New SM008 owner

Welcome sik1, Hope you get many enjoyable meals from your machine. Many great cooks who hang their hats here and offer great tasting advice. Ive also found that there other websites that have some awesome recipes as well. A serch engine search for bbq will open up your possibilities.
Good Luck and dont forget to season your smoker before any cooks attempted.

Mike

sik1,

Congrats on the new cooker!!!!

You've only just begun.

One of the most important rules to remember is to comb your hair, straighten your hat and practice being modest before receiving applause for the best BBq you've ever eaten.

Welcome to the forum. That's some girlfriend you have. We are all here to help.

Rule #4) toss the included "recipe guide" in the trash. The cook times are anything but accurate. The recipes are bland at best.
Rule #5) use very little wood for your first smoke and gradually increase wood for subsequent smokes. A little wood goes a long way. Consider this the Prius of smokers.

Welcome aboard, sik1. It sounds like you've got the basics down.

Sik1 -- Welcome to the forum and congrats on your purchase/gift! Re-read Smokin's 101 and read, read and read this forum. I suggest spending a lot of time in Lessons for new users. Also agree with tossing the recipe book that came with your unit!

Good luck!

Welcome to the forum.

Alwys great to have another enthusiastic cook.

Give us a shout,if we can help.

Hi sik1-

You are going to love your Smokette!

It does not take long to produce good ribs, butts, and briskets. All of this is covered in the forum and the "101" guides.

Thanks guys.......looking forward to getting the most of my smokette. Well, to bring you up to date, today I pre-seasoned the smokette for 9 hours using 2 chunks of hickory. I also seasoned a 3lb flat cut brisket which is resting in the fridge overnight. Tomorrow morning it goes in with only 2oz of hickory @225 and by dinner time it should be done. I know, "it's done when it's done" and "don't open the door."

I read about the Excel spreadsheets you guys use to track your smoking sessions. Was wondering if anyone could share their template.

Thanks!

This Sik1 guy really listens to what he was told on here.

Welcome aboard and obviously you are learning.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that I've got the heavy duty foil ready to line the smoker box lid and the bottom of the smokette. Also have the glass casserole dish to slide under the drain. Oh yeah, I'm ready....the only thing I gotta figure is whether I really need the beef broth after 3 hours to ward off the brisket going dry? I guess that's the fun of experimenting huh?

I can only offer some serious newbie advice (got my smokette on thursday). I have only cooked one brisket in the unit. I coated a 10lb Angus brisket in a coffee, corriander, cumin, cayenne and paprika rub that works great on grilled steaks. I smoked the brisket for 13 hours at 220 with 6 oz of hickory. Turned out great, not too dry but a very little bit dry (fat cap up and untrimmed) but it was really only dry when considered against braised versions. Anyway, I did no injecting or larding and the result was great overall. My parents, girlfriend, neighbor etc all loved it. I thought it was a little too much smoke. Take the oft posted advice that a little wood goes a long way to heart. Next time i would cut the wood amount in half. That said, I have done a lot of cooking but this was my first smoke so take my advice with that in mind. One other thing, my normally tasty rub was largely lost amidst the smoke flavor. I imagine a salt, pepper, granulated garlic rub would have done just as good a job.

The first cook after the wood seasoning should be a large fatty hunk of pork, also for seasoning and break-in.

sik1 Welcome! Your girlfriend was very goo to you! I too have a Smokette and it does great! People will be begging you to bring pulled pork to their gatherings.
You've already received good advice from this thread, and the forum is a great place for further information. I would like to add: get a good internal temp probe; start smoke note book. Keep notes on what worked and what didn't. Over time, smoking will be second nature to you.
Logbook for Smokette II
Date:
Product:
Type, cut:
Weight:
Rub /
Marinade:
Rack position:
Cooking Temp.:
Cooking Time:
Adjustments during cooking:
Wood, amount:
Climatic conditions:
Internal product temp.:
Appearance:
Taste:
Additional notes:

Thanks IronSteve....I'll be sure to keep a log.
Well I turned out my first brisket. I was a bit disappoineted but it just goes to show how much I have yet to learn about the fine art of smoking.

I threw in a 3lb brisket and used a rub that might have been better for ribs (Butch's Magic Dust BBQ Seasoning Dry Rub). Marinated overnight and then placed it in the smokette on 225 deg. with 1 chunk of wood (2.5oz). Halfway thru, foiled it and added some beef broth then wrapped it up and placed it back in. Total cook time was 6hrs and while the brisket was moist, it was waaaaaay too smoky for my liking. I'll remember to cut the wood in half next time and I'll experiment with a different rub. This is exactly why I see using a log book is key.