Cookshack Smoker

It was way back in December, 2005 . . almost 12 years ago . . and I couldn’t think of anything to get Vince for Christmas. I ended up ordering him a Cookshack SM-009 smoker. The looks have changed a bit through the years . . the newer model has a different kind of “control panel” at the top but inside, the pictures look exactly the same.

We have used the heck out of that little smoker. We were in Kentucky when we bought it, moved it to Missouri, then to Texas. I doubt we ever go more than two weeks without smoking something. Salmon, pork butt, ribs, chicken, jerky . . I make most of our bacon, Canadian bacon and tasso. The way I think about how much I love things is this: If it stopped working, would I order a replacement that very day, the next week or month or never? The smoker is one of those things that, when people ask how much I like it, I always say “If it ever quits working, I will order a new one that same day!”

Well, today was that day. I’ve been thinking it wasn’t cooking right. I put a pork butt in it yesterday and it just never got hot enough. Vince has messed around with it. There isn’t that much that can go wrong – thermostat or heating element. He’s ordered both of those to replace but we’ve been thinking we would like to have a larger smoker. We don’t need one to feed a crowd but when I’m smoking bacon, Canadian bacon, tasso or jerky, I could smoke a heck of a lot of it if I had more room. Those are all the things that it’s so much easier to prep a bunch instead of a little, and then freeze it and not have to do it over and over again.

Cookshack Smoker

We ordered the SM045. The little one holds 20 – 25 pounds and has 588 square inches. The larger one holds 35 pounds of meat and has 756 square inches. It’s a pretty good improvement in the capacity. We also got the jerky rods, the cold smoke baffle, rib racks . . accessories that weren’t available for our smaller smoker. 

Vince will replace the thermostat and heating element in the older smoker and I’m sure we’ll continue to use it when we need to smoke smaller items – one chicken, one pork butt, etc.

I think I’ll get some pork buts on to cure so I can smoke a batch of buckboard bacon as soon as the new smoker arrives!