Smokehouse Little Chief Front Load Smoker, Low to Mid Temperature Smoker for Fish, Sausage, Cheese, & Other meats, Smoke Up to 25 Pounds of Meat & Fish

Inexpensive but works great. Have done sausage, fish, bacon and pork chops. Excellent choice for smoking

My only regret is not getting the bigger version! This smoker is so easy to use, and produces incredible results. I wish I had known how easy it was to smoke foods years ago. I bought the extra rack, and the plastic drying screens to expand the capacity and smoke smaller items. One of the first things I tried was raw jumbo shrimp. 60-90 minutes and these were the best shrimp I ever had!The smoker itself does a great job keeping the heat at a consistent temperature, and while it seemed somewhat flimsy at first, it's well made and does exactly what it's supposed to do! The front door panel lifts off easily, but also holds in all the smoke during operation. Adding wood chips in the pan is simple with the small door panel so you don't lose all the heat and smoke. You can use this to complete dry meats out to make jerky, or adding some apple cider or water to a tray on the bottom allows food to absorb tons of flavor, but not dry out so you can transfer it to a hot grill for quick searing. I put lean ground beef patties in for about 2 hours, then flash grill for a minute or two and serve. Easily the most flavorful, juicy burgers I've ever had! Finally was able to successfully make incredible baby back ribs myself! And chicken legs turn into a whole new food group after several hours in the smoker, then baked the rest of the way!

Like I said, I owned one of the top loaders in the mid 70's back when it was from Luhr Jensen. The front loader was not yet available.This does what it is supposed to do, smoke! This allows me to smoke what I want, and then I finish it off in one of my other barbecues, or indoors.My old one used to get to 148 degrees, not hot enough to cook, not cool enough to cold smoke, but it can make jerkey. So far this one is pretty much the same. I used to smoke most of the usual things, pork, chicken, beef, fish (sturgeon, striped bass, trout). This time I will be adding vegetables to the mix.The temperature control is not the best when it gets cold outside, but it can be insulated with some thought.The "flavor pan" (where you put the wood chips) burns out in about 20 minutes, after it starts smoking.To those who complain that it feels flimsy, This one is the same as I remember, not meant to be sat on, but sturdy enough to last many years.For those who are looking for a "low and slow" smoker, this will not work! This is really for smoking what you put into it, not cooking it. This does not get hot enough.One of the things I like is the electrical cord can be removed from the smoker for storage, this is an awesome upgrade.

Shame on me for not reading up on the description and previous reviews first before buying this thing. While it works fine, 165 degrees is not hot enough to cook anything but very thin strips of meat (i.e. beef jerky, thinly sliced salmon fillets). While I'm planning on keeping the Little Chief, I'm going to have to build an insulated box to (hopefully) get it to do what I wanted it to do. As far as functionality and design as it is intended, it's very nice and user friendly and assembly was a breeze.**update** I "built" a nice insulating box with 1" reflective Styrofoam board (I just taped it together with reflective hvac tape so it's not exactly heavy duty construction) but it works great now for smoking pork, ribs, chicken, etc. If you follow the same idea, please make sure you make the box large enough for about 6" of air space on all sides as well as the top. It doesn't have to be air tight either. A little ventilation is a good thing. I recommend getting a wireless thermometer to monitor your air and meat temperature and watch it closely the first few times you use it to ensure you're getting the results you want.

Ok, I bought this for a friend of mine, I have the larger version that I have used for at least 20 years. This is a SMOKER. You put your stuff in the box, add some chips, plug it in and smoke your item. Unless you're smoking fish, don't expect this smoke-box to cook your dinner. For fish, it will give you a nice "wet-smoked" fish. For beef, pork, chicken, it will give you excellent smokey flavor. You'll still need to cook the item on a BBQ, Air Fryer, Oven etc. I've smoked pork chops, chicken, brisket and rib roasts and it works excellent. After smoking, the item goes into the oven and cooks like normal. I highly recommend this "Smoker".

This smoker is good for making maybe beef jerky it might smoke fish. This thing runs at a very low temperature do not buy this and think you're going to be able to cook ribs or maybe a pork shoulder or how about a beef brisket. It won't do it and once you buy it and find out by using it you're stuck with it. Do not buy spend a hundred more dollars and get a good one. Please note big chief is the same it has the same heating element I bought this and I wanted to let you know it sucks. That is my honest answer I do not recommend run.

After many years and pounds of salmon and jerky, my old faithful burned out. I ordered a new one not realizing I could just replace the heating element. Oh well, it was getting pretty funky anyway. New one arrived and I had salmon marinated and waiting. Fired that sucker up and walked away. About a hour later I checked and it was cold. I tried another outlet but no heat. I called Smokhouse Products and a very helpful woman talked me through some steps to try and fix it to no avail. She then send me a new element and now I'm back in business. Highly recommend buying from them.

I have done two batches of smoked salmon. The first batch was more like salmon jerky because I left it in for too long. Still fabulous.Did a second batch with the basic brine recipe. Just two smokes and then only 12 hours. Delicious and still moist.Meat next!

Esta súper fácil de usar y el resultado es un ahumado excelente, la verdad es una súper buena compra , lo usamos ya para varias reuniones y ha sido todo un éxito...

I am using it only to apply smoke to the beef jerky or salmon (approximately 1 and a half hrs at the ambient temperature) and after that finishing product in my air drier. Works perfectly with consistent results. The smoker is very compact, easy to store, but at the same time big enough for a batch of jerky or salmon.

easy to use and easy to put together. highly recommend this product !

This is my first time smoking so this smoker was perfect to get started with. I was a bit nervous smoking meats, having to use the Prague curing salt #1, plus I was reducing the sodium. For the jerky I simple avoided all the salt and used celery powder I dehydrated myself. The jerky was so good I did a few more batches for winter.I was smoking as we came into the fall weather so it was a bit cooler out. I ended up ordering the insulation cover which helped. But in the meantime I used a heavy old bath towel and clipped it with a hair clip. It actually worked pretty good. No the towel did not burn. It never got hot enough for that to happen... but keep in mind it’s fall weather and I kept a close eye on it.It took 4-6 hours to do the jerky. There is no temperature regulator, so you get whatever heat is there.When I did the pepperoni it too took several hours.The sausage took 2-4 hours... depending on the temperature. I used hard wood flat sticks I sanded down and hung my sausage on the wood and then on the brackets that hold the shelves.I felt a bit frustrated with the cold weather and the limitation of the heat. I wanted to do a larger batch, but I need a larger smoke house to do it.My sausages were taking way too long and went into the night/dark, so I had to finish them in the oven. They were smoked and it was still nice.The only thing is I couldn’t see the temperature gage inside so I would have to take off the door and look, causing heat and smoke loss. Finally I stopped doing that.The wood chips in the pan burn about an hour. So I would do about three pans of dry chips in the whole process with the sausages.I made regular garlic kielbasa... Italian... chorizo... cheese... and just regular. I tried different smoke chips. They’re all good.Next year I’ll smoke more in the summer so I can get good heat in there. But I may just buy a bigger smoker with more control on temperature.I did manage to get enough smoked meats for the winter. In my freezer now!!I vacuum sealed them all in bags.I even smoked the thanksgiving turkey!! Crazy but I managed it!! I pierced it under the wings in the ribs and drove two sticks in it to hang upside down. I had a large tinfoil to catch any drippings. It was the length of the smoker and it was squeezed in there ... just enough for the smoke to circulate. Well it was in there for 5 hours, then I finished it In The oven. The gravy turned out to be smoky. It was different, but nice. Everyone was thrilled to have smoked turkey!! It took 4-5 pans of wood chips. I used hickory mostly, but mixed with some cherry.I froze the left overs. Smoked turkey meat. Yum! And the stuffing I just did in another large pan to keep it separate.Overall I would recommend this smoker. Especially for beginners. I didn’t find the book very helpful. I just found YouTube and googled recipes.Be prepared for your house to smell like smoke after you bring in the sausage. It dissipates eventually... after a few days. It smells glorious!