First, let me say that my husband and I are smoker morons - we need a book titled 'Smokers for Dummies'.But, we have always wanted a smoker, and in researching the electric version of this little unit, I found lots of people were happy with it.I also noticed that it can be converted to charcoal (or vice versa for the charcoal unit) with a conversion kit available from the manufacturer.For the charcoal version, I was concerned about having to watch the coals for hours to assure proper heat, and being able to control the 220 degree temperature which is perfect for smoking.After using this little puppy for the first time, I am quite impressed with it.The thermostat allows for constant temperature control, and allows you to go about your life instead of baby sitting a smoker all day.
The large box arrived with lots of parts, but was assembled in about an hour - the instructions were very good.We immediately put a beef brisket into the unit, turned it on, and added mesquite chunks. The unit came with some hickory chumks to get you started, but we will use those later I presume.The neighborhood smelled like a BBQ pit, and everyone came to see what was going on.Talk about a make-shift party!The 4.5 pound brisket took around 4 hours to cook.Hindsite, I would have brined the brisket prior to smoking it to help it retain more moisture, but it was not that dry at the end.A little BBQ sauce on the cooked meat handled that problem.
The unit recommends using wood chunks, not chips.It tells you to put the chunks on top of the electric coils.Not only did I find this difficult to do (balance the wood on the electric coils) but I found that even after soaking the chunks for a hour or more, I had to replace them every hour or so (I used 2 each time).They tended to burn up, and I suspect that is why the brisket was a bit dry (that, and I bought the brisket at a super market near-by who sells 'select' meat, so there was little if any marbling in the meat).
But the taste and the flavor of the brisket was great.Lots of mesquite smoke flavor.We sliced it very thin (as I had said, the meat had little marbling, so tenderness was not the poor brisket's forte).Added some BBQ sauce, and served it up with potatoes, beans and corn bread.As good as any high priced BBQ pit in the area.I was thoroughly pleased.
My one neighbor was shocked that we would purchase an electric version of this unit.He has a charcoal one.He said 'You will miss all of the the flavor with electric!Why not just steam the meat?'.Well, he ate those words right after he ate some of the brisket.We actually got more flavor out of this unit than he gets from his charcoal one because it is difficult to add wood to his, and simple to add it to this one!I would challenge anyone who says you can not get flavor from an electric smoker if you use wood to flavor the meat.
On the positive side of this unit:Great flavor, simple to assemble (allow an hour and have a screw driver and a pliers ready), easy to use (no replacing charcoal), the water container is 5.5 quarts - enough for 5 hours of smoking, doors to add additional wood or water as needed, the bullet shape is attractive on the patio, it has a thermostat and a temperature gauge (although the settings are only low/medium/high and warm/ideal/hot respectively this seems to be adequate), easy to clean, you can add wood and water without removing the cover or meat - heat loss is minimal, .
On the negative side of this unit:There are some gaps where the lid sits on the top of the unit so some smoke is lost (on the plus side, this attracts curious neighbors!), the instructions are for the charcoal version - not the electric one - you are pretty much on your own, it tends to run a bit hot so once heated I would recommend turning the control to 'medium-high' to continue the cooking and maintain that 220 degree temperature, it burned up the wood chunks instead of allowing them to smolder - decreasing the temperature should help this some, cleaning the bottom bowl requires loosening the electric element to remove the pan - although cleaning this is not necessary each time you use it, some of the body parts were a bit bent when it arrived even though the box was fine - a pliers fixed this problem.
I would recommend this unit to even a novice smoker.We had great success with this unit and our first smoking episode, and plan to use it throughout the year for smoking beef, pork, fish and fowl.It also has instructions for smoking cheese and nuts if that is your liking.
When smoking, I recommending having a pair of tongs to add wood to the fire if you like a heavy smoke taste - makes it easier adding the wood through the available door.
Gee, I wonder what smoked beer would taste like?
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Sometimes, I tell myself sternly, you don't *have* to get obsessed. I could have spent a lot more money for a smoker, but I wasn't sure that I'm committed to this kind of cooking. The Old Smokey was our compromise between the really cheap, rickety smokers we saw in the hardware store and the "serious" models that cost over $200. And it was the right choice.
