Breaking in the Smoker
Last night I broke in the new smoker that I picked up from Bass Pro a few months back. Thing is that I underestimated the cooking time, and even though I started at 6pm, it wasn’t until midnight that the pork loin and turkey breast came up to temp. By that time I wasn’t about ready to be snapping pictures. I did get some though from earlier in the evening.
The first step in using the smoker was to cure the interior. This was simple enough though. Just start it up at a low temp, and cook for an hour. I did presoak some of the wood chips and placed in the cast iron burner pan. I also filled up the water pan, even though it wasn’t necessary, I wanted to see what the evaporation rate would be like.
Must admit I was a little geeked to give it a true test. So I thawed out a pork loin, turkey breast, some kielbasa, as well as getting a ham from the neighbor. I presoaked enough hickory and apple chips to fill the burner pan, filled up the water pan and gave it a whirl.
You might have noiced a few things sticking out of the air vents on the smoker. These were temp sensors, which I had plugged into the turkey and pork loin. I wasn’t worried about the ham, it was already smoked, and the kielbasa wouldn’t take long to cook. In fact they turned out to be dinner.
This second sensor is actually a remote unit which is nice, and will read from up to 100 ft away from the relay module.
Like I had mentioned up above, I had run the wires from the sensors through the air vents to plug into the meat.
I had some company to keep me busy for awhile out in the shop. That is until they pooped out!
Bonnie just stayed clear, as usual.
Since it took longer than I had anticipated, it wasnt until now that I had a chance to try out the meat. The pork loin was the tenderest piece of meat I think I have ever tried. Really a treat. Can’t wait to get at the turkey.