New Smoker, New to Smoking. Love Seafood and spicy! TIPS NEEDED!

Gypsy,
Welcome! I can't give any advice on your Masterbuilt, but I will say start with something cheap...like chicken.

 

Welcome to the board! Use the Search here (click on the bars next to Members at the top) and look up your model of smoker to see how people use them.

MANY people here smoke salmon and there are many ways to do it.

Edited to add, try smoking chicken like thighs or quarters to get the hang of your smoker. It's inexpensive and easy.

Pickled vegetables, huh? I'm going to make a salsa fresca today.

 

Welcome BAMF, like the previous posts it will take some time to figure out your smoker so trying something cheap is always a good idea. I did a couple butts my first few times and some wings (which arent cheap anymore). Im sure there are a ton of previous threads regarding your type of smoker, I would just do some searches and read up on what others have to say.

 

Welcome to the party BAMF! Being fairly new here (and to smoking) I can't offer much advice, but there are many knowledgeable and helpful folks here. There are also TONS of threads you can read through that have a plethora of information. You came to the right place!

One suggestion I do have...get a good remote digital meat thermometer, if you don't already have one. I have a ThermoPro TP-08, and I love that thing. Takes a bit of the guess work out when it comes to internal temps of your meat, and is typically more accurate than the thermometers that come built into a lot of smokers.

 

Welcome! Jeff's rub and recipes are a great place to start.

Is your masterbuilt pro an electric or propane smoker? If electric search the term AMNPS its what most of us MES owners use to generate smoke.

Give a boston butt a try for the first smoke on the new smoker(after you season the smoker of course). Its a very forgiving meat and there are countless ways of doing it none of which are wrong but almost always give great results. Its all about your personal preference.

I personally like to inject mine with apple juice, give it a good coating of yellow mustard, a nice thick coating of rub, and smoke at 225 until I reach 205. I also wrap at the stall usually around 165.

Good luck let us know how it all turns out!

 

Hi there and welcome!

I would suggest smoking chicken as well like others mention, it is cheap and it is good. Just a heads up though. If you smoke chicken with skin it may come out rubbery unless you smoke at a high enough temp. I find 325F to work for edible skin where others may have success at slightly lower temps but if you go too much lower expect leather skin. This is a confusing thing with chicken and isn't a problem with what you did rather than a problem with the temps that chicken skin likes. My suggestion is to try some boneless, skinless pieces first and then move up to skinned pieces.

FYI, I brine white meat and whole chickens to keep them from being dry but dark meat is good to go with just a seasoning/rub and smoking.

Also mentioned getting a good wireless thermometer is a huge must. I always recommend the ThermoPro TP20. It is best to have a dual probe (or more probes) so you can check the smoker temp with 1 probe and the Internal Temp (IT) of the meat with the 2nd probe. The more probes the merrier :)

I hope this info helps!

 

Welcome! My first smoked fish was salmon. I kept it simple and it turned out pretty damn good. Used the Jack Daniels wood chips from Wally World (Walmart), took a salmon filet, skin on, topped meat side with brown sugar. Smoked at 200 until internal temp was about 160, I think it was about 2 hours or so. I did not brine first. This was ONLY a test to move on to bigger pieces of fish, etc. I am sure there are other tips and recipes on here that are 1,000 times better, this was just my experience. Good luck!

 

Hey, hope you've learned some great BBQ recipes now. Make sure you maintain and clean the grates of your electric smoker periodically. Happy smoking.

 

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/shrimp-rub-marinade.236815/

This has worked good for me, family loves it. The frozen shrimp are relatively inexpensive. Chicken is also a good choice.

 

If you have a Masterbuilt Electric, be prepared to need a hair dryer to get the sensors to read it above 32f to get it started if you live in a colder area.

I also concur with the sentiment of for your first breaking in run after seasoning to do some pulled pork. It's a super forgiving cut and you can make alot of good eats out of left over pulled pork :)

 

Welcome, my first smoker was an electric smoke hollow. I used it about 6 times then upgraded to a offset. I also have a pitboss pellet grill. I have had great luck smoking salmon. I recommend doing a dry brine 12 hours prior to hitting the smoker.

 

Not to hijack the thread (excellent suggestions from all with which I agree (big butts are easy and forgiving, and everyone will love what you do, even if YOU know you could have changed something for the better)

But do others have problems with needing to preheat a MES to get it started? I am on #s 3&4 at this point and have never had an issue despite living in Michigan for the past 10 years.

 

It's a fairly common thing. The sensor doesn't register below 32f. Surprises me they haven't just changed what ever governs this to let it work at any temp.