Tips on seasoning a brand new WSM 18.5?


 
J

JPGodfrey

New member
My new WSM 18.5 will be delivered (assembled) on Friday. I told the Ace store manager to make sure it's the 2014 model with the silicone grommet for probe wires before delivering it.
I got a 16 lb bag of Kingsford Blue, a Maverick ET-733, grill gloves, and some vegetable oil.
What do you think is the best way to season the WSM? I've read some different articles, but want to start off the cooker the best way possible.
Please share with me any tips you got.

thanks,
JP

PS: I'm also getting a new Genesis EP-330 on Friday, so I posted a similar thread on the Grilling forum.
 
I just started cooking on mine:wsm:
Wash the cooking grates with a mild detergent, and have at it!

Tim
 
Clean the grates and cook something. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Your WSM will be seasoned in no time. There is no need to season the WSM but if you feel the need to practice, throw a chicken on it and cook that. You can cook them high heat or you can smoke them. Either way, you can practice. In general, the skin won't be worth eating but the meat will be good either way.

Personally, I'd do a chicken on high heat to get a sense of how the WSM works and then throw a butt on there for your next cook.
 
Like most people I just fired it up and had at it. About a year or so ago I dejunked mine totally and seasoned it again. I referred to the Q&A session that was done with Harry Soo a while back. You can find the discussion in the summary thread that Chris put together. I didn't go to Harry's extent, but I did a couple of dry runs with just smoke wood to start to build some flavor and then I cooked a couple of racks of ribs before I did anything else on it.
 
Clean the cooking grates, and find yourself a nice fat pork butt. Every smoker and grill I have owned, I seasoned them with a pork butt.
 
just cook but if your adamant about seasoning then use bacon and chicken fat
 
have to admit that i burn-in my new pits also. but its normally at times when i wasn't gonna cook anyway (is there really a time that i cant find a reason to bbq something? heheh)... so i prep and burn-in my pits the day or night before i wanna cook. if your over-eager like some of us just burn a chimney of coals first, then add a second chimney before you put your meat on... any factory residue will be gone.

don't lift the lid...
 
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