With a new baby in the house, I've decided that live fire and hot metal may not be a great idea on the patio. Besides, I'd also like to spend less time tending fires and more time making silly faces at my new daughter. Accordingly, a CS smoker will be added to my stable of outdoor culinary apparati. The question is "which one?"
I've made extensive use of the search feature, so I'm pretty familiar with each of my choices, but I now find myself in the position of having over-researched the whole thing, as I'm apt to do, so I'm looking for some "real world" guidance. I guess the problem is that all my options are good ones. These CS cookers are pretty impressive.
Basically, I've narrowed the selection to the 55, the "new model," or the FEC 100. The 55 is probably all I NEED, so the real question is what do I WANT, and what will keep me happiest in the long term.
As I see it, the 55 will do almost all I really need it to - except for a crisp skin on poultry, which is important to me. Throwing it in the oven or on the grill as an added step to crisp up the skin removes some of the convenience of the pure electric CS offerings. I cook a LOT of poultry.
The "new model" will do the same, but with the ability to fit whole slabs of ribs on the shelves, additional electronic conveniences, supposedly finer temperature control to avoid those swings (I know, but they concern me nonetheless), and a handy little probe that will send that butt into hold when it hits 180 (really seems most useful if you're only cooking one item, though).
Neither of these options will provide a smoke ring without the addition of a charcoal lump or briquette, and I do like a nice smoke ring. I could probably be persuaded to add a piece of lump to the woodbox, but not a briquette. Whenever I'm firing up new coals for my WSMs, I find the smoke from fresh briquettes to be acrid enough to make my eyes water. As a result, I'm a bit reluctant to introduce it into a tightly sealed system like a CS electric cooker, especially given the small size of the exhaust stack.
This brings us to choice 3, the FEC. Now, there's almost no way (outside of realizing my "being the BBQ guy outside the local Home Depot" dream) that I'll ever use its full capacity, or even most of it. However, it's wood fueled, live-fire smoke, which is very appealing to me. It will also give me a crisp skin on poultry and I can use it for roasting, baking and other high temp applications.
However, the FEC is a considerable premium over the others, and the operating cost is presumably a lot higher, too, given the wood pellets. How long does a full hopper of pellets last in a FEC, incidentally?
The FEC also incorporates a number of moving parts, which means a greater number of "things that can fail."
One thing I haven't found any info on is whether the FEC can effectively cold smoke, which is a feature I'd like to have. I've never had any success with cold smoking and I'd like to. Lox and smoked cheese are two things I'd really like to add to my recipe list. Especially lox, which is one of my favorite foods.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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