Hello all,
Joined a few weeks ago the day I purchased my MES 30'. I am new to the smoking game and have been trying to soak up as much information as possible. This seems like a great place with some good info and even better people. Live in Upstate New York, I used my grill to cook half of the meals for me and the little lady. I wanted a Big Green Egg but it was a little pricey for our budget, (just bought a house recently) so I was extremely excited when I saw the MES for 50% off.
I started off with smoking a turkey for thanksgiving. Did a practice run for a group of friends using Jeff's bacon butter recipe, did not like how it turned out. However, it prepared me for the main event, Thanksgiving. Did a simple brine with kosher salt, brown sugar, and some other spices, kept it in the fridge overnight. Took it out, patted the bird down, rubbed it with some EVOO and a seasoned salt mix and put some butter under the breast skin, stuffed half a red onion and half granny smith apple inside. Got my MES maintaining 230 with a 70/30 mix of mesquite and apple wood, also put a small amount of water in . I like that nice smokey flavor so I was not worried about overpowering with the mesquite. Laid breast side up, smoked 3.5 hours at 230 and I had internal temps of 175 in the deepest part of the thigh. I was very worried about preparing everything correctly and nervous it would not turn out well like the first bird so I did not take too many pictures of preparation. Then on Thanksgiving I may have had a few too many but I snapped a shot of the smoker in action and the final product. Everyone said they loved the turkey, I think I'm on the hook to do it every year now.
On a side note, I do eventually want to get the cold smoke attachment and make some homemade bacon. But in the meantime, I think I am going to dive into some ribs and then brisket. Very excited to be a part of this community!
Joined a few weeks ago the day I purchased my MES 30'. I am new to the smoking game and have been trying to soak up as much information as possible. This seems like a great place with some good info and even better people. Live in Upstate New York, I used my grill to cook half of the meals for me and the little lady. I wanted a Big Green Egg but it was a little pricey for our budget, (just bought a house recently) so I was extremely excited when I saw the MES for 50% off.
I started off with smoking a turkey for thanksgiving. Did a practice run for a group of friends using Jeff's bacon butter recipe, did not like how it turned out. However, it prepared me for the main event, Thanksgiving. Did a simple brine with kosher salt, brown sugar, and some other spices, kept it in the fridge overnight. Took it out, patted the bird down, rubbed it with some EVOO and a seasoned salt mix and put some butter under the breast skin, stuffed half a red onion and half granny smith apple inside. Got my MES maintaining 230 with a 70/30 mix of mesquite and apple wood, also put a small amount of water in . I like that nice smokey flavor so I was not worried about overpowering with the mesquite. Laid breast side up, smoked 3.5 hours at 230 and I had internal temps of 175 in the deepest part of the thigh. I was very worried about preparing everything correctly and nervous it would not turn out well like the first bird so I did not take too many pictures of preparation. Then on Thanksgiving I may have had a few too many but I snapped a shot of the smoker in action and the final product. Everyone said they loved the turkey, I think I'm on the hook to do it every year now.
On a side note, I do eventually want to get the cold smoke attachment and make some homemade bacon. But in the meantime, I think I am going to dive into some ribs and then brisket. Very excited to be a part of this community!
Last edited:
