Adventures in Smoking
You guys, I have a new toy.
One of the major perks of having my food blog is that I get many offers to try out new products. While this is certainly an awesome thing, I often pass up opportunities presented to me. We don’t have much extra space in our house for a lot of stuff, and I just don’t have time to write much these days, so before accepting, I like to be sure we’ll definitely put it to good use.
Enter the Masterbuilt Electric Digital Smokehouse Smoker! When a representative from Masterbuilt emailed asking if I’d like to test out a smoker and some cookout cookbooks from John McLemore, the CEO and spokesperson for Masterbuilt, I was pretty darn excited.
You see, when it’s 90+ degrees outside, the last thing I want to do is turn on the oven and heat up the house, so our grill gets a lot of action in the summer. But to be honest, lately I’ve been feeling kinda bored by the grill. It seems like I’m always doing the same old things the same old way. Boredom be gone. Now I’m embarking on Adventures in Smoking!
Last weekend, while my husband seasoned and readied the smoker for its inaugural run, I was in the kitchen prepping our first test subject, a 5 pound chicken. I wanted to go fairly basic, so I followed the recipe in John’s cookbook, Dadgum That’s Good, Too!, for a smoked whole chicken rubbed with his special combination of spices and seasonings.
I think I can say without a doubt that this smoker is going to be seeing quite a bit more action than our grill in the weeks to come! It’s easy to use, brings out incredible smokey flavors, and if the chicken was any indication, leaves meats super juicy.
Today we’re planning give burgers and a head of cabbage a go, and later this week, a pork butt, all recipes from the Dadgum That’s Good cookbooks. There are also several interesting dishes I’d like to try on John’s blog, including Four Cheese Smoked Mac and Cheese. Um, yes, please!
You’re smoking a head of cabbage? Can’t wait to see how that turns out! Oh and please invite me over when you make that mac & cheese! You need to have a smoking party!
YUM! As you know, my father-in-law has a smoker and we LOVE when he fires it up! He’ll normally load up a bunch of whole chickens, a few pork shoulders, some sausages, etc. + we gladly take whatever is offered our way. In fact, we have a whole smoked chicken in the freezer that I need to thaw out + make something with soon. Can’t wait to hear about that mac + cheese, by the way!
I’ve been intrigued about that smoked cabbage since you mentioned it at Mason’s. Can’t wait to learn the results and try it on our Big Green Egg at home!