Smoke Cooking

About 10 years ago a customer came into our store with a brochure for an electric smoker by CookShack.  He wanted to buy one and his proposition was that 3 were needed in order to get the best price and was I interested in bringing 2 in for sale.  I looked over the brochure and said I would let him know.  At that time I was just starting to do some smoke cooking and this unit interested me.  

So time went by and I was using my charcoal smoker and making great barbecue until one day when I decided to smoke a turkey for Easter Sunday.  I had to put the bird in at 10 P.M. the night before and woke up every 3 hours to add more coals and wood chips and at 6:00 the next day we had a scrumptious turkey.  WHAT A HASSLE!!!!!!!!!!!!

I continued to use my smoker for items that only needed between 4-5 hours to smoke maximum and enjoyed the flavor one gets from using hardwood. I smoked game hens, chickens, fish, ribs galore, white corn, etc. Then I decided to get some teeth straightened and for the next 2 years had to wear braces on my teeth, limiting me to what I could eat, so the smoker got put aside.

The braces came off last September but by that I was not ready to get back to smoking foods.  Until….. I went to a barbecue convention in Los Angeles last February and visited some of the manufacturer's booths that we support.  After I was done looking at the new equipment that would be coming out during the year I wandered about to see if CookShack had a booth, that was the smoker brochure that was still sitting on my desk, unmoved for 10 years.  Lo and behold they did have a booth and I decided to ask for a demonstration and sales presentation about the equipment.  After the pitch I stood and thought that it was now or never for this electric smoker so I bit.  As soon as they were delivered to our store I bought one and took it home.

I have never had so tasty smoked foods before.  This thing is a smoker’s delight.  What sold me on it was it has a thermostat to keep the right temperature, the wood chunks do not have to soak, and no refueling, just plug it in and lock the door.  We have sold close to 20 smokers since we took the line on and I do some live demos on Saturdays during the summer.  We are selling 2 sizes of smokers that come in Black or Stainless and many accessories, wood, barbecue sauce, seasonings, etc.  I love it when someone who has one comes in and we talk about what kind of foods they are cooking and they leave with a smile on their face and some barbecue sauce and seasonings under their arm.

We also just started selling THE BIG GREEN EGG.  This is a charcoal smoker/barbecue all in one.  We have not been thoroughly trained on this item but I did see something on the food channel with Alton Brown who was talking about cooking in one using “chunk charcoal”.  I will have more on the Egg the next time I put this up on our website.  

So with Christmas coming these smokers make great gifts and the sauces are great stocking stuffers.  This is a gift that keeps on giving, the gift of real barbecue.  Yummy!