I am >90% sure I am going to buy an electric smoker, and am doing some last sanity checks before ordering. In my homework so far I have learned of the quality and reputation of cookshack and will get one of those if I take the plunge. I am from the Pacific Northwest, and while we all have smoked food on occasion anywhere in the country, smoking does not seem to be that big among the general populace. But last Thanksgiving my wife heard at work of a local BBQ restaurant that would smoke your turkey for about $25, and we tried it. It was incredibly tasty.... and I keep hearing the same thing on these forums.
While the AmeriQue tempts me, right now I cannot swing that, especially since my wife reminds me I get into things that seem like a great idea but don't find time. (If I do end up doing it regularly, I can see getting an AmeriQue in a few years, having two would not kill us I think.) I do not really know how to cook, but for great-tasting meat I can do the small steps that smoking seems to entail. So here are my questions...
Winter: How cold can it be outside and reasonably smoke with these things? I would hope at least we could smoke for Thanksgiving (Eastern Washington: low 20-30 high 30-50 typically). I am sure that if its colder, it has to smoke longer (and/or the max you can achieve is lower), but presumably at some point it gets impractical for any of a number of reasons. Also, is there any reason most/all of the supplies one would normally keep in a storage cart underneath shouldn't freeze over the winter? I will be keeping it underneath a roof eave (and so the house protects it from the prevailing winds and thus almost all sideways rain/snow) and almost certainly get a cover for it, in case that matters. Could one somehow add to the insulation (I know you can't really tape on asbestos in this day and age, but maybe some kludge could help in cold weather)?
Turkey: how big of a turkey can you smoke in the 14x14 racks (yes, I know the AmeriQue is 14x18...)? I measured a turkey we got recently (about 16 pounds) and it was about 17" long (including the drumsticks, half of which I could presumably hack off) and 12" wide or so. I really would not want to bother to cut the turkey in half: though I do cook the turkeys for Thanksgiving, uncooked turkeys are awfully messy to me and great salmonella incubators. I would not presume to cook a huge turkey in it (the Thanksgiving one for 20-30 can be done at the BBQ store), but it would be very nice to be able to regularly cook 12-15 pound turkeys for the family.
Digital/probes: I know the AmeriQue has a digital timer that can keep it in a hold mode and then a meat probe. But you can only stick the probe in one piece of meat, and it can only go in hold mode at the best time for one kind of meat. So to me it seems that you can only smoke one type of meat at once. Is that right? Bummer, would be nice to have 2-3 kinds of smoked meats on Thanksgiving day. How well does it work to smoke, refrigerate for a few days (sealed up however is needed), then microwave or otherwise reheat the day of serving? And with a Smokette series (or any not as fancy as the AmeriQue), how well does it work to start it smoking before work and come home from work and be reasonably sure you will have meat for dinner?
Shipment vs. in-store: I read that, while its customer service is outstanding, sometimes CookShack does not seem to pack things well enough (or the shipping gorillas do the unreasonable), and things end up loose or dinged in ways that require customer service. That would be a big hassle for me, not only because I am way over-busy. Also, I am not a handyman, so I actually might not notice that anything is amiss for a long, long time. So I am wondering if it is better to buy from a store. A new Cabelas is opening up a 2 hour drive away (Post Falls, Idaho) November 9, and I was thinking of taking my son there in its first week open. Might one shipped in quantity to a store be less dinged up? Even if I saw one there that seemed as solid from another manufacturer, I very likely would not buy it, because I would not know much or anything about the company.
Accessories: Any must-have accessories (I will get a storage cart and probably a cover)? In case it matters, I will be doing a lot of fishing on the lake (landlocked Chinook salmon, northern pike, largemouth bass).
Cold smoking: anyone used the cold smoking baffle? Does it work well? Is it as reasonbly idiot proof as normal smoking seems to be (no doubt with some modest learning curve for normal smoking)?
Those are my major questions, probably the rest don't matter as far as a go/no-go decision are concerned (actually only a few are go/no-go, but I thought of the others).
Thanks HUGELY in advance for any assistance here.
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