New to smoking, looking for suggestions.

[Sea lyin’]

Killer. We have about 3 dozen oysters that we shucked and froze late last summer and I've been wondering what I can do other than fry them. I will try this!

Nice. Id do them in a couple batches. My recipe might be too salty for you. I used a low sodium soy one time and it was good but not as good. And color wasn’t there. I did 250 last year and vac packed in packages of a dozen and into the freezer. They’re just as good after freezing as when they’re fresh.

 

[Chasin' Dreams]

So i took the ez route and bought a Masterbuilt electric smoker.
I cooked pork ribs in it on the weekend as a trial run. I followed the 3 2 1 method that's all over Youtube. I learned some things, some good, some bad.
Here's my initial thoughts. I used hickory chips but i found the smoke too strong and it lingered into the next day on everything (maybe this is normal?). I tried a lemon pepper rub on some of the ribs and it was too hot for my girls. I need a digital meat probe (will buy this week).
I'm looking for suggestions on milder smoke wood chips, ez to do meats to learn on (no fish lol), and mild rubs for my girls who don't like spicy.
Thanks in advance
PS pics from the weekend

I have an electric Masterbuilt as well and have been using it a lot for the past few years and I like it. Heat stays very consistent and it's a good size for our families needs.

Your ribs look quite under done to me but hard to tell for certain just with the pictures but if you want tender ribs you want the meat to pull back on the bones a fair bit so that the bones are showing at the ends without any meat on them for at least an inch or so. That's telling you the meat will still be moist but tender and not dried out. If underdone the meat will be more dense and chewy and when you bite into it it will be more tough. You'll find after time you'll get it dialed in where your family likes for the tenderness/texture of the meats you smoke. If you wrapped those ribs at the end of your smoke it looks to me like they weren't wrapped long enough and didn't stay in long enough. I do mine low and slow and come out very juicy. Make sure you add some moisture when wrapping like butter, barbecue sauce, or fruit juices etc.

Apple, and cherry are quite mild for smoking and easy to find in stores. I will be trying Alder this year for a milder one as well. It's one of the only ones I haven't tried yet. Hickory can be strong if you use too much for too long. All personal preference. I have found some batches of wood is stronger than others as well even with the same type. Not sure what causes that though. Experiment and find what your family likes best. Ya the smoke can linger for days on things as well. I smoke in my work shop and I love the smell of the smoke when it lingers in there after doing a smoke. Some people don't like it as much.

For milder rubs sauces stick to sweet savory ingredients rather than spicy ones. Use herbs instead of spices. Brown sugar, fruit juice concentrates, coarse salt, soy, teriyaki, oyster sauce, stuff like that are sweeter less spicy stuff you can use for brines, rubs, etc. Lot's of good recipes out there for sweeter, milder curry type ingredient rubs as well without the heat spices added to them if you want something different. I do a Caribean type of curry rub that goes excellent with chicken and pork that has no heat spice to it that my family loves. Makes a killer chowder as well.