I smoked some salmon!
I smoked some salmon!
Only just got my electric smoker a few weeks ago, so this is the second chance I've had to try it out.
Mixed some Cajun seasoning mix with oil and salt and rubbed it down. Then smoked at 145 for an hour with mesquite (holy crap it's got a really strong taste) then another 15 at 180.
It was really good! Gonna try for the big leagues and attempt pulled pork for the 4th. Wish me luck, I have no idea what I'm doing yet.
Looks great.
Gotta be careful with mesquite when smoking light flavored meats.... but you just figured that out on your own.
What electric smoker did you get? I have 2 MES 30's and a pellet smoker grill. Been using the Masterbuilts since around 2009 and still smoking. My pellet grill since maybe 2019... not sure. I love my MES but the pellet smoker gets used more now since it is sooooooo much easier.
The absolute best addition to an electric smoker is an A-Maze-N pellet Tube or Maze. Fill it with wood pellets, light one end with a propane torch, blow it into a roaring flame, blow out the flame, and let it smolder n smoke. You'll get 6 to 12 hours of perfect thin blue smoke. I like to mix in a small handful of mesquite pellets to the main pellets to get a hint of that sweet mesquite flavor.
Pulled pork is the most forgiving thing to smoke. Smoke at 225° until 165° to 170° internal temperature. Put it into a foil pan with half a cup of soy and half a beer..... seal with foil over top. Keep going at 225° until 200° to 205° internal temperature. The bone should pull out like butter and the meat will pull apart easily. Add juice from the pan to suit how wet you want it to be. Steaming it in the beer/soy mix adds flavor and softens the bark. Some people want hard chunks of bark. I prefer the softer bark to spread the flavor thru the meat. Plan on 12 hours for an 8 pound butt. It may go longer or quicker but that's a fair starting point to plan for. The 165 to 205 in the sealed pan is usually 3 or 4 hours. Of course every piece of meat is different. You don't need to be spritzing with anything during the smoke. Every time you open the door to peek at it you just added another 15 minutes to the cooking time. That's why people that insist on spritzing every 20 to 30 minutes usually end up cranking the heat to 275° or higher trying to compensate.... just put it in, check temp at 3 hours to be sure you'll hit the 40° to 145° in 4 hours, put in a remote temperature probe at this time, and sit back and watch the thin blue smoke wafting throughout your neighborhood.
Following your steps exactly today! Wish me luck!
I ended up getting a Masterbilt digital electric smoker. Those pellets sound excellent though!
That is a really fast cook. When I smoke salmon on my pellet grill I run it at 160 for 6 hours to get to 145 internal.
Yeah, I have no idea what I'm doing yet. Just found a recipe online that had times and temps and winter the rest. Temp did reach 150iah though, so I guess that worked out. But I will absolutely try 160 for longer soon.