First smoke-legs, Mac and cheese, and asparagus

[Swamp_moss]

Howdy guys, first timtime smoke here and i went ahead and went all in. Didn’t get prep pics but the Mac and cheese isn’t half bad, still waiting on my chicken. Right now it’s sitting st 165 and i want 180ish so a little longer.

Pics and maybe better description to come...if it turns out well. If not I’m going to slump away and hope no one reads this

 

[Swamp_moss]

Well, the asparagus was not good lol the Mac and cheese cooked much faster than anticipated and got dry on me, tasted like smoke too, little too much smoke.

The chicken i was quite pleased with for a first smoke. The skin almost got crispy for me but not quite. It was, however, the most moist tender legs I’ve ever eaten! Very good....I’m not sure about the flavor and intensity of the smoke though. Need to do a couple more smokes to compare it to.

I’ve cooked whole hogs over hickory coals before and these hickory pellets definitely don’t give off the same flavor

 

[SmokinAl]

Everything looks pretty darn good from here!
Al

 

[tallbm]

Hi there and welcome!
That all looks good. You will very likely improve with every smoke! :)

What is your smoker setup like?

For example, I run the digital Masterbuilt Electric Smoker (MES) with a mailbox mod and A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker (AMNPS) to generate my smoke, etc. etc.

 

[Swamp_moss]

Hi there and welcome!
That all looks good. You will very likely improve with every smoke! :)

What is your smoker setup like?

For example, I run the digital Masterbuilt Electric Smoker (MES) with a mailbox mod and A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker (AMNPS) to generate my smoke, etc. etc.

Right now I’m using an MES 30”. It is stock with no mods.

I am going to buy an amazen pellet smoj I tray bc i really struggle to keep tbs in my stock tray, which i believe contributed to the rather strong flavor (duh?)

Also plan to buy a dual probe thermometer...tp20 perhaps.

My smoker was reading 275 degrees but the meat probe was reading consistently 20-30 degrees shy of that. (I left it in its holster on the side of the smoker and instead use a analog? Pampered chef therm to check chicken temp

Thanks for the replies and kind words gents

 

[tallbm]

Right now I’m using an MES 30”. It is stock with no mods.

I am going to buy an amazen pellet smoj I tray bc i really struggle to keep tbs in my stock tray, which i believe contributed to the rather strong flavor (duh?)

Also plan to buy a dual probe thermometer...tp20 perhaps.

My smoker was reading 275 degrees but the meat probe was reading consistently 20-30 degrees shy of that. (I left it in its holster on the side of the smoker and instead use a analog? Pampered chef therm to check chicken temp

Thanks for the replies and kind words gents

I think the MES stock smoke mechanism is meant for chips not pellets. That may be why you are getting funny smoke or too much smoke.

I think almost every MES owner on here uses the AMNPS in one of it's forms so that is the way to go.
The MES probes (smoker and meat) are notorious for being off so the TP20 is basically a must. I think you'll like the TP20, I like mine better than the Maverick T733 I used before hand.

Once you get rolling with the AMNPS and the TP20 you should be able to do some proper smoking.
The next level of modification/additions gets to be mor serious and is something you can tackle as/if needed. I've done about every/any kind of mod you can think of to try and dial in perfection hahahaha. I am still evaluating a couple of them that I will post about them some day :)

 

[ab canuck]

Hello and welcome, Food looks great....
I agree with tallbm on the TP20, It is a good thermo, It is 1 of 2 that I use as well. The amnps is a great addition also. I think you will be happy with those additions and check out what the mes guys are doing with theirs as well.

 

[Swamp_moss]

You’re absolutely right, tallbm, it is designed for chips and i knew that but someone fav me the pellets as a gift so i was also experimenting with their effectiveness/usefulness in my setup.

I don’t want to bite off more than i can chew but i sure am looking forward to smoking a butt when i get comfortable with how my rig operates

Stay Smokey fellas

 

[ab canuck]

Well swamp the best part of doing a butt is that it is very forgiving. A great thing to start with. Do some searching on the forum and get comfortable and giver a shot. And share exp with pics...lol

 

[forkin pork]

Hey Swamp welcome aboard, I also think the food looks great.
I hear you talking about heavy smoke, not familiar with your smoker, but I you cooking with exhaust vent fully opened.
Closing it can cause overly smoked flavor.

 

[Hollywood1977]

Hello and welcome!
I am very new to the smoke as well and I made some macaroni and cheese with my ribs last weekend. It didn’t turn out dry but the smoke flavor was a bit heavy. I used a 70/30 mix of hickory and mesquite chips in my charbroil electric smoker and I think that’s why the flavor was strong. I was going to try a more mild wood chip like Apple or something next time. If it helps I had the Mac and cheese in for two hours at about 230-235 degrees. I stirred it every 20 to 30 minuets also.

 

[tx smoker]

Welcome!! All in all the food looks pretty darned good, especially for a first time. A couple things to note however. You mentioned doing whole hogs over hickory coals. Although the MES is a good unit with some great advantages, you simply won't get the same flavor from an electric smoker that you'll get from one using a real fire for a heat source. Someone else with more background in the chemistry of meat can jump in with the overall dynamics of how it all works :-)

I feel your pain with the asparagus. We all love it around here and I tried smoking it one time, with the same results you got. I think the stuff is just too soft and porous thus will take on a LOT of smoke flavor. What I do now is toss it in a large bowl with a bit of olive oil, garlic, black pepper, and real bacon bits. Then i put it in a square grilling wok and put it on the grill. What I've found works best is to light the two end burners, leave the one in the center unlit, and put the wok with the asparagus in the middle. It cooks very nicely but still gets a bit of the "outdoors" favor from the grill without being overly smokey. Just a thought that you may want to try.

Thawing out in Lago Vista,
Robert

 

[phathead69]

Still learning myself but some notes I have made to myself are meat can handle lots of light whispy smoke you just figure out what you like, strong oak hickory or mild fruit wood or somewhere in between. Veggies and other non meat food, a little smoke time goes long way. Example is potatoes, I wrap in foil and throw in smoker until done then unwrap 20 or so minutes back in smoke and that's enough.