetooth – pretty neat! Its electronic fan blows in the right amount of air to maintain optimum grilling temperatures.
Prepping your Smoker
So, now you have your first smoker, it’s time to prepare for an epic cookout. To do this we need to do something called “seasoning the smoker”. This process involves cleaning the smoker and getting it ready for cooking.
Oftentimes, brand-new smokers still contain traces of manufacturing residues. By seasoning your smoker, you can get rid of the dirt, metal shavings, grease, oil, and any uncured paint. These factory leftovers can become toxic if not cleaned from the smoker.
Another reason for seasoning is to make your smoker rust-proof. There are parts of the smoker that are not immune to rust, and seasoning will add another layer of protection to the metal sections, preventing them from rusting.
Seasoning your Smoker
Clean your Smoker
Clean every part of your smoker. This includes the grills, pans, grates and interior. For this, you can simply use soap and water. To protect the exterior of your smoker, don’t use a brush or any coarse material to clean it.
Let your Smoker Dry Off
You’ve finished washing your new smoker with soap and water. Now it’s time to air dry the appliance. This shouldn’t take too long as it’s primarily made of metal.
Oil your Smoker
Oiling is a crucial phase of seasoning your smoker. The oil should also have a high burning point. It’s best to apply an inexpensive oil, such as canola oil or peanut oil, onto the interior surface. The grates and pans can also be oiled, but make sure to leave the burner alone. Don’t apply too much oil – just enough to cover the surfaces. If the oil starts to drip, you’ve used too much.
Assemble the Smoker
Here you need to follow the golden rule – read the instruction manual! If you get stuck, there are YouTube tutorials teaching you how to assemble many kinds of smoker.
Time for Test Cooking
This is not the actual cooking, but a phase in seasoning your smoker. Let your smoker heat up, with the empty water pan in its place, and complete a cooking cycle. This will remove any leftover chemical residues.
I suggest keeping the vent open and setting the temperature to max. You should start the test cooking process off at a lower temperature, before gradually increasing the heat.
Towards the end of the cooking cycle, add some wood to bring in a bit of smoky flavor – this will help to overcome the metallic smell of a new smoker. I suggest using mesquite or hickory wood chips for this.
How to Smoke a Turkey in an Electric Smoker?
Smoked turkey is a crowd pleaser in Texas. It's not just a great centerpiece but it also tastes great. With its smoky flavor, it's just difficult to resist it.
When smoking a turkey, you need an electric smoker to achieve a rich texture. Then, follow the steps above on how to prepare and season the meat.
The rule of thumb is to cook per pound of turkey at 225°Fahrenheit for 30 minutes.
But there's really no specific time to smoke a turkey for. The turkey's size and shape and the temperature of the electric smoker must be considered.
When it comes to wood, cherrywood is a favorite among barbecue lovers in Texas. But you can try cedar, alder, plum, cherry, and hickory.
The seasoning process should take a few hours. Cleaning, oiling, assembling and test cooking is a pretty much day’s worth of work. But it’s well worth the effort. Now you’ve finished preparing your smoker, you’re all set for an amazing Texas BBQ cookout!
Looking for the best brisket restaurant in Texas? Click here.
You can also learn more about beef brisket (What wine goes well with beef brisket?) here.
