Cooking meat using heat for extended time period prevents easy spoiling and also adds a unique, irresistible flavor to the meat. If you are a barbecue lover, then you must try out some recipes on an electric smoker.
Also with the help of an electric smoker, you don’t have to supervise the dish continuously. You can leave the unit, and let the smoker do all the magic for you! But for all this, you need to know the right way of using an Electric Smoker, and that’s exactly what we are going to check out here.
How to use an Electric Smoker
People love to use an electric smoker for reasons aplenty like low-cost, easy on handling, and the unit does most of the work without human intervention. First, you need to get one Electric Smoker for yourself, but make sure that you use the smoker in the summer season. This is because, it has been observed that the smoker performs better during Summers than in Winters.
The shape of an Electric Smoker is just like that of a refrigerator, and most of the units come along with gauge setting which lets the user monitor temperature within the unit. So look out for a unit which provides this temperature control feature in it.
Steps to use Electric Smoker are explained below:
- The major step is to get one smoker unit, and considering all the points explained before.
- After you are set with your Smoker system, your next step is to read the user guidelines carefully. There are many types in the Electric Smokers. Therefore, before starting to use the unit, a thorough understanding of it is important.
- Coming to the using, you need to set the unit for work. This is termed as ‘season the machine.’ For cleaning, seasoning or curing the smoker, follow the process given in the user manual. This seasoning is a must process for preparing any food item within it. It helps in removing dust, or any other odor present in the smoker.
- Take the cooking oil, and apply on the racks and other indoor portions of the smoker.
- Then turn the machine on, and keep it running for about 2 hours. After the 2 hours time, turn the machine off, and open the lid to let go of the heat inside. Let the smoker cool down completely.
- While the machine is cooling down, you can prepare and set the meat during this time. Take the appropriate amount of meat you want to cook and arrange all the herbs and spices required for marination.
- Add sugar, spices, herbs, salt and place the meat covered in an acidic marination. This step is mandatory while you are working with an electric smoker for cooking meat.
- For best results, keep the meat overnight with the marination on. This will help in soaking the meat in the best way, thus giving the best smoky flavors. You can alter the level of spice as per your choice.
- Now turn your electric smoker on. Some of the smokers come with a water receptacle section, so if your unit has one then add water during this step.
- You have to purchase wood chips for creating the smoke, and it is available in almost all grocery stores. There is one wood chip container which comes with the smoker. In this container, you need to add cherry, alder, plum, hickory chips, cedar, etc. Approximately, 3-5 hours of smoking requires 4 cups.
- You are almost there! Just set the temperature needed for cooking. It is important to set the desired temperature and then to get started with your meat.
- The meat is to be placed on the rack of the smoker after the temperature is set.
- Continuing the cooking till the meat becomes tender. Check the internal temperature, and let the smoker start working on the meat. You can make use of a meat thermometer to check if the meat has reached the right temperature. This thermometer is inserted just in the center of the meat.
Now, you just have to wait and watch for the Smoker Magic. You can easily check the unit in between to know the status of your food.
So this is the manner of using one Electric Smoker, and it can change from one smoker unit to another. So it is important to read and understand the processing steps carefully before getting started with your smoker model.