Not so fast there, partner. Just cuz you got your electric smoker up and running, doesn’t means you’re ready to start impressing the neighbors just yet! Unless you have some specialized tools already on hand, you may want to invest in some of these pretty much indispensable accessories below:
Gloves
Just a durable pair of heat-resistant cooking gloves will do. One’s that’ll stop your skin from getting burned and aren’t too hard to clean when they get covered in grease. You’ll be in safe hands with these Steve Raichlen insulated gloves.
Thermometer
Some of the models I review here already come with a built-in meat thermometer probe that will display the perfect internal temperature for your meats. But for those that don’t, I still recommend getting one for yourself. It’ll take the guesswork of whether or not your pork or chicken is done inside- as well as making sure your meats are not underdone and potentially hazardous to everyone who’s gonna eat it. Nothing worse than raw pork… I use this model by ThermoPro. It’s simple to use, has an LCD screen, and has served me well in all my endeavors.
Knives
As a chef once told me, “A blunt knife is more dangerous than a sharp one”. So yeah, you’re gonna need some good knives if you want to get serious about BBQ’ing or cooking in general. Not some blunt plastic-handled doohickey you picked up at Kmart 10 years ago. Try these on for size from Emojoy. Reliable, solidly made, and will slice your smoked beef ribs like butter.
Meat Claws:
Check out these bad boys from Grillaholics. If you’ve got a heavy beef brisket or pulled pork should you’re gonna be needing to pull off of the grill, these will get the job done without your long-smoked prize falling onto the wooden deck and your dog lapping it up. These will also make shredding large chunks of meat up that much easier. They’re also dishwasher safe, so cleanup is a breeze.
Smoking Chips:
Last but not least- for your smoker to run and generate proper smoke, you’re gonna have to of course put some smoker chips into your smoker tray. I like this variety set by Western, it has a number of different flavors of wood (Hickory, Apple, Mesquite, and Cherry) that’ll permeate deep into your meats and create some seriously delicious flavors as your unit starts to heat up.