Would love to hear your thoughts/opinions if you’ve used an electric smoker or had food from one...
I have two Masterbuilt's. A MES30, and an older MES40 I was given.
Neither hold a candle to what you were looking at. And it appeared you had come to a conclusion. :thumb:
I bought the MES30, tried smoking some Salmon in it, and set upon modifying the heck out of it. I want my Salmon smoked, not cooked.
Now... it is a proper smoker. But a basic heated box, with a "Mailbox Mod" for a pellet tray and 8 feet of aluminum dryer vent tube to condense out any creosote and tars inherent in the smoke, and to cool it.
When I'm cold smoking Salmon or Cured Bacon, I can observe a 2 degree rise between ambient and my smokers internal temperature with no heat added.
An electric smoker is capable of that close of control. But not with the OEM control. I use an external digital control. I will usually set a temperature I want to target, and my control starts at 1° below set point, off at set point.
The drift allows the smokers internal temperature to continue to drop ~4°, and to coast up ~2° above set point.
This was with an ambient of 68° the times I was graphing it.
I use to always build my own smokers. But never gave a lot of thought to the control of it. Just a hot plate, or an element from an electric range wired to a cord and let her run. A #10 can, or an old cast iron frying pan as a chip holder and let it smolder away.
When it stopped smoking, I'd add more chips.
I used a Bradley puck pusher for about 12 years, grafted to the side of an old Brinkman barrel type cooker. But Bradley decided their pucks were worth way more than I was willing to pay for ashes.
So I went looking for alternatives. And pellets are a very good alternative. Everybody sells pellets around me. Fill an Amazen Tray with pellets and I get 11 hours of blue smoke without touching it.
If I dissolve the pellets into sawdust, dry that, and use sawdust in the same tray, I get 6 hours of cool smoke.
Apple Pellets dissolved down makes some of the best tasting Apple wood Smoked Bacon our families ever tasted. 15 of us ate 3.5 pounds of my Bacon Christmas day. I kept cookin it until they stopped eating it.
But when I do want to cook and smoke at the same time, I set the temperature, and light up 1,2, or 3 tray rows in the tray. (I usually just fill it regardless, it holds 15 ounces of pellets)
I enjoy the ambiance of the smoke smell after the food is done and eaten.
More often, I will cold or warm smoke meat, then finish cooking it on the grill. My Salmon I like to cure, cold smoke, package with a little dill, and vacuum seal. Then I can Sous Vide it, or fast boil it, and serve with some rice. (I suppose you could fry or grill it if you'd like.)
But that is how I smoke food. And I'll smoke anything. Salt, Butter, Nuts, Cheese, Cream Cheese, anything I think might be improved with a smoke flavoring.
For 50 years I used Hickory. Since converting to Pellets I'm liking Apple Wood.
I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks... :wink::laugh: