We have the smoker, now what?

December 1, 2015 5:44 AM

We're getting a small electric smoker for Christmas. I'd love to get some accessories to go with it, but what should we get? Are there any good smoking resources or cookbooks out there?

I went to a bacon class back in September, and made some amazing bacon. As a result of that, we started looking into smokers, and -

We're getting a small electric smoker from my dad for Christmas (yay!). He's also getting us a cover, as it will live on our back porch.

Is there anything else that I should be getting to prepare for this? Useful cookbooks or items? Great resources on the web?

Any other things that you've smoked that have been amazing?

posted by needlegrrl to Food & Drink (11 answers total)

Best answer: Rhulman's 'Charcuterie' should be a mandatory first stop for smoking recipes. So tasty, and relatively well explained.
posted by furnace.heart at 5:54 AM on December 1, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I assume it's a hot smoker (most/all electrics on the market are unless you get a cold smoking kit). In which case: barbecue. I started on an electric with this book. AmazingRibs.com also invaluable.
posted by supercres at 5:55 AM on December 1, 2015

Best answer: I'm not sure if this even pertains to an electric smoker (?) but we have a small collection of different woods to play around with. It's one of my husband's favorite things; to decide which wood to use and what kind of juice (for example, apple juice and hickory is one of his favorite combos) to use. Boring and unsexy but useful: we also get quite a lot of use out of our food saver vacuum type gizmo thing, which we use to seal all of the smoked goodies.

I asked for a ceramic egg smoker for Mother's Day a few years ago. I have never touched it. My husband gladly bought it for me and then pwned it for all time.

Rhulman's 'Charcuterie' should be a mandatory first stop for smoking recipes. So tasty, and relatively well explained.

Eponysterical ;) Thanks for the tip, just found a new copy of the original (unrevised) and bought it for the hubs for Christmas.
posted by the webmistress at 6:29 AM on December 1, 2015

Best answer: Any other things that you've smoked that have been amazing?

Everything that comes off the smoker is amazing, they're the best. It can turn a cheap food like pork shoulder into something delicious, a moderately pricey food like brisket into something mind blowing, and you make some wings while you wait for that stuff to be done! Electric is great for the temperature control, and I feel fine leaving mine overnight with a brisket on although your safety tolerance will vary.

One tip: since the thing is not going to be getting hot enough to really char food on, you can get all the interior parts nice and clean - all the way to the metal - by just putting them in a sink or basin, spraying heavily with Greased Lightning and then walking away.
posted by ftm at 6:33 AM on December 1, 2015

Best answer: I have an indoor stovetop smoker that is bae, but I live on the border of Vegantown, so I've smoked tofu, eggplant, cinnamon sticks, and I'm about to do a run of salt. Oh, and nuts!
Cheeses would be good, too.
posted by Lemmy Caution at 6:53 AM on December 1, 2015

Best answer: These bear claw meat shredders are great for tearing up pulled pork. They also work great for picking up and big hunk if meat off the grill, or hams or whatever.
posted by sanka at 11:23 AM on December 1, 2015

Best answer: Agree on the Jamison book. Steve Raichlen's How To Grill is a great one for beginners. A variety of woods is a good choice. Swing by a restaurant supply store and pick up some aluminum sheet pans. They're indestructible and great for carrying ribs or whatever to and from the smoker. A couple other tools worth considering would be a rib rack and tongs.
posted by Atom12 at 12:29 PM on December 1, 2015

Best answer: I haven't read this one, but it's been getting great reviews and will likely end up on a lot of year-end lists.
posted by Atom12 at 12:34 PM on December 1, 2015

Best answer: Smokers aren't just for meat! Some ideas that have been used at the restaurant lately: smoked sunchokes (Jerusalem artichoke) later roasted with heavy spicing. Smoked bread used in a classic British bread sauce. Really really really lightly smoked (like, 15 minutes or something) tuna loin that then became a crudo/carpaccio.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 7:10 AM on December 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: If you cool down the smoke somewhat you can also smoke flour, and then use it for any purpose you'd normally use flour for.

Also, tomatoes. Take ye your tomatoes, and cutteth them into parts of four. Layeth them inside thine smoker until they are delicious. Go forth, then, and make ye all manner of good things with tomatoes. (Smoked tomato sauce is fucking heavenly I tell you.)
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:52 PM on December 3, 2015

Response by poster: Things we did not think about but then realized we needed or could use - stones to lay on the wooden porch to put between the smoker and the wood, lock and steel cable to attach smoker to porch (just in case!). Possibly a mat, although they say that those are only aesthetic, they do not keep your deck from catching on fire. And a specially rated extension cord is recommended, if you have to use an extension cord.
posted by needlegrrl at 3:11 AM on January 4, 2016