The Best Meat Smokers Comparison
March 30th, 2012Anybody who loves to eat smoked meat, sausages and fish know that if you want to eat truly authentic smoked food it has to cook from a meat smoker. A meat smoker is a kitchen equipment or appliance that are designed to smoke meat with the ideal cooking (or smoking) temperature.
Smoking makes meat, poultry and fish more tender and delicious. Compared to boiling, steaming and barbequing, smoking makes food taste better and it also preserves the shelf life of meat like sausages, hams and fish. There are a multitude of designs and brands when it comes to meat smokers and here are some of the most popular ones.
The Best Meat Smokers To Buy:
The Brinkmann 810-5301-6 Smoke’N Grill Charcoal Smoker and Grill is a huge meat smoker that can smoke up to 50 pounds of meat at the same time. It is charcoal-powered which means authentic and delicious smokehouse flavor for your meat. It comes with chrome-plated steel grills, an imbedded thermometer on the lid, chrome door for tending the charcoal and water and comes with a 1-year warranty on purchase. It is affordable at around $70 at Amazon.com.
Most who have tried the Smoke ‘N Grill by Brinkmann has given the meat smoker a full 5 star rating because of the outcome of their meat: tender and without a single trace of char. You don’t need to constantly turn your meat as you cook; maybe once during the entire smoking process so you can have time to cook other dishes for your meal. The Smoke ‘N Grill can hold a large St. Louis-style rib in one cooking or 2 large chickens. It can cook about 18 pounds of turkey or 3 pounds of sausages without the need to turn, check or even inspect the meat if it is ready.
However, even with the many amazing pros for the Brinkmann Smoke ’N Grill, many find this meat smoker eating more charcoal than its other counterparts. It will never cook well enough unless it has a full load of charcoal in its basin. It may also take time to assemble but once you are done, it can work twice as hard as other meat smokers.
Check out reviews of the Brinkmann smoker
The Nordic Ware Oven Essentials Indoor and Outdoor Smoker is a meat smoker that you can conveniently use on your oven top or on an outdoor grill. It is basically a nonstick cooker that comes with a smoking rack, a drip pan to hold meat juices and a cover with an adjustable smoke vent, embedded thermometer with temperature controls.
Working with the Oven Essentials by Nordic Ware is fairly easy, all you need to do is add woodchips plus a cup of water or any liquid for smoke and you are ready to cook. The meat smoker is made of aluminized steel and a sleek porcelain exterior coating. It is priced at around $70 at Amazon.com and comes with a limited 5-year warranty.
The Oven Essentials was easy to use and had made smoking easy for first timers. Those who used it indoors using a stove top were amazed that they were able to cook baby back ribs, fish and poultry without a fuss.
It may handle only a small amount of meat to cook but it can smoke really well. When you use the Nordic Ware Oven Essentials, be sure to use more woodchips than usual rather than the ¼ cup manufacturer’s recommendation to make meat smell and taste that delicious smoked flavor you have been looking forward to.
Probably one of the disadvantage of the Oven Essentials is the drip tray that seems to stick and hard to clean. Many users disliked the way the tray won’t even budge at all when you need to clean the product. Recommendation: cover the tray with aluminum foil when cooking.
Read reviews of the Nordic Ware meat smoker
The Masterbuilt 20070910 30-Inch Electric Smokehouse Smoker is an industrial sized smoker measuring 2-1/2 cubic foot with 4 aluminum racks, digital control panel for cooking meat, a built-in air damper, huge side-loading trays and drip pans and grease pans that are easy to remove and clean.
This meat smoker is insulated so it is energy efficient; it has a 24 –hour timer and auto shut off controls making it more efficient to use more than ever. Clean up is also a breeze with the large pans easy to remove, maintain and replace. The Masterbuilt meat smoker is priced around $200.00 at Amazon.com.
There are amazing positive comments about the Masterbuilt. Its efficient features like a digital thermometer, added insulation, huge meat capacity (at 30 pound of meat at a time) and helpful consumer support makes this meat smoker a best buy. Meat is well cooked, flavor is smoke-delicious and the cooking time is reduced to a fraction of the smoking time compared to other counterparts that uses charcoal or woodchips.
Probably one of the reasons that keep most consumers from giving the Masterbuilt a full 5 star is that replacement parts are so hard to find. Some have tried a replacement for a heating element that has gone bad but found out that there is no replacement parts left.
Although this meat smoker is a wonderful product to purchase and can smoke more meat than usual, breaking it would mean it’s the end of the line. There is also a noticeable lack of manufacturer’s warranty for the product which is definitely not good for any appliance.
Read more reviews of the Masterbuilt smoker
The Bradley BTIS1 Original Fully Automatic 4-Rack Outdoor Food Smoker is a meat smoker that anybody would fall for. It is fully automatic with a huge 2,288 cubic-inch interior. It has 4 racks to use which can hold huge amounts of meat, sausages, hotdogs, turkey, chicken and fish.
You can smoke a whole party without refueling; Bradley’s secret is a smoke without fire system through using wood-flavored bisquettes (each burns for approximately 20 minutes). Everything you need to make your smoked meat a success like a 125 and a 500 watt cooking and smoking element that can heat up to 280 degrees Fahrenheit, drip trays, drip bowls and racks.
This meat smoker offers cold or hot smoking methods which can make meat, poultry or fish taste and smell the delectable smoked flavor you have always wanted. Food comes out delicious, tender and without the charred after taste. At a price of around $260 at Amazon, you are really in for a great deal with the Bradley smoker.
Many found the Bradley automatic smoker a really easy way to cook meat. Those who have bought it to replace an old smoker found it much better to use since it is fully automatic and you will never need to turn or move meat time and again compared to other ways smoke.
But most who have used it overtime have found this meat smoker less powerful than other smokers. Most would have wanted a smoker to at least be hotter than 250 degrees but other than this flaw, the Bradley smoker is a perfect meat smoker to take home.
Check out more Bradley meat smoker reviews
The Masterbuilt 30-Inch Electric Smokehouse Smoker with Window and RF Controller is your choice if you are looking for a meat smoker with a viewing window to monitor your meats as they smoke and cook. This electric smoker has 4 large racks and an internal light to help you view your smoked meat, fish and poultry.
A digital remote control, time monitoring and temperature monitoring will help you cook more efficiently. The Masterbuilt 30-inch Electric Smokehouse is very convenient, it feeds on woodchips that can be loaded from the outside. A removable drip pan makes clean up easy and fast plus a rear-mounted pan to take care of spills and drips from the back.
The Masterbuilt will basically last a lifetime with chrome-coated racks and a special meat probe to easily check when your meats are cooked from the inside. The price is also a real sell out at around $290 at Amazon.com.
Most consumers who have purchased the Masterbuilt are very pleased with their choice. This meat smoker definitely lives up to its name when it comes to delicious tasting meats and well cooked (and well smoked) meats, sausages and fish because of its efficient temperature controls, built-in meat probes and glass window that lets you inspect food as they smoke and cook. Adding woodchips to let you cook more efficiently is very easy which makes cooking even for novice smokers easy as well.
The only disadvantage that most users have found with the Masterbuilt 30-inch Electric Smokehouse was that the glass window may get too smoky and dirty after several minutes of cooking which is basically ineffective in surveying your cooking.
Read more reviews of this Masterbuilt 30 inch meat smoker
The Weber 721001 Smokey Mountain Cooker 18-1/2-Inch Smoker is a meat smoker made of porcelain-enameled steel, with 2 nickel-plated 18-1/2 inch wide grates to cook meats, poultry and large fish. This charcoal smoker can give your food the authentic smokehouse food flavor for any dish you want to cook.
Your purchase includes a water pan, meat thermometer, vents located on the charcoal bowl and the lid and a unique heat-resistant handle made of nylon. The Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker is large enough to hold a large chicken and a whole ham at the same time but will never give your food a charred smell or taste unlike other charcoal smoker brand. This meat smoker comes with a 10 year limited warranty and is available at Amazon.com for $299.00.
The Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker is certainly a meat smoker that has been getting a lot of attention especially with professional chefs and consumers who love to smoke and grill. It is easy to use, with a no fuss design that lets you cook and smoke meat, fish, sausages and poultry without any hassles. The cooker may look small for restaurants and industrial uses but it can certainly hold large portions of meat compared to other charcoal smokers for stovetops and oven tops.
The only disadvantage found with this cooker was that it may take a while to clean and maintain. The drip pan must be emptied and cleaned thoroughly to eliminate any smell and aftertaste in meat but all in all, this meat smoker is certainly a great find.
Read more reviews of this Weber meat smoker
When you look for the best meat smoker, do not just rely on the brand name instead, take time to learn all about the advantage and disadvantage of a product. Read product reviews, testimonials and articles plus be keen on manufacturer’s warranty before you purchase. Every meat smoker is different, with unique features and amazing qualities that will definitely make cooking or smoking as efficiently as possible. Different types of meat, chicken, turkey, sausages and fish have different cooking requirements as well so be vigilant and learn all these techniques so you can get the most flavors in your cooking.
