I got my Masterbuilt XL propane smoker delivered today, and I set it up right away. First thing I did was unbox it and check the parts. Everything was well packed and looked great:
Here is a close up of the packaged parts:
Here is the assembled smoker. Overall everything is in good shape- minor scuffs on the front, and the door handle side is a bit warped- it is about 1/8 inch open either on the top or the bottom. The hinge side is flush. I sprayed it out with Pam and cranked it up to High- it hit 360 degrees on my digital thermometer and 330 degrees on the door thermometer. Looks like I'll be calibrating soon.
Next I threw in a cast iron pan on top of the wood chip pan that comes with the unit. I heated it up, lowered the temp to 220, and threw in some chips. It took a long time to get any sort of smoke, and even now, I am barely getting TBS- it is more aroma of smoke right now. I am not looking for foggy white smoke, but even some visible smoke would be nice. The chips (hickory and apple) are going really, really slow despite the internal temp of the smoker. I am thinking I need a better solution than the cast iron on top of the wood chip box- maybe a stove grate to get the cast iron closer to the flame.
As I did this, I prepared some rainbow trout I got at Safeway with EVOO, Sea salt, black pepper and fresh rosemary:
Then I threw the trout in the smoker. It is sitting at about 215 degrees. I am anxiously awaiting the results!
Here is a close up of the packaged parts:
Here is the assembled smoker. Overall everything is in good shape- minor scuffs on the front, and the door handle side is a bit warped- it is about 1/8 inch open either on the top or the bottom. The hinge side is flush. I sprayed it out with Pam and cranked it up to High- it hit 360 degrees on my digital thermometer and 330 degrees on the door thermometer. Looks like I'll be calibrating soon.
Next I threw in a cast iron pan on top of the wood chip pan that comes with the unit. I heated it up, lowered the temp to 220, and threw in some chips. It took a long time to get any sort of smoke, and even now, I am barely getting TBS- it is more aroma of smoke right now. I am not looking for foggy white smoke, but even some visible smoke would be nice. The chips (hickory and apple) are going really, really slow despite the internal temp of the smoker. I am thinking I need a better solution than the cast iron on top of the wood chip box- maybe a stove grate to get the cast iron closer to the flame.
As I did this, I prepared some rainbow trout I got at Safeway with EVOO, Sea salt, black pepper and fresh rosemary:
Then I threw the trout in the smoker. It is sitting at about 215 degrees. I am anxiously awaiting the results!