First smoke ever this week...menu advice needed

[skeeter013]

I should be receiving my first smoker this week and I'm planning my first smoke. I wanted to start with something manageable like pulled pork. However, the wife is adamant that I cook a brisket. To make things more complex, my son wants chicken. Since I didn't want to start with brisket, I was able to get my wife to change her mind. So we switched out the brisket for baby back ribs. Any advice on what would be the best one to start with for a newbie? Thanks in advance!

Jeff

 

[SmokingUPnorth]

Pulled pork is pretty simple and hard to mess up and makes a lot of food. Ribs are easy also. Do a search on here for ribs 3-2-1 or 2-2-1 method for baby back ribs. Good luck it’s addicting haha

 

[mneeley490]

Depending on what kind of smoker you bought, a whole chicken can be good for splattering some fat around inside, and seasoning up your new smoker. Just don't go too heavy on the smoke.
Pulled pork butt would be my 2nd choice. Very easy and forgiving piece of meat.

 

[jaxrmrjmr]

Yeah, I think I would go with something forgiving like a pork butt as well. Just to get used to how your smoker responds. Every one of mine have acted a little different.

 

[smokinq13]

I 3rd the pulled pork. Naturally has a good bit of fat so its very hard to dry it out. Inject it to give it more flavor with some apple wood and you'll be golden!

 

[GaryHibbert]

I ALWAYS recommend pulled pork for the first (or 50th) smoke. Boston butts are incredibly forgiving and are a great way to learn lots about your smoker.
Gary

 

[SmokinAl]

What smoker did you get?
Al

 

[tallbm]

Hi there and welcome!

With poultry you must know that if you don't smoke it at 325F degrees or so then you will likely not get edible skin. Smoking below will likely produce leathery skin.
I mention this because I LOVE practicing with chicken BUT you better be ready to handle that one quirk. If you done boneless skinless cuts then you have no issue and can do at any reasonable temp.

Like others say the pork butt would be fine and I would recommend you keep it simple.
Just season it and put on the rack and smoke it until it is like a 205F Internal Temp (IT) and then go stab it with a toothpick all over and if the toothpick slides right in with no resistance then it is done, if not continue to smoke it to a higher IT and retest until it is done.
At that point remove it, rest it, then pull it apart. Nice and simple!

Ribs are simple too. Again I would suggest go the simplest route of season and put on the rack and then cook to an internal temp of about 195-198F. Toothpick test them for tenderness and pull when tender.

Until you learn the quirks of your smoker I am suggesting you just let the meat ride unwrapped in foil to avoid opening your smoker, messing with temp drops and spikes, etc. etc. Just work on keeping your temps steady, producing TBS (Thin Blue Smoke) and make sure you have your thermometers working for you instead of against you :)

Best of luck! :)

 

[gmc2003]

Skeeter, why not dazzle them with a big-ole fatty. They're simple to do and will probably be something they've never experienced before. Added bonus's are that it's a fairly quick smoke, will start the seasoning of your smoker and is also very forgiving.

Chris

 

[skeeter013]

Thank you all for your input and great suggestions. Like many of you said, I'll start off with something simple as I begin to figure out the nuances and quirks of the new smoker. As a matter of fact, the smoker is on the UPS truck right now and is "out for delivery". I have wood chips ready to go and I bought a good thermometer over the weekend (ThermoPro TP20).

Al, to answer your question, I made an impulse purchase and picked up a MES 40 from Cabela's (currently on sale for ~ $320). Interestingly, I was planning to buy a very good smoker last year that would potentially last a lifetime. I had money saved up at that time for a Klose pipe smoker. I called down there 3 different times over the course of several months and they never sent me a quote. After the 3rd call to them I guess I started to lose interest. I'm sure they are great people but I wasn't going to force them to take my money.

So that brings me back to my new smoker. I was checking my email last week and saw that Cabela's was having a sale. I purchased the smoker immediately without doing any research. I've been reading the forum for quite a while and remembered that a lot of people appeared to be happy with their MES. Now I have something to start playing around with. I'm very excited and can't wait to start experimenting with the new toy. I also purchased Jeff's rub and BBQ sauce recipes as a starting point.

Thanks again!

 

[tallbm]

Al, to answer your question, I made an impulse purchase and picked up a MES 40 from Cabela's (currently on sale for ~ $320).
...
I've been reading the forum for quite a while and remembered that a lot of people appeared to be happy with their MES. Now I have something to start playing around with. I'm very excited and can't wait to start experimenting with the new toy. I also purchased Jeff's rub and BBQ sauce recipes as a starting point.

Thanks again!

Congrats on the new smoker! As with any smoker there will be some quirks to work out and the MES is no exception.

1. It's max temp is 275F so if you do chicken it is likely that you will have issues with edible/leather skin. Some report no issue, others do (I had issues).

2. The MES smoker and meat proves are going to be OFF! It is well known issue with MES but you have the TP-20 so you should be good to go. You can use 1 probe as a back up smoker probe to get the temp at rack/meat level and the other probe as a meat probe for IT of your meat.

3. The MES has hot spots and temp swings so you will just need to figure out your smoker behavior. The temp swings seem to be a designed "feature" lol.

4. The A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker tray for generating smoke will likely be your next purchase. It will give you set and forget smoke generation for a max of 9-12 hours if you need. It can also generate double smoke which is awesome to have.

5. If you plan to do smokes at temps of 200F or lower your MES will likely not be able to produce smoke with the on board mechanism (chip loader and heating element). The heating element just doesn't get hot enough long enough to burn up/smoke up your chips. See the previous point about the AMNPS... it will solve this problem real quick. This way you can do low temp smokes like sausage and bacon, etc. or cold smokes where no heat is applied :)

6. If you must have an extension chord get one that is 10 AWG wiring and try not to no longer than 25ft (though it can handle longer distances). That should be able to supply you enough power so that the unit is not starved by an inferior chord.

7. In the situation where you just can't stand the temp swings or you can't hit your max temp there is a simple rewire option and the use of what is called a PID controller that blows away the MES controller when it comes to holding temp and not fluctuating. I only mention this in the case that your system misbehaves and MES support doesn't provide any help that fixes your issues :)

I think that about covers the major quirks of the MES. Best of luck and enjoy it!

 

[SonnyE]

I wouldn't pull it out of the box and throw food in it.
It needs to break in. Then... you can cook.
But the MES 40 has a great deal of folks using one here.

 

[skeeter013]

Congrats on the new smoker! As with any smoker there will be some quirks to work out and the MES is no exception.

1. It's max temp is 275F so if you do chicken it is likely that you will have issues with edible/leather skin. Some report no issue, others do (I had issues).

2. The MES smoker and meat proves are going to be OFF! It is well known issue with MES but you have the TP-20 so you should be good to go. You can use 1 probe as a back up smoker probe to get the temp at rack/meat level and the other probe as a meat probe for IT of your meat.

3. The MES has hot spots and temp swings so you will just need to figure out your smoker behavior. The temp swings seem to be a designed "feature" lol.

4. The A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker tray for generating smoke will likely be your next purchase. It will give you set and forget smoke generation for a max of 9-12 hours if you need. It can also generate double smoke which is awesome to have.

5. If you plan to do smokes at temps of 200F or lower your MES will likely not be able to produce smoke with the on board mechanism (chip loader and heating element). The heating element just doesn't get hot enough long enough to burn up/smoke up your chips. See the previous point about the AMNPS... it will solve this problem real quick. This way you can do low temp smokes like sausage and bacon, etc. or cold smokes where no heat is applied :)

6. If you must have an extension chord get one that is 10 AWG wiring and try not to no longer than 25ft (though it can handle longer distances). That should be able to supply you enough power so that the unit is not starved by an inferior chord.

7. In the situation where you just can't stand the temp swings or you can't hit your max temp there is a simple rewire option and the use of what is called a PID controller that blows away the MES controller when it comes to holding temp and not fluctuating. I only mention this in the case that your system misbehaves and MES support doesn't provide any help that fixes your issues :)

I think that about covers the major quirks of the MES. Best of luck and enjoy it!

Tallbm,
Thanks for the advice and the tips regarding the MES. The smoker is now assembled and I'm doing the "pre-season" step this evening. I also have a pork shoulder ready to go in the fridge that will go on the smoker tomorrow. Unfortunately it's supposed to snow here and be in the low 20s tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how it does in the cold weather.

Thanks again!

 

[tallbm]

Tallbm,
Thanks for the advice and the tips regarding the MES. The smoker is now assembled and I'm doing the "pre-season" step this evening. I also have a pork shoulder ready to go in the fridge that will go on the smoker tomorrow. Unfortunately it's supposed to snow here and be in the low 20s tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how it does in the cold weather.

Thanks again!

No problem!

I think you will be OK in the cold weather. Don't fear cranking up the MES heat if you need. A pork butt at 275F would be no different than one at 225F, so go with whatever temp you can manage and be sure to post the pics! :)