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List Price: $158.39
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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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I saw the Cooks Illustrated recommendation for this and bought one. I spent an entire summer playing with spice rubs and making bbq sauces from scratch and learning how to bbq. The key is to keep the heat between 210 and 230 with a chunk of wood every now and then (not mesquite too strong. I use hickory, oak or apple depending on what I can find.) This smoker rocks because you turn it up all of the way, close the doors and it stays in that temperature range. Just did ribs and brisket several weeks ago, and people raved. (If you do brisket, get a full brisket with the point and flat end and a nice layer of fat on the top the fat will peel off once you're done but the meat will be moist and delicious. It's best if you eat it within the hour or so after you take it off.) If I know I'm going load it with say too much meat (if you put a vertical rib rack on each grill you can load it with slabs of ribs), I just add 6 charcoal pieces on the electric coil 1/2 hr before I put all of the meat in and it gets the temp up to 220 faster real quick. OTHER POINTS: Get a Weber grill thermometer (the one with a nice square at the 220 temp) and drop it in the top vent so you can see actual numbers; the Meco thermometer in the front doesn't provide actual temperature which makes you wonder why it's there. Also, don't worry if you stack the pieces and there are slight gaps. It will still keep the right temp. I've only worried about this lack of perfect seal when I've bbq'd during a freezing Chicago winter, and then I just add a little more charcoal and wrapped aluminum foil around where the top meets the base to keep the heat in, and it worked fine. Awesome smoker for the price. Get an electric (not charcoal-too much work) water smoker it's easy and this one nails the right temperature (which really is the most important part of bbqin') consistently.
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I had never smoked before making this purchase. My primary goal was to smoke fish and thus far, I have used it 3 times to make both smoked salmon and talapia. The smoker was relatively easy to assemble (took about an hour.) The instructions are adequate, but not much as far as recipies go. I went to the internet (salmonuniversity.com was a great resource, with step-by-step instructions on how to brine, prepare, smoke, and store the fish.) I can smoke about 6 pounds of salmon in about 2.5 3 hours. The result is fantastic and comparable to smoked fish I've had in restaurants. My family, friends, and neighbors love it too. Cleanup of the smoker takes about 10 minutes, which isn't too bad. The construction of the smoker is pretty sturdy and I have not noticed any paint peeling as had been described with the Char-Broil smoker. I haven't tried ribs yet, but that's next on my list. I would definitely buy this smoker again.
Honest reviews on Meco 5030 Electric Grill and Combination Water Smoker
I have had 2 of these smokers within the past 2.5 years. On both units, the adjustable power source broke within 1.5 years of purchase. On the first unit, the heating element that attaches to the power source was also ruined.
The warrantee was 12 months from the date of purchase, and no luck with the manufacturer after that period (I called). 50 dollars to replace the broken parts. I bought another unit instead, just 13 months after that, the adjustable power source has broken again. This unit was kept under a cover, indoors, when not in use.
I love the ease of use of this smoker, and the final product it produces, it just doesn't hold up.
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We butterflied 3 chickens, placed 1 1/2 on each rack of the smoker and followed the suggestions provided with the smoker for cooking time. The chicken was moist and tender. Another benefit was not having to check charcoal, etc., which gave me time to make the side dishes without interuption.
