Smokin-It User Forum!
User Guidelines and Instructions => Basics for a Beginner => Topic started by: eclecticitguy on May 16, 2016, 10:28:27 AM
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I just purchased a Model #2 that should arrive on Wednesday. A couple buddies of mine both have smokers (Neither of them have an SI) and were excited to hear about my smoker purchase. One of the first things both of them said is that I should wipe down the inside of my smoker with olive oil and then season it with the wood. Something about the oil creates a residue that future smoke will stick to and help create more flavor.
Has anyone ever tried this? All of the posts I've read about seasoning don't seem to indicate that adding oil is beneficial or suggested.
Thanks for the advice.
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I can say from my experience with my #2, you don't need to add anything to make the smoke "stick" to the smoker. I'm sure anyone here could post a picture of the inside of their smoker showing that you don't need to add anything to help the smoke stick.
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Will,
The initial burn in that you do for 4 hours does two things:
Burns off any machine oil that may be left behind and seasons the smoker. Once this is done you will notice the once shiny inside now has a nice coat. Over time this will increase with every smoke.
Greg
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The olive oil is not necessary, juts put a couple of the wood chunks that came with the smoker in the wood box, and season for 4 hours at 250. The seasoning will apply a nice residue coat inside the smoker.
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Thanks all for the feedback. I didn't think that I needed to add the olive oil but both of my buddies were pretty adamant that I needed the oil. Maybe I can use this process as a selling point for why my friends need to invest in an SI smoker, instead of whatever they have already. ;)
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I had an old charcoal smoker that told me to coat the surface in oil for the seasoning of the smoker, but I think it was because it was just a plain steel smoker. Not necessary for the stainless of the SI.
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No oil, Will. That's for steel, not stainless steel. Your buddies may not realize it's all stainless on the inside.
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Okay, so definitely no Olive Oil when seasoning these smokers. Got it! This is definitely going to be a fun point to poke fun of my buddies with. "If you got a quality smoker, you wouldn't need to use Olive Oil to season it. Just sayin'..." Haha.
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Hehe...have some fun with it, Will! Once they taste your Q, you'll probably have some converts to the ways of Lazy Q! 8)
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Both of these guys are coming over for the maiden smoke this Saturday. As long as I don't screw up these ribs, I'm sure there will be some converts, especially the guy that uses a charcoal smoker. His fervent comments about how "smoking should take work, like stoking and adding more charcoals" seem to be lessening each time he smokes. I keep telling him that an electric smoker should produce just as good of results as a charcoal smoker, so hopefully Saturday will be the straw the breaks the camels back, so to speak.
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In my opinion, Will, it DOES! Perhaps even better. Here's why: In the SI, meat prep and wood selection are everything. The heat source does not influence the taste, so you get true flavors of rubs/brines/wood. I never noticed the subtle differences in most woods before using an SI smoker! Now, I treat wood smoke like any other spice, because I can truly taste the difference! Those that think "real" BBQ involves sitting by a smoker for 12+ hours, and constantly tending to it, probably haven't come into the light of Lazy Q! Enlighten them, my brother! 8)