Cookshacks are the gold standard for electric smokers. The Smokette Elite has a 750 watt 7 amp heating element lets you cook up to 300°F. Set the time and temp for cooking with its digital timer/thermostat and use the digital probe to determine when the meat is done. Impressively solid, it is stainless steel and very well insulated so it does not get very hot on the outside. Outside dimensions are 20.5″ wide x 19.5″ deep x 31.75″ high and it weighs 87 pounds. It comes with only two 14″ x 18″ nickel-plated cooking shelves and they say it has a 20-25 pound capacity. With rib racks they claim you can fit 9 baby backs and six St. Louis cut slabs in. Wheels make it easy to move. The optional storage cart/stand (above right) is a good idea. You can also buy a cover, more racks, a seafood rack, jerkey rods, and a baffle that helps if you want to cold smoke. Comes with 5 pounds BBQ smoking wood, a small cookbook and operator’s manual.
One minor caveat. Just one niggling complaint: The chimney is a hole with a collar right in the middle of the top, making it hard to use as a work surface. It also allows rain and snow in. But the biggest problem with its location is that, under hard to duplicate conditions, occasionally, rarely, gray goopy condensation can drip on your meat. The Cookshack people know about it, and they say it can be avoided by drying the surface of the meat before cooking, drying the interior walls, and keeping the chimney hole clean. Some users rig a simple aluminum catch pan under the chimney that clips into the hole. Still, we’re baffled as to why they have not moved the chimney closer to the rear or on the side. Grrrrrr.
