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3 replies

Seasoning your new CS

G Guest
The CS Owner's Manual recommends ~at least~ four hours of seasoning before first cook.

I'd like to thow a few things about the CS smokers out for discussion...

1. Just finished seasoning new CS after 18 hours of empty hickory smoking. Changed wood at 6 hours and again at 12 hours. The inside looks like it's about ready for cleaning, by most people's standards. But,wish I'd have seasoned for 30 hours or more.

2. A CS exec gave me some advice that was too late to follow, but wish I could have done it and am passing it along here for discussion: Cook something very fatty during the seasoning...fresh ham, brisket, chickens, etc. Don't worry about whether it's edible or not...left in to get all the fat out of the meat and onto the walls of the CS is the goal. Wondering why a user can't just season with wood and fat, lard, suet, etc.?

3. Cleanliness...have read quite a bit here and elsewhere over time about keeping pits clean. Except for scraping heavy gunk and using foil on bottom of pit and smoke box deflector, I have every desire to turn the entire insides of our CS black, with no visible stainless steel showing. We do the same with our grill...scape it, but never clean it...and always did the same with our offset smokers, Weber kettles before that, etc. Would like to hear other's thoughts about this, too. I realize grease is a fire hazard. But, that's true whatever the method you Q. At least with a CS you can put out the fire by simply shutting the door.

Anyway, have marinated chicken breasts in the CS right now for it's maiden voyage. We shall see.

Regards, Mike
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T tomMember
Hey,Mike....For a really technical answer,we would need to let a CS expert answer....Till one answers,I'll throw in my $0.02 worth...IMHO black iron skillet is the look we are after, with no shiny surfaces....I casually wipe my walls off with a handful of paper towels and drop them onto the foil on the bottom ,along with the foil off the firebox...If a little grease/moisture is under the bottom foil,I might give it a squirt of windex and wipe off with a paper towel....Roll up and trash.....If you have seen some of my posts, you know I push the volume of product way past the envelope at times. Wink I might be doing something wrong, but I don't see the grease problem with mine....I'd think you are properly seasoned now without the extra methods....The CS doesn't have the rough or porous interior that we were used to on our offsets and had to smooth out.....It will be fine on that chicken and will be old after that first butt. Big Grin Just one man's opinion.
MR Michael Rochman (Guest)
Tom, I agree with all that you said.

The rest is for Newbies:
I "clean" my CS just about the same way you clean yours. The only difference might be that I use tongs to hold my paper towels so I can reach into the back and not get the grease on me. And, I let it cool down first because I don't want to wipe off anything that might add to the "pit flavor".

Then I scrape any gunk off the grills, wipe them down with a damp towel. Dry them. Empty, rinse, and dry the drip pan. The entire process takes less time to do than to write about. Wink

Regards, Mike
S stuartMember
Here's my recommnedation on cleaning your smoker. I always line the bottom and the top of the woodbox with aluminum foil. I recommned that you change it after each use, unless you are doing continuous cooking then I change it once a day.

I remove the grills out of the smoker as soon as I finish cooking and throw them into the shink to soak. Then I wipe down the side walls with a damp cloth. This will take most of the grease off without removing the seasoning. I then remove the aluminum foil and wipe the bottom out with some 409.

About once a month or about every 15 to 20 times I cook, I take a plastic scrapper and scrap the side walls down. I normally reseason the unit after this cleaning for about 2 hours with 6 oz. of wood (I have a model 150) in a Smokette I wouldn't use more than 4 oz. to reseason.

The biggest thing you want to do is to keep dried grease out of the unit. If the side walls get a lot of dried grease on them it can be a real fire hazard. However, you want them to be as dark as possible. The darker the side walls are the better the unit will cook...

Stuart

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