"seasoning" the WSM....


 
L

Long Nguyen

TVWBB Member
Ok, although it is not necessary to do so, I was thinking of seasoning it. My question is this... Instead of using good Kingsford briquettes, if I was just going to season, it should be OK to do so with cheap Charcoal since I would not be cooking..... Thoughts?
 
Tim is right. I did a test run on mine just to mess with the vents and the temps, looking back I should have just cooked something.
 
Just cook some chicken and that will start the process. Chicken is not very expensive so if it doesn't come out perfect, it won't be a big deal. If nothing else, it will season the pit and also give you more experience with the cooker. You will do great.
 
I had a cheap offset Charbroil smoker once and I thought I would use some cheap store brand (Shurfine) to season it. It smelled bad when it was burning. Afterwards the inside of the smoker reeked of that smell even after I tried to clean it. I only used that smoker about 4 times because it was so inefficient even after mods. It was about 0* out and windy. I threw in a big bag of KB and it never got over 150* I had it several years and it sitting outside at work rusting and one day the illegals at work stole it. If they asked I would have given it to them.
 
I used beef ribs on mine and they came out fine, even though the temperatures were all over the place
 
I agree you should toss something in since it'll be smoking anyway. but (and not to sound like an *** here) to quibble over the cost difference of a half a bag of brickettes that might cost $10-15?????
 
Here's what Harry Soo says. This is a part of his Amazon review of the 22.5" Weber Smokey Mountain.

The key step once your smoker arrives is to ensure you season it properly. New WSMs will tend to overheat until you are able to get grease and gunk on the inside and around the rim where the lid sits to ensure an air tight seal. The fastest way to season is to do the following: Phase One - cover the water pan completely with aluminum foil and run a full load of lit Kingsford briquettes and let it run as hot as it can with no water in the pan (over 350 degrees) to burn off any manufacturing residue. Clean out the ash and proceed to phase two.

Phase Two - fill the charcoal basket 1/2 full of unlit briquettes. Then put in a 1/2 chimney of lit Kingsford briquettes in the middle. This will allow a slow burn for 3-5 hours at 72 degrees outside temperature. Adjust the vents to get 275 degrees on the dome thermometer. Put bacon strips, chicken parts, pork fat, or any other scrap meat you don't plan to eat. The key is to get fatty meats to generate lots of grease. Toss in a couple of tennis-sized wood chunks to generate smoke. Repeat Phase Two at least twice before you cook meat that you want to eat.

Phase Three - When you cook meat you plan to eat, take a tip from me and don't use any water in the pan. When I cook, I just cover the water pan with foil top and bottom. I foil it twice so I can remove the second layer after the cook and refoil it. That way, I don't have to clean my pan. It works just as well, AFTER YOU SEASON YOUR WSM, when you cook without water in the pan. Dry heat allows the crust to form faster on the meat (called the bark). Once the crust forms on the meat, you can introduce moisture. I just spray water with a regular spray bottle to encourage bark formation after the initial crusting (Maillard reaction) has begun. To test for properly formed bark, use your finger nail and scrape the meat surface. If the crust has formed, it will not come off when you gently scrape it with your fingernail. If the crust comes off, the bark has not set (still wet) so don't spray until it sets. Let it cook longer and check back in 15 mins. You'll get much better results this way. We've won many awards with this techniqu
 
John_H said:
Here's what Harry Soo says. This is a part of his Amazon review of the 22.5" Weber Smokey Mountain.

The key step once your smoker arrives is to ensure you season it properly. New WSMs will tend to overheat until you are able to get grease and gunk on the inside and around the rim where the lid sits to ensure an air tight seal. The fastest way to season is to do the following: Phase One - cover the water pan completely with aluminum foil and run a full load of lit Kingsford briquettes and let it run as hot as it can with no water in the pan (over 350 degrees) to burn off any manufacturing residue. Clean out the ash and proceed to phase two.

Phase Two - fill the charcoal basket 1/2 full of unlit briquettes. Then put in a 1/2 chimney of lit Kingsford briquettes in the middle. This will allow a slow burn for 3-5 hours at 72 degrees outside temperature. Adjust the vents to get 275 degrees on the dome thermometer. Put bacon strips, chicken parts, pork fat, or any other scrap meat you don't plan to eat. The key is to get fatty meats to generate lots of grease. Toss in a couple of tennis-sized wood chunks to generate smoke. Repeat Phase Two at least twice before you cook meat that you want to eat.

Phase Three - When you cook meat you plan to eat, take a tip from me and don't use any water in the pan. When I cook, I just cover the water pan with foil top and bottom. I foil it twice so I can remove the second layer after the cook and refoil it. That way, I don't have to clean my pan. It works just as well, AFTER YOU SEASON YOUR WSM, when you cook without water in the pan. Dry heat allows the crust to form faster on the meat (called the bark). Once the crust forms on the meat, you can introduce moisture. I just spray water with a regular spray bottle to encourage bark formation after the initial crusting (Maillard reaction) has begun. To test for properly formed bark, use your finger nail and scrape the meat surface. If the crust has formed, it will not come off when you gently scrape it with your fingernail. If the crust comes off, the bark has not set (still wet) so don't spray until it sets. Let it cook longer and check back in 15 mins. You'll get much better results this way. We've won many awards with this techniqu
Click to expand...

I still don't get the don't cook meat until you are planning to eat it stage.
I build restaurants and yea when they first fire up the cookers they run a whole menu thru to burn off all the manufacturing grease, and that food should be tossed.
But the WSM is porcelain enameled, and there is no manufacture residue besides maybe some dust.http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/seasoning.html

Tim
 
I did something a little different and it seemed to work ok. I sprayed a paper towel with cooking spray and wiped the inside to give it a greasy type texture. I wiped instead of spraying as I was worried about flare ups. When I lit my chimney I put it in the smoker and opened all the vents and had the lid on. It seemed to do 3 steps in one, I got it somewhat seasoned, lit the coals and got it t up to heat all in one move. I let it burn for a while then got to the temp I wanted to cook at and cooked. Oh, and while it was seasoning, I was seasoning my ribs haha.
 
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