Brand new HastyBake 357 Pro

[ecowper]

Looking forward to hearing about your 357 adventures

[perry green]

Hah! Thanks!!!
Any advice would be appreciated.

[tiewunon]

Congrats on the new cooker. I enjoy my Gourmet 257 alot. Have only had one wild ride/kabuki dance temp wise since I picked it up.

[perry green]

Thank you!!! Yes the seal on the 357 looks pretty tight. Gonna do it this weekend. I'll let you know how it went

[ecowper]

10 years ago, when I got my Gourmet, I wiped the interior with a light coat of vegetable oil (canola, I think), loaded the firebox with about 1 full weber chimney of lump charcoal and burned it until it was gone. I kept the firebox high up and distributed the lump evenly and let the cooker run like that until all the charcoal was burnt out.

After I did that, I started cooked normally on it. At the beginning, I had a lot of temp control issues. I solved those through sealing the firebox door. I don't think you should have to do that on the 357

[perry green]

Thanks for the response. You know I just might do both. I never thought to use pam. On my WSM's it was just a couple of big honker fatties. Something cheap that I didn't care about.

(But hey if they turn out I'll eat 'em!)

BTW Did you wipe out and burn off all the factory crap first? It's such a big cooker and it's winter. Feelin' kind of lazy in the cold...

[Smoldering Flea]

Going through the same process. Being stainless, i don't think you need to season as you would more rust-susceptible materials, but thus far temperature control has been a doozy. There's a guy on the FB group with a 357 who seems to have his temperatures locked in and the inside of his was almost all black with residue. I doubt you can get that with a coating of pam, so i think the your fattie idea is the right one.

[perry green]

Hi I just received and put together a hasty bake 357 pro. Wondering about seasoning it like my other cookers.
I'm sure I need to wipe it down and light it up to burn off the factory residue but should I wipe season it with cooking oil / fat etc?
Just cook a couple of fatties? Hope this is in the right category...