How to Season an Electric Smoker
Like any mechanical device, your best electric smoker needs some initial treatment for smooth and optimal performance for the rest of its working life. This is known as pre-seasoning or seasoning a smoker. This term also refers to the users who used to operate their electric smoker on a seasonal basis. Many veterans love to enjoy summer bbq, so they use it for the season, and for the rest, they keep the smoker limited to their stores.
No doubt, when you use an electronic machine after a more extended period, it requires some treatment for better performance. For better understanding, seasoning does the job for you.
More specifically, treating all inside of an electric smoker with oil (generally vegetable) and heating it to the highest temperature for a particular time lets the oil evaporate, termed as a seasoning or sometimes pre-seasoning.
In this article, we will have some valued words for seasoning.
Why do You need of Seasoning your Smoker?
There are many significant reasons for seasoning an electric smoker. Firstly, an electric smoker’s seasoning prepares it for cooking by burning off any traces, such as machine oils and ashes, leftover from the manufacturing process. Secondly, it helps protect the smoker’s health and prolong it. If it’s completely fresh, the smoker wants to be seasoned once often.
However, you can do seasoning your electric smoker if you are using it after a long time, maybe six months or more. The complete process takes about two hours, but after that, you won’t have to do it again in the case of a new electric smoker.
Finally, the seasoning of your electric smoker helps to make it rust-proof. Nothing is done to protect the electric smoker’s interior against the moisture it needs to absorb. A film of carbon smoke preserves the metal from being wet. This protects you from the need to wipe the inside regularly and saves your smoker from unexpected havoc.
How to Season an Electric Smoker?
The guide is unique but can be applied equally to almost every electric smoker’s model.In the manual for seasoning a new smoker, different manufacturers will have their instruction procedure, and if it is available, I suggest you follow that method.
However, if not, the most commonly accepted procedure is the following, and if you follow it, you should be confident that you have fulfilled tasks correctly.
Steps to Season an Electric Smoker
Stage-1
Be Sure Your Smoker is Properly Assembled
- When you finish setting together with your new smoker, carefully observe the recommended guidelines of the smoker. Watch for any incomplete, incorrect, or otherwise unreliable parts that will need to be fixed while you’re at it.
Wash Out the Insides if You Desire
- A gentle wipe to the interior of an electric smoker is highly recommended. In a move, wipe out the racks and trays gently. Don’t leave the trays and the racks. Make sure that every corner gets some cleaning treatment.
- Use a soft sponge for the purpose, and don’t go for a metal one. For it will leave some scratched on the surface and damage the necessary coating of the manufacturer.
- Once you are done wiping out the inside portion. Let it air dry completely.
Apply a Thin Coat of Cooking Oil to the Inside Surfaces
- Now, apply vegetable oil or general-purpose oil to all the inside surfaces of the electric smoker. You can either use a spray bottle or use an oil dipped cloth for proper application. Remember that the quantity of oil must be adequate. It must not as lesser as cannot be seen from the naked eye, neither is it so excessive that the oil drop is sliding down the wall surface.
- Don’t coat the heating element because it’s going to burn, smoke, maybe even spark, and it’s not going to be safe.
- Oiling the shelves, the water pan, and the drip tray is not necessary.
Place all Racks and Trays back inside the Smoker
- Once the smoker dried up completely, re-rack it and placed it back on its tray. Replace other accessories if it has.
Stage-2
Electric Connection
- Before placing the smoker for heating, make sure that the electric connection is up to the mark. Read down the manual that comes with the smoker and connect the required electric outlet.
The Vents
- Keep the vents stays fully open for the passage of heat.
Set Smoker
- Set the smoker at the highest temperature, whatever it is, and set the timer for 3 hours. If the manual guides a lesser time, go for that.
Stage-3
Use Wood Chips
Using wood chips for seasoning is endorsed by many manufacturers and experts. Here is the confusion about whether to use it right before seasoning or in the middle of the seasoning process.
Simple is that, if you have been running your smoker empty for 2 hours, you have fulfilled Char-Broil’s “requirements”. If you keep it running for another hour, though, and add wood with 45 minutes to go, you have already followed Masterbuilt’s directions.
You can either use soaked wood and dried wood for the purpose. If you are keen to use wood chips, add them just before the last 45 minutes of the remaining session. Either to add the chips in interval or all at once, it’s entirely up to you.
Electric Smoker Starter Tips
- If you are a debutant in Electric Smoker, never go for an expensive one. Choose the best electric smoker for beginners.
- Use the food which you are an expert in. If you have experience in cooking a beef brisket or a whole chicken. Try it there so that you can feel the difference.
- Always go through the manufacturer’s manual and guide. If recipes come with the smoker follow them.
- Keeping an eye on the temperature is quite necessary. For that, use a digital or analog meat probe. Never compromise on the quality. It would be best if you preferred the smoker, which has a built-in device.
- Make a priority checklist and align it with the temperature settings. If you want a dry one, don’t place water in the tray and vice versa.
Conclusion
It is always exciting to have a smoker at your doorstep and pleasant unboxing it. A bbq enthusiast guy still dreams of cooking his best foods in an electric smoker. Even they have recipes when the smoker is on the midway.
How to season an electric smoker has been elaborated briefly in the article.
But for an optimal experience, investing some time in seasoning is worthy. It is a new prospect of learning for you as it will have a more prolonged impact on your investment.
