Masterbuilt electric smokers enjoy a great deal of hype and we wouldn’t be surprised to hear that you were recommended this product by someone in your circle.
Masterbuilt designs one of the best electric smokers that increase the user convenience greatly by making them easy to operate.
However, despite being user-friendly, if you just landed with one at your home, you must need some sort of guidance to operate the electric smoker.
Lucky for you, we know exactly what you need to know and are here to help you understand your electric smoker too!
Knowing Your Masterbuilt Electric Smoker
In order to fully understand the working of this product, it’s important that you familiarize yourself with its part.
Don’t worry, this electric smoker looks more like a minifridge and has parts that are easy to recognize, and are also easily replaceable on any issues!
Smoking Chamber
Like the name suggests, the smoking chamber is where the smoking essentially happens.
This is a large and important section of the smoker and has tight doors to prevent any smoke from escaping it.
Electric Heating Element
A smoker can have one or more electric heating element. This heating element is the heat source for the electric smoker.
Some smokers have this heating element present at the bottom of the smoking chamber, the others have it surrounding the smoking chamber.
Nonetheless, these electric heating elements also determine the cooking times for your smoker. Some heating elements also come with a thermostat.
Wood Chip Tray
As it should go unsaid, the wood chip tray carries the wood chips for a Masterbuilt electric smoker.
These wood chips are what give your meat the thick, smoky flavor.
The size of this tray depends on the size and need of your smoker since too many wood chips could infuse too much smoke into your meat.
Water Pan
Water is an important part of the smoking process, and hence is the water pan of an electric smoker.
Most Masterbuilt electric smokers are removable and can easily be cleaned with or without a dishwasher.
Drip Pan
A drip pan is not necessarily present in every electric smoker, however, it’s best to purchase a smoker with one.
This is because the drip pan collects any dripping grease from the electric smoker, saving you from a mess.
A Step-by-Step Guide
Now that you understand the parts of your Masterbuilt electric smoker and know what you are dealing with, you can easily understand how to use it.
For your ease, we designed a step-by-step guide to walk you through this process.
Seasoning the Masterbuilt Electric Smoker
Before a Masterbuilt electric smoker can be used, it’s important to prepare it for the initial use.
This seasoning is done to get rid of any preexistent oil, dust, etc., that might be present on the smoker.
Make sure that all the parts of your smoker are in the right place. After turning it on, set the temperature to 275 degrees Fahrenheit, and set a cooking timer for 3 hours.
Leave the smoker as it is. Later on, add a cup of wood chips in the last 45 minutes to the wood chip tray.
These steps ensure that all the dust particles, etc., are burnt off and the smoker is safe and clean to use.
However, you should wait for it to cool down before you can start using it again.
Preparing Your Meat
Most recipes require that you marinate your meat a few hours ahead of the smoking time.
This ensures maximum absorption of the marination in the meat, leaving you with richly flavored meat.
Hence, depending on the recipe you are following, it’s best to prepare your meat way before you plan on smoking it.
Preheating the Masterbuilt Electric Smoker
Preheating the smoker is an essential part of using the Masterbuilt electric smoker.
To preheat the smoker, you should add wood chips to a cold smoker, and leave it inside a turned-on smoker for 45 minutes.
You should add half a cup of wood chips at a time, and add the remaining once the previous batch stops producing smoke.
Once these 45 minutes are over, your preheating is done.
Setting your Cooking Temperature
You should check with your recipe to see what temperature is needed to get the best results.
Although most meat and fish recipes are perfect to go at 225 degrees Fahrenheit.
Refilling the Wood Chip Tray and Water Pan
The wood chip tray and water pan are to be refilled as soon as the need arises.
The wood chips are refilled when the previous batch stops producing smoke. It’s never smart to add a lot of wood chips at the same time as it ruins the final taste of your food.
As for the water pan, the water itself is a good indicator of when it’s running out.
Using your Masterbuilt Electric Smoker
Once you have managed to get a hold of these things, your Masterbuilt electric smoker is ready to be used!
How Often to Add Wood Chips to Masterbuilt Electric Smoker
The wood chips are to be added to the Masterbuilt electric smoker as soon as their previous batch stops producing smoke.
Most chips stop producing smoke after an hour of burning, but if the temperature is higher than 250 degrees Fahrenheit, you should check the chips every 30 minutes.
You should only add half a cup of wood chips at a time since too many of them at the same time can ruin the ultimate flavor of the meat.
We highly recommend that you purchase Western BBQ Smoking Wood Chips.
Cooking Times for Masterbuilt Electric Smoker
The cooking times for the Masterbuilt electric smoker depend on the recipe of meat that you are using.
Different meats have different cooking times and temperatures that they are fully cooked at, therefore you should always check with your particular recipe before proceeding to set a cooking time.
Also Read:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Do you Add Water to a Masterbuilt Electric Smoker?
Yes!
Adding water is important in an electric smoker. The moisture ensures that maximum smoke adheres to the meat.
Where Does the Water Pan go in a Masterbuilt Electric Smoker?
The water pan in a Masterbuilt electric smoker is usually to be placed on the button rack of the smoker chamber.
Do you Soak Wood Chips for an Electric Smoker?
No.
Most electric smokers only work well with dry wood chips and would ruin the cooking timings, smoking process, flavor of meat, etc., with soaked wood chips.
Wrapping it Up
With this guide to help you out, you are ready to use your Masterbuilt electric smoker to its best potential.
This smoker is definitely worth the hype, and you deserve to enjoy it to the fullest.
Happy smoking!
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