Have you ever tried smoked foods? Or at the barbecue did it occur to you to smoke the ribs? It is a way of cooking food, but also a device that can be used to produce smoke. For this you need a smokehouse.
But what is the best on the market? How to buy one? What to watch? If you have many questions, here we will teach you how to buy a smoker and the keys that you must take into account.
Contents
Top 1. The best smoker
benefits
- Quality mark.
- Useful as a complement for barbecues.
The inconvenients
- It deforms with use.
- Slight smoky taste.
- The box is small.
Selection of smokers
If this first option does not convince you, we leave you others that may correspond to what you are looking for.
Amazy Smoker Box + 2 Skewers + 2 Types of Wood Chips (Beech and Oak)
It’s a smoking box for meat and fish, plus it’s dishwasher safe. The measurements are 21 x 13 x 3.5 centimeters. It’s easy to set up, although the size isn’t too big to hold a lot of food.
Portable cold smoker
It is a mini smoking gun suitable for cocktails, vegetables… It can be used in the kitchen, bar, restaurant, picnic… It offers a cold smoke which acts the same as hot smoke, although it may take longer to achieve the effect.
Smoke gun, multi-purpose, portable, for food and drink
It can be used for almost any meal, giving it a strong smoky flavor. It is ideal for the kitchen, bar, restaurant or outdoors.
It is smaller than other smokers which means better space saving and is more compact.
Lacor 69221 Magic smoker
It is a 9 x 5 x 12 centimeter stainless steel electric smoker. Ideal for smoking foods and cocktails. It cannot be moved to the dishwasher.
FrideMok smoking kit with smoke pipe
Electric, 16 x 6 x 10.5 centimeters. Produces cold smoke for food. When cleaning, it is not good to use a lot of water to avoid damaging it. It’s also not dishwasher safe and runs on two AA batteries.
Smoker’s Buying Guide
A smoker is a product used for smoking. Its function depends on the use we want to give it. It can be to cook the food (and two types would come in here, those who cook it with smoke and those who smoke it to give it a smoky flavor); but it can also be to scare or stun the bees (if you have to collect honey and don’t want to get stung).
When buying one, you must take into account a series of characteristics that will help you choose the right model, the one that meets your needs. But what are they? We tell you below.
Cut
There are many smokers on the market, and some will be bigger than others. Depending on what you want to use it for and how you want to use it, you can consider a large or a small size. For example, if it’s for a small barbecue, you won’t be interested in a large one because it can make the food taste bad (too much smoke). Or otherwise.
In the case of bees, if you have a lot of them and you use a smoker that emits little smoke, it won’t do you any good.
Equipment
The truth is that you can find smokers made of different materials. Those for food are usually made of steel, bricks, ceramics, clay… But the most common and those that offer greater resistance and functionality are those made of stainless steel. In this material there can be different thicknesses. Our recommendation is to choose a quality one because with use it may lose its shape and not work properly.
Type
Smokers there are many types. But for clarity, we can group them into the following categories:
- Charcoal smokers. They can be both vertical and horizontal. Both feed on coal, only in the horizontals the smoke comes from the side and in the verticals it comes from the bottom. They have the advantage of having a thermostat to see the temperature.
- Electric smokers. They are much more comfortable to use and with greater autonomy. You can program the smoking time and temperature, so you don’t have to be aware.
- Gas smokehouse. They are similar to the previous ones, except that instead of connecting them to current, they are connected to a gas source.
Apart from these devices, which are used for cooking, there are also other smokers for bees. These are used to create a sense of danger (because of the smoke) in the bees and make them move away for a while (because they think it’s a fire). This way they are somewhat “stunned” and you can harvest much easier without the insects suffering.
Price
A smoker is not really expensive, quite the contrary. You can find smoking boxes for less than 15 euros and from this figure, other types of more or less professional smokers. Depending on the use you want to give it, you could pay between 30 and 50 euros. If it’s for something more professional, then the budget should be increased.
Or buy?
Now that you have a better idea of a smoker and can make a better purchase if you need it, the next step is to think about where to buy it. To do this, we offer you two stores that we have seen with good value for money and above all variety.
Amazon
On Amazon you will find many items. Not like other products, but not bad at all. There are many prizes, larger, smaller and above all for different uses. As for the prices, if you want and are going to buy from third party sellers, try first if you find it online as they might be a bit cheaper.
crossroads
The other option we offer is Carrefour. As you know, third-party sellers now sell it with the Carrefour guarantee, so their catalog is also quite extensive. When choosing a model, make sure not only is it the smoker you are looking for, but also how long it will take, if it has shipping costs, etc.
Do you already know which smoker you are going to buy?