Without question, electric smokers are by far the easiest smokers to manage as they require no charcoal lighting, no constant checking of the fuel supply, and usually no messy ash pan. These are units that are designed to run on very little wood product, usually between 2-5 ounces because the actual ‘fuel’ is an electric coil. No gas, charcoal, or pellet.
You thought you timed the meat perfectly on your smoker or grill. When it came time to cut it, all you found was a gray, dry former piece of meat staring back at you.
What went wrong?
Don’t fall into your old habits when it comes to outdoor cooking, whether you’re using a traditional wood or electric smoker, charcoal grill or gas grill. Learn some easy tips to keep your foods juicy and enticing this outdoor cooking season by preventing the unwanted occurrence of dry smoked meats.
Rhubarb Smoked – I will make a confession: I don’t like rhubarb, a spring to early summer perennial vegetable, on its own, likely due to the very tart flavor. I do, however, enjoy this vegetable smoked and then blended with a sweet fruit.
This is likely why you may not have realized that rhubarb is a perennial vegetable since this is so widely used for dessert items. The rhubarb stalks are suitable to eat but the leaves are poisonous meaning they should never be eaten or added to a smoothie. Since this is a tart vegetable, I am going to first smoke it to change the balance of that tartness. Later, I plan to use these smoked stalks in combination with some smoked strawberry to make a strawberry-rhubarb fool, a delicious treat or dessert.
For now, let’s get about a pound of fresh rhubarb, hopefully from a garden or a fresh market, and meet at the smoker for an easy method of infusing wood flavoring to this tart stalk vegetable.
Smoked Rhubarb- Selecting and Preparing
#rhubarb
Rhubarb is a perennial vegetable that prefers cold conditions to thrive. When first planted, you won’t be able to harvest any of the stalks until the second year, similar to growing asparagus. When ready to harvest, you’re looking for stalks 12 to 18-inches in length with good girth to them. If the stalks are too thin, that means the plant does not have enough nutrients.
Here is a great guide on growing your own rhubarb for those that want to add to your garden production or simply like this vegetable: https://happydiyhome.com/growing-rhubarb/
Once harvested, clean well under water and pat dry. Trim all the leave ends from the stalks as these are poisonous, and discard. Note you can compost the leaves as the poisonous oxalic acid breaks down quickly when decomposition begins.
I prefer to cut my stalks into 3-4-inch lengths. That’s it! Likely one of the easiest vegetables to prepare for the smoker. Speaking of the smoker, time to prepare ours. I’ll be using an electric smoker today since smoking rhubarb takes very little time.
Tasting Notes: Whether to cut the stalks is dependent on what you plan to do with the rhubarb so adjust this step according to your planned recipe.
Smoked Rhubarb- Fire Up the Smoker!
The Electric Smoker for our Rhubarb (smoked) technique
I’ll be using a standard vertical electric smoker that uses lava rocks as the radiator of the heat as well as an electric element as the fuel/heat source. My electric smoker allows me to use wood chunks so I have an assortment of small sizes that total about 6 ounces of hardwood. The double filet wood chunk size is ideal and as a tip, if you note to SmokinLicious® the need for thin chunks, these can be provided.
My set up is simple: I wrap one of my grill grates in aluminum foil, place my element on the lava rocks and insert wood chunks between the element’s spaces. I’m using a combination of maple and cherry hardwood. I add my water pan with about 2-inches of hot water so energy from the unit isn’t wasted heating up the water. On goes my tray of pre-cut rhubarb that are spaced to allow the smoke to penetrate all around. Leave these untouched on the smoker for about 20-25 minutes or until the thickest stalks are fork tender.
The best part about rhubarb on the smoker is it takes very little effort. Trim, clean, and cut to size then place on the grate and smoke. In about 15 minutes time, you’ll see a golden hue come out of the rhubarb pieces. That means the smoke has penetrated its great flavor. Using a fork or the tip of a paring knife, I check the thickest stalk to be sure I can easily pass the metal tip thru. If so, then the rhubarb is tender and ready to come off the smoker.
Cut up Rhubarb pieces in the smoker
If your plans are to prepare this for rhubarb pie, then just continue with your favorite recipe. This step is simply to provide another flavor level and begin the cooking process. Check in with us soon as we release our version of the strawberry-rhubarb fool featuring this smoked rhubarb and smoked strawberry.
What’s your favorite method of cooking rhubarb? Leave us a comment to opine and subscribe to get all our postings on tips, techniques and recipes. Bringing innovation to wood fired cooking with recipes, techniques and the science behind the fire, smoke, and flavor. That’s SmokinLicious®.
Tips from the Electric-Smoker Guy about electric smokers, reviews and how to choose the best unit. Read this and his blog to guide you in looking for a good quality smoker, purchasing electric smokers, analog smokers or digital smokers!
You don’t have to be an expert to prepare a perfectly smoked meat if you have the best electric-smoker by your side. Now, you have to be aware that you can’t just come into the store and ask for the best electric-smoker because that doesn’t exist.
The best unit for me and for you doesn’t have to be the same model and that is why it is important to know what to look for. You don’t have to be modest, there are many electric units on the market which means that you can adjust almost every part of the smoker to your needs.
If you don’t know where to start, let me guide you through the process of picking one for you.
#1 Choose the Capacity of an “Electric-Smoker”
The size of the smoker is the most important feature you can adjust because there is no need for buying a big electric smoker if you are smoking only for your family. If you want to smoke for your family and friends, go with the medium smoker and if you want to smoke for a large group of people, then I would suggest you take a look at the commercial-grade electric models.
#2 Choose the Place for Your “Electric-Smoker”
An electric smoker has to be outside and you can’t smoke in the kitchen if you don’t have a special ventilation, which most homes don’t. Choose a place for it and see if it can stay there all the time. That place should be protected from the wind, the rain and under a roof. If you don’t have that place, buy a smoker with wheels so you can take it out of the garage to smoke it and store it again when you are done.
#3 Choose the Features for Your “Electric-Smoker”
If this is your first smoker, choose the one that has a window on the doors so you can see the smoking process. That is very important, especially for rookies who aren’t sure what smoking does to the meat and how long it takes for the meat to be done. If you are constantly opening the door of the smoker you will lose smoke and the heat. That will prolongate the smoking process a lot. The window on the door should be from tempered glass to withstand the heat and it mustn’t be easy to break.
#4 Choose the Controller
The electric smoker can be analog and digital. The analog smoker shows you the temperature on a temperature gauge and it is not so easy to control it. The electric units, on the other side, are easier to control. You have to set the time and the temperature you want and the smoker will maintain the same temperature through the entire smoking process.
As you can see, smoking is not just picking the first smoker you see in the store and buying it. If you buy a good quality smoker you will be able to control the heat and the smoke better when using smoking wood chips, chunks, logs or dust and that will result in a good smoked meat. If you choose the best electric smoker you won’t have to do anything, the smoker will do most of the hard work. But, if you want to learn more about these electric units you can visit the site about them called the Electric-Smoker Guy:
