| No more tending the coals every hour when smoking meats; Meco's Combo Water Smoker offers optimal control, longer cook time, and less monitoring than traditional charcoal smokers. Perfect for smoking chicken, fish, and other meats to a savory finish, the combo smoker coils boil water to produce steam and burn wood chips to produce smoke that, together, more efficiently penetrate and flavor meats while they cook. The combo smoker features a removable thermostat control with low, medium, and high settings for smoking just about anything, from thin strips of sockeye to thick beef briskets. The smoker plugs into standard household outlets and converts quickly into an electric, lock-and-go, portable grill. Two nickel-plated, 15-1/2-inch cooking grids let you cook at different levels. With 351 square inches of cooking surface, there's room to smoke nearly 50 pounds of meat at once. A porcelain-glazed pan holds 5-1/2 quarts of water to last up to five hours for extended smoking operations. Sliding access doors make it easy to check water levels and add more if necessary. Meco designed this smoker so that you can add wood and water without even removing the cover, so heat loss is minimal and meats are tender. A 1,650-watt heating element ensures even heat distribution from top to bottom. Heat-resistant wood handles on the sides and hood mean easy transport and monitoring. And, the grids inside are equipped with durable handles, so there's no messy oven mitt to clean afterward! --Brian Olson |
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 I love this smoker |
| Review Date: September 12, 2005 |
| Reviewer: K. Weber, |
| I had never smoked before making this purchase. My primary goal was to smoke fish and thus far, I have used it 3 times to make both smoked salmon and talapia. The smoker was relatively easy to assemble (took about an hour.) The instructions are adequate, but not much as far as recipies go. I went to the internet (salmonuniversity.com was a great resource, with step-by-step instructions on how to brine, prepare, smoke, and store the fish.) I can smoke about 6 pounds of salmon in about 2.5 - 3 hours. The result is fantastic and comparable to smoked fish I've had in restaurants. My family, friends, and neighbors love it too. Cleanup of the smoker takes about 10 minutes, which isn't too bad. The construction of the smoker is pretty sturdy and I have not noticed any paint peeling as had been described with the Char-Broil smoker. I haven't tried ribs yet, but that's next on my list. I would definitely buy this smoker again. |
Love this water smoker - stays in the bbqin' range consistently
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| Review Date: May 15, 2007 |
| Reviewer: M. Walton, Chicago, IL USA |
| I saw the Cooks Illustrated recommendation for this and bought one. I spent an entire summer playing with spice rubs and making bbq sauces from scratch and learning how to bbq. The key is to keep the heat between 210 and 230 with a chunk of wood every now and then (not mesquite - too strong. I use hickory, oak or apple depending on what I can find.) This smoker rocks because you turn it up all of the way, close the doors and it stays in that temperature range. Just did ribs and brisket several weeks ago, and people raved. (If you do brisket, get a full brisket with the point and flat end and a nice layer of fat on the top - the fat will peel off once you're done but the meat will be moist and delicious. It's best if you eat it within the hour or so after you take it off.) If I know I'm going load it with say too much meat (if you put a vertical rib rack on each grill you can load it with slabs of ribs), I just add 6 charcoal pieces on the electric coil 1/2 hr before I put all of the meat in and it gets the temp up to 220 faster real quick. OTHER POINTS: Get a Weber grill thermometer (the one with a nice square at the 220 temp) and drop it in the top vent so you can see actual numbers; the Meco thermometer in the front doesn't provide actual temperature which makes you wonder why it's there. Also, don't worry if you stack the pieces and there are slight gaps. It will still keep the right temp. I've only worried about this lack of perfect seal when I've bbq'd during a freezing Chicago winter, and then I just add a little more charcoal and wrapped aluminum foil around where the top meets the base to keep the heat in, and it worked fine. Awesome smoker for the price. Get an electric (not charcoal-too much work) water smoker - it's easy and this one nails the right temperature (which really is the most important part of bbqin') consistently. |
Meco 5030 Electric Smoker
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| Review Date: August 10, 2005 |
| Reviewer: L. Ensz, Jacksonville, FL |
| We butterflied 3 chickens, placed 1 1/2 on each rack of the smoker and followed the suggestions provided with the smoker for cooking time. The chicken was moist and tender. Another benefit was not having to check charcoal, etc., which gave me time to make the side dishes without interuption. |
I loved mine for over 5 years!
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| Review Date: August 1, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Ken A. Goldenberg, Orange County, CA |
These little Mecos are fantastic! I've had mine for over 5 year now and it has performed great. After about the first year the electric element began shorting out and Meco sent me a new one free within a week.
Over the years I have smoked beef, pork, ribs, turkey, fish, sausage, chicken, veggies... you name it. Here's a tip: I took a small cast iron smoke box that you can buy at most place that sell BBQs. They are about 6 inches long by 3 inches wide and are made for holding chips, and a perforated at the bottom and top lid. I took 4 small "L" brackets and screwed them to the bottom of the smoke box, high enough so the box sits just over and straddles the electric element. I put a couple of chunks of wood between the elements, and then fill the box with chips (no need to use the smoke box lid). Usually I use hickory chuncks and pecan wood chips - Great flavor for pork ribs! If I have the time, I soak both the chunks and chips for about 24 hours, although even at they they will "charcoal over" pretty quickly so who knows how much soaking wood really helps. This is one of the few electric units that has a double door so you can add more wood as needed.
My only complaint is if you are using both racks it can be a little tricky to rotate them half way through for even cooking, but that is true of most home smokers. I wish Meco made a larger front-door model (they look like small refrigerators), which is what I want to move up to for more room for the meat.
Overall for under $100, this little smoker is highly recommended! |
DON'T BUY! - Lasted 9 months: Already THROWN Away - Electrical Problems
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| Review Date: October 16, 2008 |
| Reviewer: K. Laere, San Francisco, CA |
I'm editing my review (thanks Amazon) less than a year later (about 9 months) to tell you I've already TRASHED this smoker. I have run into the same exact problem other have, namely the dreaded electic element/controller burnout. Don't believe me? Check out Amazon's own page on the replacement element (http://www.amazon.com/Meco-Replacement-Heating-Element-Grills/dp/B0000CGEQX/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1247782625&sr=1-1) which gets a two star review by the way. The reviews on the side of the main Meco 5030 page tell the story, as others mention the power problems.
I noticed that the smoker had been having temperature issues and ended up checking the electrode of the heating element. Sure enough, one had cracked completely where it joined the element, and melted (metal) itself so that it wasn't straight anymore. The electic controller had plastic burn marks at the hole and the conductors where burned as well. I even thought about shelling out the $50 bucks to replace these parts, but then noticed that people were having these issues over and over again, even with the replacments!
If you buy this smoker, you expose yourself to a systematic defect since there seem to be numerous instances of this. I can't believe this grill didn't last a year. On top of that, the wire grills are rusted out and have lost their coating and the thermostat is broken as well.
Planned Obsolescence? Perhaps, but they won't be getting any more of MY money. I'm buying a new smoker: the Old Smokey Electric. So long, Meco. There's a reason why the smoker gets lots of one and two star reviews.
DON'T BUY! |
great smoker
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| Review Date: November 2, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Margaret E. Hunter, Palm city, fl |
| this was a birthday gift...we love it, smoked fish the first time and it tasted wonderful. Easy to use, easy to clean. its perfect. |
Holy Smokes!
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| Review Date: December 21, 2007 |
| Reviewer: north_shore_doug, Lon Giland, NY |
| I dare not submit a review about a smoker -- we New Yorkers are smart enough to know to get in the back seat when it comes to BBQ and college football -- but this little baby has done me right. Ok, don't laugh, but I also bought wood chunks online, but we don't have Hickory and Mesquite wild as weeds on Long Island. Took just a bit to set her up, a few minutes more to read the directions twice then get her warmed up. It did a great job on my spiced (and mopped) ribs... can't get those around here either. Bottom line: Got a great price on Amazon (99 bucks and free shipping); the product performed by my no-little standards (easy to use; the ribs were tasty and were falling off the bone... sucked them dry, too)... it's a can't-go-wrong investment that paid for itself after one use. |
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