Seasoning an electric smoker is the most important thing when you are using it for the first time. There is a solid reason behind it, and in this article, you will find why season an electric smoker and how to season an electric smoker properly.
Everyone is living a busy and being a practical person it looks weird that one should season the electric smoker and spent many hours and day. But here are a few practical reasons why you should do it:
Clean the leftover of the manufacturing process:
Even in the best electric smoker manufacturing unit, there is always a residue or chemical odors that you will not like in your food. The seasoning process means you will be firing the smoker without any food so that it can effectively burn all the industrial residues. If there is no nastiness in it – then the seasoning process will burn the fumes which you don’t like in your meatloaf.
Ensure the long life of electric smoker:
Despite how well built your electric smoker has, there are always chances of getting rusty when the steam touches its layers. The seasoning process ensures that the smoker is rust-proof after it. It saves lots of your time from cleaning later, and you can save any demise before it occurs.
How to season an electric smoker?
Well, I guess the reasons are enough to convince any responsible person for the seasoning of an electric smoker. Every manufacturer has different processing on seasoning, but here we will discuss the most general steps you can follow in almost all types of smokers. Let’s get started with the process:
Is your smoker assembled?
First thing first–assemble your smoker so you can start using it. The process is quite easy, and you can find it in the manual. Watch closely if there are any broken parts; you can see it now and do the proper treatment.
Wash the smoker:
Sometimes people prefer to wash the smoker with soapy water or grill cleaner. It is like an extra hygiene precaution. The smoker is new, and there is no specific need to wash it, but if you are cautious and want to do it, go ahead. It might take few minutes of yours, and the smoker will be cleaned to your content. By the way, the seasoning process also cleans the smoker.
Oil the smoker inner area:
So here the fun starts
Remove anything which can become a hurdle in the process of oiling your smoker. Only remove those things which are easy to remove, like water pan, wood tray, drip tray, and all the racks. It makes the oiling process easy and fast.
Then take a soft clean cloth and wipe a slightly thin cooking oil layer on every corner of the smoke chamber interior walls.
Do not try to oil the smoker with a puddle of oil – keep it light like you are streaking the light streaks of paints on the wall. These walls are going to be backed later on.
Likewise while coating the oil does not cover the heating elements as they can burn and smoke. It can also ignite a fire. So keeping oil away from the elements is a good choice.
The water pan racks and trays do not need any oiling, but after you have done oiling the walls of the smoker, take these things and put them back in their place inside the electric smoker.
Keep it empty:
Now when everything is placed in the proper area, leave them empty. Do not put anything, no water, no woods, and no food at any cost.
Plug it on:
So here you plug the electric smoker in and switch it on.
Open vents
Open up all the vents of your smoker. It will smoke out all the hazardous residues and elements.
Set the temperature:
Now check the maximum temperature limit and set your electric smoker on it. You can check the limit on the instruction manual. Mostly the maximum temperature is 275 degrees Fahrenheit.
Leave to heat:
Now it is time to leave your smoker to heat for around 2 to 3 hours. It also depends on the smoker manufacturer’s specifications. If they have mentioned any specific limits, then follow them. Try to do it for three hours to get the best result.
Wood or no wood?
When seasoning the electric smoker, few smoker manufacturers allow you to smoke woods in it for the last 45 minutes, and few ask not to do so at all. Adding woods into the smoker during the seasoning process makes sure that you are getting the maximum benefits of the process and your electric smoker is ready to do its job.
Then what to do in the smokers who do not allow the wood in the seasoning process? Well, it is simple there is a small loophole. You can season it empty for 2 hours and then add the wood or wood pellets in it for 45 minutes. So you can complete your seasoning in the best way.
All done!
Bingo, this is it! The seasoning is complete; now smoke cheese, meat, or salt and enjoy the scrumptious food while you can. Learning how to season an electric smoker is easy and offers great benefits.
Seasoning an electric smoker is the most important thing when you are using it for the first time. There is a solid reason behind it, and in this article, you will find why season an electric smoker and how to season an electric smoker properly.
