Newbie smoker

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jime55

Newbie
Original poster
Sep 6, 2013
5
10
My wife bought me a Masterbuilt electric smoker recently. I am still reading and experimenting. I have two questions. First, what is the procedure for smoking shrimp? I've read the articles, but I don't understand the order of things. Is the water pan and wood inside while the temperature is building? If I build the temperature first, won't it lose heat while adding the meat, water, and wood? Wouldn't that affect the cook time?

Second, how do you smoke low temperature items like cheese or store bought bacon without cooking it in the process? How do get smoke without raising the heat too much?
 
:welcome1: to SMF!!! We're happy you found us! You've come to the right place, we have over 50,000 members who just love to share their experience and over 1,000,000 posts describing it! Yea that’s right over 1,000,000!

The search bar at the top can be your best friend when you are trying to find answers to your questions but you can still ask too if you want!

We have an ”Articles” section that is full of great information about smoking to include a lot of recipes and instructionals. Check it out there is a lot to learn in there!

Would you do us a favor and add your location to your profile, it helps others to know where you are when they offer advice, Thanks!

You might want to check out ”Jeff's Free 5 day E-Course”, it will teach you all the basics plus a whole lot more!

For cold smoking like cheese, most people will use a smoke generator like the AMNPS.
 
welcome1.gif
to SMF!  We are so glad you joined us! TulsaJeff had smoked shrimp in his newsletter this past week.  Wrapped in bacon too.....yummmmm.

We love to see pictures of what you are cooking (or what we call q-views here at SMF).  To "upload the q-views" just follow the directions here and it will be easier. If you are using a cell phone, an IPad or a kindle, go to the main SMF page and click the Mobile button. Will make the uploads a bit faster too.

If you didn't read the "Terms of Service" notes.....please do.  There are a few things that everyone should know about those pesky little rules before plunging into the forums and some guidelines of how to interact within the forums. Off site links are not allowed here at SMF per Jeff. Not that you have done anything wrong....just a little bit of FYI for new members!

If you need any help roaming around the forums....just holler!  Happy to help out!

Kat
 
Welcome to SMF  from another member.  There is a world of information on here, anything your not sure about or want information on - Just Ask

you will get plenty of help.

Gary
 
My wife bought me a Masterbuilt electric smoker recently. I am still reading and experimenting. I have two questions. First, what is the procedure for smoking shrimp? I've read the articles, but I don't understand the order of things. Is the water pan and wood inside while the temperature is building? If I build the temperature first, won't it lose heat while adding the meat, water, and wood? Wouldn't that affect the cook time?

Second, how do you smoke low temperature items like cheese or store bought bacon without cooking it in the process? How do get smoke without raising the heat too much?
Jim

welcome1.gif


Glad you joined the group. The search bar at the top of any page is your best friend.
About anything you wanna know about smoking/grilling/curing/brining/cutting or slicing
and the list goes on has probably been posted. Remember to post a QVIEW of your smokes.
We are all smoke junkies here and we have to get our fix. If you have questions Post it
and you will probably get 10 replies with 11 different answers. That is because their
are so many different ways to make great Q We all have our own taste.

I don't use water in the pan. I fill it with sand then wrap with foil. For shrimp you need your pan preheated. If your going to add smoke. Get it going before you add your shrimp.

For cold smoking Buy your self a AMNPS. It will also hot smoke. It is hands off. Fill it with pellets, Light it and walk away. I use my MES for cold smoking all kinds of things. I love it.

Happy smoken.

David
 
Hi Jim, and welcome to the forums!  This is the best place I know for sharing ideas on smoking, grilling, curing, etc.  There are plenty of friendly, knowledgeable folks who really enjoy helping one another.  Looking forward to your input here, and just ask when you need anything...someone here will surely have the answer.  

I'll chime in with the others...for cold smoking in the MES, its hard to beat an AMNPS from A-Maze-N Products (Sponsor's Link at bottom of page).  And here's a couple of good older threads with some good info on smoking shrimp:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/57011/smoked-shrimp

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/78185/shrimp

Red
 
Welcome Jim
I also have an MES (M asterbuilt E lectric S moker) you can pre heat it at a higher temp than your cooking temp. When you add your food you will lose some heat but it will recover quickly, then you can set it at your desired cooking temp. If you are using chips in the chip drawer, get them smoking before adding your food. I thought my stuff turned out pretty well using chips, but you have to add more about every 30 mins. Order the AMNPS and plenty of wood pellets!
I received mine just before Labor Day Wknd. That thing produces a steady smoke and for most things you probably won't have to refill it.
Over Labor day wknd, I did some ABTs and ABT stuffed chicken breasts Saturday and a pork shoulder Monday. I did not use water in the water pan. I kept the pan in there to catch the drippings but added no other liquid. I've done these before with chips and water. The results from the AMNPS (and no water) and tips from the forum were far superior than my past efforts!
 
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