Yes your house will smell like Famous Daves or your favorite BBQ smoked food place. I'm not sure why this is a "bad" thing. I cook soup, house smells like soup, bread, house smells like bread, steak.. well you get the idea.. thats what happens when you cook.
TIP: Make sure to wash everything as soon as it cools, then put a coffee mug or bowl of white vinegar on the counter overnight and it absorbs most of the "odor".. if you dont desire the smell.
And about that cleaning, I have used mine a 20+ times and no paint has come off yet, however if it does, it is a smoker and withstands a lot of heat, so I won't be too disappointed. It states in the instructions to line the drip pan with foil; however, I don't think that it specifies the bottom. WRAP FOIL AROUND THE BOTTOM OF THE DRIP PAN! If you don't, it will be difficult to clean. As far as I am concerned, this is as close to an indoor BBQ device as can be, and I'm not going to scrub all the little black dots off the inside of my outdoor grill.. Clean it yes, make it look brand new every time.. hardly. I use an SOS pad on the bottom of the drip pan and the inside of the kettle cooker (NOT ON THE FOOD TRAY!!!!) and it works just fine in cleaning. This IS a smoker and much of that residue on the inside is treasured "flavor" much like you would season a cast iron skillet. In fact the more I use mine the easier and better it gets. Most smoker's require you to "season" it anyway.
It is easier to use on gas than electric. I took mine to a friend's house to BBQ ribs and she has electric. My drip pan did scorch very badly (beyond repair). If you use electric MAKE SURE to not turn the heat more than medium, and babysit it well the first couple of uses until you "learn" the cooker and settings. I went to the Nordic Ware website and emailed the company requesting to purchase an additional drip pan due to the damage I caused to it. They responded very quickly and are sending me a replacement drip pan for FREE!!! Whooooo KUDOS to Nordic Ware for that.
I will say that I took a star away for the fact that removing the food tray is difficult if you need to remove it during cooking for anything. In fact, it is difficult to remove period, hot or cold.
I have read many comments about the wood chips burning up too quickly and the smoker only giving a mild smoke flavor. The chips are only needed to burn out once, you don't have to keep adding more. The instructions say to use a small amount; too small of an amount in my opinion. I use more chips than they recommend, about a 1/4 cup. This is really just going to depend on how "strong" you want the smoke flavor to be, as well as, what you are cooking. You also should close the vents completely for dry smoking and most of the way for wet smoking to retain the smoke inside the smoker so that it is in the meat/food and not the house. The most important thing is to not open it for at least the first 30-45 minutes, or until the chips have burned and the meat has absorbed all of the smoke.
When cooking with this smoker, use the recipe book as a guideline, not literally. Most everything I have made so far cooks in significantly less time than that listed in the recipe book that comes with it. As with most things, you have to learn how to use it and what you like by trial and error. So far, even when I have made mistakes (when I scorched my drip pan), the meat still comes out juicy, tender, and tasty. I don't recommend "wet" smoking anything. I have tried this several times and have not appreciated the results much at all. The meat tastes just like it sounds like it would... like "wet" smoke which isn't very appealing to my pallet. It is still tender and juicy either way.
Thanks for reading.. It's a great smoker, I have fallen in love and I have a feeling my outdoor grill will be somewhat neglected this summer.
When I bought my smoker, the first thing I smoked was Baby Back Ribs. I followed the cooking directions that say to maintain the smoker temperature at 190-200 degrees. The ribs were FABULOUS!!! But cleaning the drip tray was a nightmare!!! Don't forget to cover the drip tray in foil before using.
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I smoke food outside in the summer but it too cold in the winter. I saw this Nordic smoker and thought it was a good idea. It worked very well on fish, nice smokey flavor. Tried it on pork tenderloin according to directions supplied. Good flavor but cooked at 35 minutes way overcooked. Will checked temperatures when I cook meat and chicken well before the called for cooking time.
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This thing imparts so much smoke flavor it's insane. I smoked a 1 lb pork tenderloin in it to make low fat pork bbq. It only took 40 minutes and used 2 tablespoons of woodchips. It had an incredible smoky flavor all the way to the middle. Everyone agrees that it tastes better than most "bbq" places. In my opinion, there wasn't much smoke coming from the unit. I don't have an exhaust over my oven so I just opened a window. The house smelled wonderful, but it wasn't smoky like when you fry bacon, there was no visible smoke in the kitchen unless you look directly at the smoker and watch for the little wisps. The smoke detector didn't even go off.
My wife, however, complained that the smoke was burning her eyes. So that's why there are such varying reviews, some people won't even notice smoke, some people are overly sensitive to it.
If you have an outdoor smoker, don't buy this thinking you can replace a real smoker. Nothing's better than a charcoal smoker. I, however, live in a condo and can't even have a grill, so I'm thrilled to have smoky tasting meat.
Some tips:
Line the drip pan with foil, and wrap it around the outer edge. Trust me, you need to do this step if you're cooking something fatty.
Brine your pork/chicken first. I make a brine with kosher salt and brown sugar and brine it in the fridge 1 hour per lb. It keeps the meat juicy and allows it to cook faster.
Use a dry rub! Leave it on for a day before cooking. It will lend so much flavor to the meat.
Only use woodchips that are designed for this thing. That's not to say you have to buy their brand, but buying big chunks of woodchips like the Jack Daniels chips won't work because they need to be almost like sawdust to work in this.
Keep an eye on the temp. I kept mine right around 200, but it required adjusting the heat several times during the process. You have to adjust the heat depending on how much meat you have.
To get a decent bark on the meat, I empty the drip pan halfway through, and add more chips at the same time. This creates a more dry environment, and doesn't give it a "wet smoke" taste.
UPDATE: I've now used this smoker about 6 times. When I do rib tips they do get pink from the smoke! Not bad for about 2 hours of use and use 3 tablespoons of hickory. Everybody was very impressed that they came from an indoor smoker.
Also, don't expect this thing to look new after using it. It's a smoker. It's going to get black inside and there's nothing you can do about that. It won't hurt anything, just wash it out after each use to get the loose stuff off.
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Used this smoker on a full rack of ribs the other night, and they came out near perfect. Meat fell off the bone, smoked hickory flavor in every bite. Very easy to use and a good quality product. Smoked for about 2 hrs then threw them on theSanyo HPS-SG3 200-Square-Inch Electric Indoor Barbeque Grill, Black.(Wrap ribs in foil & apple juice to retain moisture.)
Cons: 1.)Your house/apt will smell like smoked hickory for the remainder of the day.
2.)Stains real easy, recommend you line the drip pan with foil. Dishwasher does get most of the residue off.
If your looking for a way to get that smoked grill taste without leaving your kitchen this product is for you.
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I only had raclette once before ordering this, so I don't have a connoisseur's understanding of it all, but I can say that this grill does a great job for my family and I. I like the idea of the granite top better than a metal one. It just seems cleaner and maybe healthier for you. The pans and scrapers are fine and it actually heated up for cooking in less time than the other raclette I had before. The granite seemed to stain a little and was somewhat difficult to clean, but I really don't mind. You only see the stains when it's heating up and before any food goes on it. After that, it's covered in meats and vegetables, and that's all that really matters!
