What Smokers Are The Best?

Electric, Gas or Straight Wood?

I am one to do a lot of research. Everything from grills to bike helmets, I scour the web. I used to have a Brinkmann backyard special, which was a grill and smoker side by side that shared one gas tank. The thing was a beast. It lasted me for years and I had originally bought it on craigslist, used! Last year I moved and had upgraded to a Webber Genesis grill. I had done months of research on that grill and finally decided it was worth the extra money. I can honestly say I would recommend this grill to anyone who wants a quality grill to use at least a few times a week. 

All said and done though, I passed the Brinkmann on and was without a smoker for the past 6 months. 

After a few months of research, I finally came up with a list that had some of the best smokers. My research came down to 3 for the "under $500" category. The frontrunners were the electric Bradley Original and the Smoke Hollow 38" gas smoker. The Webber Smokey Mountain smoker was my third place runner up, but I wanted the convince of gas or electric. 

The Webber was one of the top rated across the web but requires you to start getting the coals smoking before you add them into the smoker. The Smoke Hollow was praised for its decent construction and ability to seal well, letting very little smoke leaking out around the door. Lastly, the Bradley uses bisquettes, or small wooden disks, to load into a heating unit and smoke in the box without having an open flame. The unit has a heating element as well. Therefore the smoke isn't cooking the meat, the element is. One benefit of having the heating element is you can cold smoke meats such as bacon or salmon.

For safety reasons I did choose the Bradley over the Smoke Hallow. Living in the city close to many buildings, the open flame gas smoker was not going to work. Working for a seafood company, I have access to great fresh Salmon and will smoke a fillet within the next few weeks. So far I have used the Bradley twice and it has been great! One of my favorite condiments, Smoked Blueberry BBQ Sauce, was the fist victim in the smoke. After 2 hours of smoking, the sauce came out perfect! This past weekend I smoked a brisket  The entire 12 pound piece needed to be cut in half, but it came out great and was delicious! 

I will keep you updated on the smoker and products I test with it. The one precaution I would make with Bradley electric smokers in general; make sure to buy plenty of woods bisquettes in advance. Cheers!