What to do, what to do

pearlheartgtr · Mar 14, 2012

I just finished seasoning my new MES 30" smoker about 20 minutes ago and I want to smoke something NOW. Of course I have nothing to smoke.

The unit so far (since I haven't actually done anything with it) is really cool. I had it assembled in about 15 minutes and thankfully, it isn't heavy. I have a bad back and knee and I am able to lift it onto a table and move it around on my own. I noticed no leaks around the door during the wood chip phase, which is good. My father marvelled at the remote control--that thing has some good range! I had my father in the farthest part of the house (approx. 50 feet) turning the light on and off.

Tomorrow, I plan on picking something up to smoke--don't know what yet. Thought about something pork. But I do have a fresh poultry farm just down the block. Maybe get a chicken. They also have duck and rabbit. I've never had those before, but willing to try.

The good thing is that I have cures landing here tomorrow via FedEx and I hope to make my first slab of bacon in time for Easter brunch.

raptor700 · Mar 14, 2012

Congrats on the MES, you'll love it.

I always like to use lots of poultry when seasoning a smoker. You get lots of rendering fat, you can run high temps and you get to eat afterwords.

tdwester · Mar 14, 2012

Beer can chicken is always a great way to break in a smoker!

pearlheartgtr · Mar 14, 2012

I seem to be leaning towards a chicken and I've always wanted to make a beer can chicken.

scarbelly · Mar 14, 2012

Chicken is my vote too

raptor700 · Mar 14, 2012

Chicken

smokinhusker · Mar 14, 2012

Congrats on the new smoker! You are going to love it. Chicken is always a good choice.

Is the smoker the new model or a previous model...just curious as I am considering another one (I have MES 40) and if the 30 has the remote then it's an option.

Again, have fun smoking!

pearlheartgtr · Mar 14, 2012

I have the one with the remote.

#20070411

http://masterbuilt.com/prod-smokers-digital.html

smokinhusker · Mar 15, 2012

Duh guess I need to pay more attention!!! Thanks for the info

africanmeat · Mar 15, 2012

i think MES 30 is a great Little smoker .i will vote

or

deltadude · Mar 16, 2012

It is interesting to see so many recommend chicken. You don't have to go back very far through the electric smoker forum to find many complaining about MES chicken skin being rubbery. That is one of the problems with 270 deg or less smoking, the skin just won't crisp up. You have to get the temp over 300º for crisp chicken skin. Maybe the newer 40 MES with 1200 w element does a better job, my MES 40 is the older one with 800w.

My wife loves whole chicken done on the Weber Kettle, so that is how we cook whole chicken.

tromaron · Mar 17, 2012

I love chicken in my mes. I smoke it til it reaches 145, then throw it the grill for a 2 or 3 minutes on each side. Comes out great every time.

deltadude · Mar 17, 2012

TromaRon said:
I love chicken in my mes. I smoke it til it reaches 145, then throw it the grill for a 2 or 3 minutes on each side. Comes out great every time.

I'm not saying good chicken can't be cooked using the MES, I am just saying alone the MES mostly will not get the skin done and it will be rubbery. As in all cooking, it isn't the cooker its the cook that determines how good the food will be, however the right tool makes it mostly a lot easier. In my old setup before we bought our current house, my MES was outside stored under the eve and the BBQ grill was also near by. However to use the MES I had to pull it out from under the eve and move it to where I normally had my grill. Our current home, my cooking gear outside is in sort of a gazebo designed to be a cooking area, my MES is right there my BBQ grill faces it both in a permanent home , and I can cook rain or shine because in the winter I put a tarp over it the gazebo (only lattice on top). So now that it is more convenient I will give Chicken a try in the MES and maybe finish on the grill.

pearlheartgtr · Mar 18, 2012

I've been reading the forum for the last 8 hours (yes, that's right) while I was at work and it seems to be the consensus that the chicken should be fiinished in the oven or the grill to crisp it up. My MES and grill are set up pretty much the way you described your old one. Lack of cover has never stopped me from grilling in torrential downpours or blizzards. I was out there during the last hurricane we had here.

I also got my order of cures (Instacure #1 and Country Brown Sugar cure along with soy protein and Polish sausage season) to get started on bacon and other miscellany.

russg · Mar 19, 2012

Sounds like your on the right track. Congrats on a great choice for a smoker!

pearlheartgtr · Mar 19, 2012

russg said:
Sounds like your on the right track. Congrats on a great choice for a smoker!

Did you edit you post? Because what showed up in my inbox notification is very different than what is here and I really wanted to reply to that.

pearlheartgtr · Mar 19, 2012

Ok. It's looking like I'm going to be doing ribs in a couple of days. I had given up on finding pork belly to make bacon for Easter brunch. I picked up some meaty pork ribs to play with. I usually make my own sauce for ribs but I'm toying with the idea of just doing a rub (never done it before). If I really want to, I can slather on some sauce when everything is all said and done and sear it on the grill.

And of course, there'll be pictures.

raptor700 · Mar 19, 2012

Sounds like a plan

deltadude · Mar 20, 2012

pearlheartgtr said:
Ok. It's looking like I'm going to be doing ribs in a couple of days. I had given up on finding pork belly to make bacon for Easter brunch. I picked up some meaty pork ribs to play with. I usually make my own sauce for ribs but I'm toying with the idea of just doing a rub (never done it before). If I really want to, I can slather on some sauce when everything is all said and done and sear it on the grill.

And of course, there'll be pictures.

Ribs are really fun to cook in a MES 40, the extra size the 40 has makes cooking a full rack of ribs such a pleasure. Hint, often people mention the 321 or 221 as a guide line for ribs, (3 hours cook, then foil the ribs for 2 hours with your choice of liquid sprayed on them + a little extra "apple juice" is my first choice, finally 1 hour unfoiled to and sauced if using sauce). Although the guideline works, it is only a general rule of thumb, not all meat and cooking conditions or cookers are the same, so I use "pull back" to determine when to foil, about 3/8" "pull back" is what I look for. There are a number of reasons ribs might not have 3/8" or even a 1/4" pull back after or before 3 or 2 hours in the smoker, you might be cooking a big load like 10 racks of ribs, so the takes longer for them to really get cooking. But if you use pull back instead of time you are assured your ribs are cooked enough to go to the next stage "foiling".

Enjoy, can't wait to hear how it goes with your first MES rib smoke.

vinnroc · Mar 25, 2012

pearlheartgtr I have 2 questions for you. Where did you get your mes from? And how did the ribs come out?

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