I am looking to buy a smoker for meat and fish, any Do's or Don'ts?

Any thoughts would be appreciated,
thanks

Dave

I thought you were going to offer a gold Zippo with a 686 engraved on it.

No,sorry

It's going to be 18 below F tonight so I'm thinking of smoking up some comfort food

I like electrics for the positive temperature control and timers. In other words, I put the meat in, set it, add the wood, and go to bed. 12-14 hours later, I have smoked meat!

I have a Masterbuilt, if that helps.

I'll probably get a Big Green Egg at some point, just to have something to play with.

__________________
I hope I copied that right

I saw those big green eggs down in Boise last year they are interresting.
A store here has a Cajun Injector smoker which looks very close to the Masterbuilt, might be made by the same people.

My favorite smoker cost me about 35 bucks, I made it out of an old 55 gallon drum....called an Ugly Drum Smoker....
Google it, but here is one link to get you started
I cook pork butts, hams, chickens, all kinds of critters on mine.....works like a champ, and if it burns out, or rusts thru, I have nothing it in, I can make another one
UDS - Ugly Drum Smoker

Saw Alton Brown throw together this setup on the tv that I want to try out. He took one of the big clay cases from like Lowes, stuck a hot plate in the bottom, fed the cord through the hole in the bottom. Set it on 225. Sat it on four chunks of 2x4 so it wasn't sitting on the cord. Put a metal pie pan on the hot plate full of his chunks of wood. Bought a medium and large grill rack, put the medium one in with a pan to catch drippings, then the large one. Put his pork shoulder on it, then inverted the clay bottom that you usually fill with water for the plants and put it on top. Stuck a smoker temp gauge into the hole in the middle, and left it for like 7 hours.

Visited my buddy down at the firehouse a while back and he had made one of these. Looked pretty nifty. And you know how seriously them firemen take their food.

He said he liked it better for smoking than his Big Green Egg.

I like the sound of the Alton Brown clay pot thing too.

Darn it, I read the thread heading and thought I could send you the smoker sitting next to me on the couch. Guess the wife will be staying here a little longer.............Shoo

__________________
"Get Hammered By a Shooboy!!"

You know I have a full blown smoker, but some of my best has been done with a Large Weber. I put the coals and chips on one side and meat on the other and it has worked well.

My wife and I gave our son a large Big Green Egg for his college graduation gift. He makes some fine food on that thing.

Weber Smokey Mountain. Convenient, easy to use, accurate temperature control and available all over. Very reasonable to buy considering they'll last forever.

Here's a link to the web site for WSM owners. The Virtual Weber Bullet - For the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker smoker enthusiast

Bob

Can't go wrong with a Weber Smokey Mountain. I love mine.

I use a propane Rocky Mountain smoker as it has enough BTUs to maintain temps in cold weather as my electric one couldn't. I once finished a 28# turkey at 350 degrees with it after 14 hours of smoking to have it done in time for dinner.
It's well built and can hold a lot in it's several racks.

I also use a charcoal fired Orion Outdoor Cooker. It is a combo convection/smoker and will smoke 4 slabs of ribs in just over one hour and does it well. I've done two briskits in it in an hour and half as well.
The are amazing and downside is the 14# of charcoal it takes regardless of how little quanity you wish to smoke.

check out Lyfetime smokers.....

of course, if you don't have a drum, maybe you can get your hands on a filing cabinet
Downsizer: for a sustainable & ethical future - Filing Cabinet Hot/Cold smoker

I'm sure some will laugh or sneer, but I think a "Little chief" works just fine.