For anyone who loves good food, finding equipment that makes preparing exceptional food can be exciting. Modern smokers are a pleasure to use; electric smokers cut the job of smoking food shorter without sacrificing the woodsy flavor that comes from traditional smoking. If you are a fan of smoked food, having an electric smoker on your patio can be just as essential as owning a kettle to boil water. It’s a must have item for serious cooks.

A typical electric smoker has a digital smoker which is enclosed with a rack and an automatic bisquette feed. Bisquettes are compressed wood chips that end up looking like patties the size of a normal hockey puck. These bisquettes are inserted into the chamber meant to funnel the smoke to the compartment containing the food. The bisquettes last about 20 minutes.

The self feed system in an electric smoker makes smoking easier than the traditional ways of feeding the fire every now and then to regulate the temperature. The self feed system ensures that you eliminate the hassle. The digital temperature control regulates the temperature, leaving little room for error and guesswork.

The process of smoking involves cooking, flavoring and preserving food by exposing it to the smoke from smoldering woods. Different woods give off different flavors. Some other varieties of foods that can be smoked include pork, turkey, beef, vegetables and even cheeses.

Alder has been used in traditional smoking and oak is also becoming a favorite wood to use when smoking foods. In America, the hickory, pecan, cherry and other wood types are used. There are many other popular smoking woods that can be used. In some smokehouses they use corn cobs to smoke ham and bacon. Corn cobs bring their own unique flavor. Sawdust from tea trees is used in New Zealand for smoking fish.

In the olden days, American farms had smokehouses, where meat was smoked and stored. These would be separate from other buildings to protect the rest of the other buildings from possible fire damage. There are different types of smoking like hot, cold and smoke roasting amongst others. Electric smokers can be used for all the types

Hot smoking food is exposed to smoke and heat. Ham is considered fully cooked after being properly smoked. Hot smoking is done at temperatures of 165 -190 degrees F in an electric smoker. At these temperatures food is cooked if you go hotter than that the food will shrink as food loses its moisture in excessive heat.

Cold smoking is used mainly as a flavor enhancer for beef. Cold smoking allows for food to be smoked for longer periods and then finished off by being roasted, grilled or sautéed with an electric smoker. Items can be cold smoked for a short period for a more concentrated flavor. Temperatures for cold smoking should always be below 100 degrees F.

Smoke roasting is the process of both smoking and roasting at the same time. This is sometimes called barbecuing or pit roasting. Smoke roasting should be done at temperatures as high as 250 degree F.

The advantage of using electric smokers is that you never have to buy propane gas or dirty charcoal. An electric smoker allows you to enjoy smoked food all year-round.