Currently, more and more people choose electric smokers for smoking food because of its convenience. If you buy a new electric smoker, don’t forget to season it before using it for smoking.
Seasoning or curing your electric smoker means that you run it without any food inside. Today, we will provide you with a detailed guide for seasoning an electric smoker. Let’s check it out together!
It’s necessary to season a new electric smoker before the first use
How To Season An Electric Smoker
The seasoning process includes 5 steps as follows.
- Check the assembly and prepare the smoker
- Coat cooking oil on the interior surface of the smoker
- Start the smoker
- Add some wood chips
- Finish your electric smoker
Now let’s move to the details of each step.
Step 1. Check the assembly and prepare the smoker
When you buy a new electric smoker, it often comes unassembled. So, you will have to read the instructions and assemble the parts correctly.
Even when you get a pre-assembled smoker, you still need to check it again. All the parts must be in the right position and the screws must be tight.
After that, you should give the smoker a quick cleaning. You can dampen a soft cloth or sponge into a mild detergent solution.
Then, you wipe both the interior and exterior of the smoker. You should take out the trays and racks and wash them separately. You rinse the smoker with plain water and let it dry completely.
You should give the smoker a quick cleaning before seasoning
Step 2. Coat cooking oil on the interior surface of the smoker
Before doing this step, you should check the manufacturer’s instructions. Because for some smokers, the manufacturer doesn’t recommend coating their inside with oil.
If your smoker’s manufacturer allows this step, you can apply a coat of cooking oil. You can use a spray bottle, or wipe with a cloth dampened in oil. Don’t use too much oil because it can cause unwanted stains after seasoning. Also, it’s not necessary to oil the water tray, chip tray, grease tray, and heating element.
After applying oil, put all the trays and racks back into the smoker. Don’t pour water into the water tray
Step 3. Start the smoker
You should plug your electric smoker directly into a power outlet without using any extension cord. Then, find the top vent and open it. You need to keep it open during the seasoning process.
Next, set the highest temperature for smoking (275°F) and adjust the timer to 3 hours.
You need to keep the top vent open during the seasoning process
Step 4. Add some wood chips
You should add wood at the end of the seasoning process. The suitable time is the last 45 minutes or 1 hour.
Besides, you need to add wood gradually instead of putting many chunks into the smoker at once. You can follow the below instructions to do it properly.
When there is about 1 hour left, start adding 10-12 wood chips into the chip tray.
After 20 minutes, fill the tray again with another 10-12 chips. At this moment, some ashes will build up in the tray. These ashes are the source of smoke that seasons the smoker.
Wait for another 20 minutes and load again with 12-15 wood chips. Then you won’t need to do anything else until the seasoning process ends after 3 hours.
You should add wood at the end of the seasoning process
Step 5. Finish your electric smoker
After 3 hours, you have completed seasoning your electric smoker. You need to turn it off and remove the ashes from the tray. Then, you can smoke any food you like with the smoker.
Normally, you only have to season the smoker once after buying it. But you can repeat this process if you want to remove the smell of certain food.
After seasoning, you can smoke any food you like with the smoker
Why Do You Need To Season Your Electric Smoker?
We have learned the steps to season an electric smoker. But you may wonder why you need to season an empty smoker for 3 hours. Here is the reason for this process.
1. Seasoning can remove any left residue from the manufacturing process
When manufacturing an electric smoker, the manufacturer uses many hazardous substances. They include industrial oil, adhesive, paint, solvents, and so on.
These substances left in your electric smoker are harmful to your health. Moreover, they can ruin the flavor of your smoking food. Therefore, you need to season the smoker to remove all the residue before smoking any food.
2. Seasoning will increase the durability of the smoker
After seasoning, the inside paint and coating of the smoker are also well cured. In this way, rust can’t develop inside the smoker even in wet weather. Thus, your smoker will be more durable and can last for many years.
3. Seasoning will improve the flavor of your food
When you smoke food in a seasoned electric smoker, you can preserve its smoky flavor. There is no substance impacting the flavor of your food. Besides, after seasoning, the smoker will have a black coat of smoke. This coat will give your smoked food a better flavor.
Seasoning will improve the flavor of your food
How To Maintain Your Electric Smoker
- When you complete seasoning a smoker, you won’t need to wash its interior surfaces anymore. After each time smoking, you can simply clean the ashes.
- You need to clean the viewing window of your smoker if it has one. You can clean this part more easily when it’s still warm after a smoking process.
You can form a ball from paper towels and dip it into ashes. Then, you wipe the viewing window with this paper ball. After that, use a wet cloth to clean the window from ash residue. You should wipe it again to dry with another paper towel.
- It’s important for you to read the instructions carefully before you season the smoker. For some models, you may need to fill water in the water tray for seasoning.
- When you add wood, remember not to overload the wood tray.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How long do you season an electric smoker?
Each electric smoker comes with detailed instructions from the manufacturer. You can read these instructions to know the exact time for seasoning. Most electric smokers will need 3 hours for seasoning. For some models, you may reduce the seasoning time to 2 hours.
2. What should you smoke for the first time with an electric smoker?
Generally, you can smoke any meat you like with your electric smoker. But for the first time, it’s better to use some cheaper meat cuts. You can start smoking with a chicken or pork butt.
Don’t rush to smoke fatty meat because they are more difficult to handle than other meat. After the first time, you will know the proper way to have delicate smoky meat. Electric smokers are quite easy to use, so you can master them quickly.
3. Which wood chunks can you use for seasoning an electric smoker?
You can add any wood chunks you like during the seasoning process. They will create your favorite smokey flavor. The common choices of smoking wood are maple wood, oak wood, and hickory wood.
Conclusion
Above are steps to season an electric smoker before you use it for the first time. Seasoning is an important process for every smoker, because it will make the smoker safe for use and last longer.
This process is quite simple even for those who are new to electric smokers. Remember to check the instructions manual well before starting seasoning your electric smoker.
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