I was discovering, however, that the food produced by this smoker wasn’t overly smoky, even when the device was set to its highest smokiness level. This might be related to the fact that I often noticed it imparted a stronger aroma of smoke than an actual taste. Additionally, I frequently observed that a significant number of the pellets that collected in the waste bin were not fully burned, or if they were, it was to a minimal extent. The device didn’t seem to consume them rapidly enough, but it felt rather wasteful given how few of them were dark enough to produce notable smoke.
Nevertheless! I actually enjoyed the process. It allowed for some laziness, yet I could still smoke food and create a lovely dinner without much hassle. I didn’t have to go outdoors, haul my entire grill setup to the deck, remove the soggy cover from the grill, and brave the rain. Instead, I could just press a button in my kitchen and attend to other tasks while it cooked.
Later on, I seared a yogurt-marinated pork loin on my stovetop and finished it in the smoker, roughly inspired by a recipe from Vishwesh Bhatt’s outstanding 2022 cookbook I Am From Here. This method proved to be highly effective, yielding a delightful sear in my cast-iron skillet before transferring it to a low-temperature smoker, where it could gently finish cooking and absorb a nice hint of smokiness.
The largest piece of food I prepared in it was the last one, a 3.5-pound pork butt intended for pulled pork sandwiches. Following a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen, I brined the pork in a solution of salt and sugar for several hours in my refrigerator then coated it with yellow mustard, black pepper, and paprika. I intentionally omitted liquid smoke from the brine to evaluate the smokiness imparted by the smoker more accurately.
For reasons likely tied to ensuring the pork is cooked in a reasonable time frame and preventing the internal temperature plateau known as “the stall,” the GE recipe instructs wrapping the pork in foil once it reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit. This method of finishing a pork butt is rather unconventional as it forfeits the opportunity for a crispy bark (the exterior), but that’s probably acceptable in a setup like this, which is not aimed at achieving smoking perfection but rather at fulfilling the urge when outdoor smoking isn’t feasible or desirable.
