You are a king if you wife lets you smoke everything!! She will still want to roast stuff when she sees the pink meat from the smoker.
That said. You are the man! You will love the smoker. Can’t miss. I’ve had natural gas, charcoal, wood and my suggestion is charcoal or the side box wood ( larger footprint ). The simple, cheap, 2 pan water smoker ($40) will work is as Rich says, can’t miss. Really. Slow and low is the trick. Add soaked wood chips or blocks of hickory, apple, maple, etc. and you will be living large!
Don’t need the window. Electric will work but use the larger blocks of hickory in between the element to create the smoke.
The one thing is that smoked meat looks like it is not done. ie… the meat is pink. If you put a thermometer in it, it will cook at 170-200 which is perfect.
Really can’t overcook with a water smoker. When you want to get fancy, go with the side box burner to create smoke.. they call it cold smoking. This how you do cheese. Either way, you really can miss.
Try a whole turkey. Full pan of charcoal, 12-14lb turkey about 4-6 hours and you are golden. Remember to add a little water and extra charcoal after a few hours. Other than that, you don’t need much seasonings or marinade as the smoker does it for you.
Give us a full report. You will become addicted. It really is fun and very easy. Oh, and spray the grades with cooking oil to make cleanup easier.
