Side by Side Comparison of: Nordic Ware vs Christopher Styler vs Camerons Products vs Update International

So far I have only used this once to smoke baby back ribs, they did come out very good , I used a little liquid smoke to moisten them, used a BBQ rub on them and marinated them overnight.It did take longer than I thought it would to get the temp to 190° so next time I will start earlier. I guess because I had the burner turned up high trying to get the temp raised it did discolor my electric stove top around the burner , I did get it cleaned by using a SOS pad but it have me worried that it wouldn't come off.I used probably the 2 tablespoons of the wood chips but I might use a little more next time because I like a real smoky flavor.All in all I really like this indoor smoker, just need more practice. I did use the exhaust fan , but I really didn't notice andy smoke , the house sure smelled good the rest of the day.I had been looking at an out door smoker but really didn't want a big one because I didn't know how often I would use it, so this fit the bill.

This thing is so cool! We tested it out with plain chicken breast, no salt, no seasoning, nothing. Appx 35 minutes at close to or below 200 deg F. And the exterior of the meat took on a beautiful brown color. It tasted great as well, on its own like that without added flavor. (But of course salt would have made it better lol).This is a great small compact smoker, and a good beginners experiment before going all in to buying the larger black cabinet looking ones.

Love it! Works really well, easy clean up and well made.

I would give this kettle smoker 100 stars if I could, I LOVE it! I have always wanted a full-size outdoor smoker, but saw the reviews on this little baby and figured until I got my dream smoker, would make due with an indoor, stove top one for now. This has CERTAINLY exceeded my expectations! I love to cook, and have made multiple cuts of meat in this smoker. Based on some of the reviews, I purchased Update International (STR1050) 10-1/2" Chrome-Plated Steamer Rack to use in conjunction and it fits beautifully! If you're smoking things such as sausage, chicken breasts, salmon...the extra rack really comes in handy!This smoker is extremely versatile, I have used that rack to smoke two 4.5 lb seasoned corned beef briskets at one time in order to make homemade pastrami that tastes better one hundred times better than anything you get at the deli counter in the grocery store!! I've used it on multiple cuts of meat including steaks, shrimp, chicken, sausage and roast (among other things!). One time I managed to fit a 9 lb pork shoulder in this bad boy to make a delicious shredded pork! It was a tight fit and barely closed, but it turned out moist and wonderful. I have also smoked salmon, both fresh and after curing in a mixture of brown sugar/ salt to make salmon that was literally comparable to the $18+ a pound hot smoked salmon we've purchased before from the local butcher. Google Alton Brown's recipe for smoked salmon, do everything except for how he recommends cooking it and instead use this kettle smoker. The lower the temperature, the better…but of course monitor it so that it continues to smoke.This comes with two little pots of fine wood chips but I've purchased extra in even more flavors: Wood Smoking Chips - Oak, Cherry, Hickory, and Alder Wood Smoker Value Pack - Set of 4 Resealable Pints and CharcoalStore Peach Smoking Wood Chips (Fine) 2 pounds. Mix up the flavors to see which you like best with what meats. This kettle imparts a delicious smoked flavor that penetrates whatever you make, and depending on how much wood chips you use, could even be too smokey for some! However, the smell is not offensive at all in the house, personally I feel it adds a tantalizing barbeque smell. It dissipates within a few hours, similar to if you were cooking anything else strongly scented. You can adjust the smoke output on top of the smoker.To help with cleaning, I wrap the pan insert in foil to help prevent any of the drippings from becoming stubborn to get off. The base I sometimes line with foil as it is NOT non-stick, I'm not able to get it 100% clean. I liken it to cleaning a grill where there may be some charred residue on the bottom after the fact so I do the best I can with dealing with it. The non-stick pan that the meat rests on is rather easy to clean however, you do need to use a fork or some other utensil to pull it out of the smoker but to me, it's not a big deal.Overall, I am extremely impressed with this smoker and have even recommended it on Facebook groups dedicated to traditional outdoor smokers, I love it! I have attached some pictures to showcase what I have made, please forgive the quality, I was never planning on uploading this online but just sharing with my family, but you can truly see how versatile it is!

A great stove-top smoker that has made delicious smoky whole chicken, ribs, salmon and cheese burgers.To cook two racks of ribs (each cut in half) add an inexpensive four-dollar steamer rack: Update International STR1050 Chrome-Plated Steamer Rack, 10-1/2-InchIf you bend the legs of the steamer racks, you can even fit two racks in the smoker to smoke vegetables and other thinner items.

OK, so this was one of those products I bought for my husband as a gift, thinking he'd use it a couple of times, it would turn out to be a hassle, and it would end up in the laundry room closet - like most of our other small kitchen appliances.Turns out, we probably use this smoker once a week. We make smoked fish, pork loin, and chicken. I've ordered all the different flavored wood chips from Cameron, and we've had a lot of fun experimenting with different combinations of meat and chips.The smoker is very easy to use, and - more importantly - easy to clean up. You put some chips in the bottom of the kettle, and the meat sits on a grate above it. It's a very low-fat, low calorie, low salt way to cook because you don't use any oil or soak the meat in any oily or sugary marinades. The wood chips provide all the flavor you need. When you're done, you can easily hand wash the kettle, as there aren't any crusty, baked-on bits that need to be scrubbed, and you don't end up with a lot of oil or fat in the bottom.The great added bonus here is that it has a kind of "manly" aura about it, so your husband will likely want to do more of the cooking. We've bought several of these as gifts, too, and everyone has raved about how much they ended up using it. Highly recommended purchase.

I love this smoker. I've made some of the best food in it. The reduction of one star is due to the minimalist manual, more of a pamphlet. It should be more complete. Plus, my manual came all creased and should never have made out of the factory! Buy this smoker anyway, and supplement it with the book Smokin' by Christopher Styler.

This is a great product. It smokes fantastically. Based on how well my meats turn out, I would have given it a 5 star rating. So why did I give it 4 stars? Easy, the lid to the smoker was bent. It still fitted over the bottom piece...but I had to force it quite a bit. I wanted to return it as soon as I saw how badly bent the lid was (most likely due to shipping), but I prepared the my beef ribs the night before and really wanted to give the Nordic Smoker a spin. After forcing the lid on, I noticed a small area where smoke and steam was escaping...which turned out fine because I just closed to vent a bit more to compensate. Despite the defect, the meat came out great. The ribs tender, flavorful, and moist after only 1.5 hours of smoking. I was impressed. I received the product 5 days ago and I've smoked something everyday. I'll just deal with the bent lid since it still works fine.

After a few uses my food came out great however using the smoker can be messy if you are not cautious. I recommend lining the drop pan and bottom of the pot with Aluminum Foil and not the cheap kind either. This can also do damage to your stove top if you have a white finish. Also keep an eye on the temperature as this can not so much smoke up your kitchen but rather have your home smelling like wood chips for a while afterwards.

I bought this because my landlord got rid of our mutual BBQ. It's not going to give you the same outcome as a real smoker, but it's nice to have around. It's a little bit hard to get a handle on how long to cook things, but I sure dont mind experimenting. The smoke flavor isn't as pronounced or pervasive in the meat, but if you're a fan of smoked meats then this is a way to get a reasonable simile indoors.

Not quite a 5 star product though, but I am not sure any indoor smoker would get 5 stars, though I haven't tried any others.The pros: It is really easy to use and clean up. The high dome gives you enough room to smoke a whole chicken or turkey breast (bone in) without having to deal with leaving the lid off and wrapping the whole thing with heavy-duty foil a bunch of times (though if I need to, I will!). The flavor is amazing - very smoky so you have to like a very smoky flavor. I grew up with mesquite-smoked meats and am used to a heavy smoke taste. I haven't tried any of the others because I love mesquite. I'll probably try something else for seafood, though. Anyway, the chicken was perfectly done and moist. I checked it the meat temps with an digital thermometer when I am close to the time. I love having the external temp, because it is hard to know what temperature to set on the stove to get the internal temperature of the smoker between 190 - 210 degrees. It says "medium-high heat", but that was WAY too high. Maybe to get the initial temperature up, but I had to turn it down to medium-low.The cons: It is definitely bulky. I live in an apartment and haven't figured out where I am going to store it yet. The other stove-top smoker is less bulky (by appearance), but is limited by what you can cook in height with the given lid. It definitely leaks smoke, but not enough to set off the smoke detectors. I had on the exhaust fan on high and also opened the window. Someone who used the other stove-top smoker had suggested wrapping it with foil to reduce smoke escape. I think that would be hard with this one, but I may try tending foil on the inside and then shutting the lid to see if that makes it worse or better.Now for the more serious "con" - I have a white electric stove top - the regular kind with raised burners. It looked like the area around the burner was slightly scorched. I was able to clean most of it off, so I think it may have been the smoke. I am going to try to make a rim around this area with heavy duty foil (under the metal ring just above the white "enamel" part of the stove). I think this will protect the stove top and be fine. Since those rings are removable/cleanable, it should be easy to do.All in all, I really love this product and the few "cons" are not bad. I would definitely buy this product again and recommend it to others, but would let them know about the few things I found.

I read the instruction manual and all of the reviews. My ribs were done quicker than expected. Very little smoke came out of the smoker. I used some of the hickory in the box and then added my own small chips that I use on my charcoal grill. One thing I didn't see mentioned in the reviews is have a designated place to put the lid when you take it off the smoker. It leaves quite a mess wherever you set it and drips on the way there.Very happy with this smoker.

I really love the taste of the food from this (extraordinarily delicious), not so much the headache from the smoke. Even though this smoker does not produce much visible smoke and I keep the windows open when in use, I get a headache every time I use it. I inquired with the company, and they verified that it does produce 'low levels of carbon monoxide.' If you do not have an oven vent, I would probably buy an outdoor smoker instead. Also may be a concern for those with small pets.

This item worked until it got to smoke temperature, then the induction burner on my GE Pro started flashing and shut down. I think the burner was overheating since it appeared to work from cold and it worked again temporarily if after it had cooled down. I attempted to try again at a lower heat setting of 4 and it did it again, at a setting of 3 or 3.5 the burner stayed on but the pan never got past 150. At this point I moved the smoker to the burner on my outside grill and it performed perfectly. I had the best, most juicy, smoked whole chicken I've ever eaten. I'm giving this a 3 star rating since it is just about perfect on a gas hob. The base of the pan is very slightly concave which could be causing the problem, or as a result of the heat. I don't know. If this worked on my induction stove, I would rate it higher than a 5 if there was such a rating. Clean up is a bit rough, but hardly surprising since there is hot smoke and oil residue in the smoker.

Will impart some smoke flavor but then liquid smoke does too. Not like an outdoor version. You will not get the same result. I will probably give it to someone.

Makes good food but it's not for indoors as advertised. It set off my smoke alarm and I had to open all windows in the middle of winter! Wasn't too happy about it. I also had to turn the fan on. My house smelled of smoke for 2days!

Works great, easy to clean, meet comes out extremely juicy and tender, but unfortunately after the first use the enamel on the pan started to blacken, and I started getting black spots on the drip pan, after the second use the enamel actually started to wash off. I am also seeing scorch marks on the inside of the bottom on the pan, I followed the directions and am not using excessive heat so not sure why it’s not holding up better. I would have given it five stars but I’m not sure how long it will be usable.

I chose this smoker do to the fact it looked really good in the video I saw. There really was no info on how high to set your burner it just said Medium high heat and that it is good at smoking at 220 so i thought i had to turn it up to get to that degree and i ended up over heating it at first. Make sure you put it at about a 5 on ya burner and let it slowly get to the right degree. It doesn't smoke real bad, but you must turn on your fan or it will have your whole house smelling of the wood you use. It cooks faster then you would expect, meats like Pork Loin and Turkey Breast you may wanna keep an eye on and check temperature after about an hour cause if you let it cook to long it will over cook quickly and make your meats really dry...The one thing that I have notices is that the internal color has already died and looks old and almost rusty and the main cooking tray coating started to peel off immediately after my first smoking attempt so i have to wrap everything in foil so that the coating doesnt get on your food. All in all it cooks pretty good, not as smokey as i would like seems to be lightly smoked instead of giving you any kind of pink smoke ring on any of your food. If you can smoke outside I recommend you do that and skip this internal cooking, its not that great of a smokey taste...its ok for those who cant smoke outside and just want that smoked flavor on some of there meats.

Don't know how this will work out because it is almost a month and a half and I'm still waiting for the product. May be if I receive the product I'll be able to give it a more updated review. So far now, I would give it a failing grade.

I returned it. It would not work on my grill and seemed to be more trouble than it was worth.

The description says that you can use it to smoke food on your outdoor grill.I have a Weber (good quality) outdoor gas BBQ. This doesn't get hot enough to smoke.

States "non stick, easy to clean" Not so fast..Drip pan practically impossible to clean and rest of smoker required heavy scrubbing after just one use. The only component that was easy to clean was the part the food rests on. Comes with pamphlet with minimal instruction. If you want full instructions you have to watch the CD. Very disappointed with item and doubt I'll ever use it again.

I received this as a gift and loved the performance. For a minute. One of the reasons my wife chose this item was because it works with induction stove tops, and it did! Right up until the thermometer registered the target 225 degrees (F). At that point, the smoker stopped registering with the induction burner. If you're not familiar, induction burners only work when in contact with magnetic materials.I improvised and took the smoker outside to continue my brisket on the side (LP) burner of my grill. It performed as advertised, by the way. But when I returned to the kitchen, I found a red ring of recently released powder coating surrounding the burner on my stove top.Short version: Dinner was great. Clean-up was a btch.

I bought this ten days ago 9-19-2015 and finally received it, smoked a Boston Butt on it and it turned out great. BUT after washing it one time some of the red paint on the cover came off, I wasn't pleased. I really expected this thing to look good for a long time, sure it will continue to smoke but how much more paint will peel off after washing it?

Doesn't smoke long enuff to cook a brisket...........or a rump roast..........won't buy again

Bought two of these for Christmas gifts and both recipients not happy. I tried using one of them myself and it is a waste of time and does not deliver a good tasting product. If you are okay with spending 2 or more hours standing over a hot stove or grill trying to keep the temperature at the required 200 degrees, good luck.Not pleased at all. Waste of time and money.....TBinAvon....

We love this product, but after 1 month the paint is peeling off the dome! Definitely unexpected.

Very cheap. Started smoking really bad after the first use. Can a longer use it because it does not get clean and it burns even with low heat. I've only used it twice but can no longer use because of the burning smoke smell. Not safe.

this has sharp edges all around it and raw metal on the plate where your food goes

Liked the idea of non-stick surface but it started peeling off after the first use. Returned it and purchased a different brand with greater success.