Performance -
As this was the first time we used the Simple Smoker we received an extra message telling us we needed to season the chamber. This is done by rubbing the inside of the chamber down with oil (vegetable or sesame seed is good. We used bacon grease mixed with sesame oil). Once this is evenly wiped down you run the clean option on the app so that it can properly season the chamber. Doing this helps keep rust down and also adds a little flavor to the mix. The seasoning takes a little longer than the standard cleaning, so you can expect about 45 minutes for this to get done.

Once this was out of the way we set to work in cooking a few things. First was a simple set cooking profile with a Boston Butt Roast at 4 pounds. We rubbed it down with sesame oil, garlic, onion powder and pepper corns. The program set the timer at seven hours. The chamber temp was set to 225 with a meat temperature at 200. The roast was set on the center grill in the main basket and nothing else was in the smoker.

The actual cook time was a little less although this was most likely due to the outside temperature (it was 80 Fahrenheit). We also chose cherry wood for the smoke flavor and after we dropped the first container of chips the system was very good about letting us know when to add more. The roast came out very juicy and had a nice bark on the outside. The smoke flavor was even throughout the roast and it was indistinguishable from one cooked in a traditional smoker. Overall it was a good initial test of the system.
Next up was a 6-pound batch of wings that we prepped with oil and pepper. Once again we used the program built into the app. The program set things at three hours for three pounds along with a chamber temp of 525 while there was no real meat temperature. We still had to use the probe though which was a little odd. We had wings stacked on every level of the main basket and also in the secondary basket.

Once again the reality was a little different from what the program indicated. We ended up cooking for around two hours and 30 minutes for the wings to get crispy. We also did not put in any wood chips (cherry wood again) until the last hour with no refill. This gave the wings a slight smoke flavor which turned out to be a good decision. As we were cooking six pounds of wings we had to do this twice. The second batch cooked a little faster which was not surprising. The wings came out very juicy with a slight crispness on the outside. The flavor of the wings was very good and compared well to wings smoked in a traditional smoker.

Our last cooking test was with a five-pound whole chicken. Once again we rubbed it down with oil and pepper, but also dropped in cut garlic and a stick of butter in the center of the chicken. We put the chicken on the center rack of the main basket again kicked in a programed cook. The cook time was listed as one hour and 49 minutes. The chamber temp was set to 525 degrees with a meat temp of 165. Now for this one we also decided to drop some cut up red potatoes in water and butter. We wanted to see if we could cook them enough to make mashed potatoes. We wood chips throughout the cook.

Here things were a little different. The cook time was a little longer than listed as we had not hit the target temperature when the timer was up. We kicked off a manual cook with the same target temp and chamber temp to keep things going. We ended up needing an additional 40 minutes on the cook to get everything right. The chicken came out very juicy thanks to the butter in the center while the smoker got the outside skin very crisp. The cherry wood flavor was even throughout the chicken and the potatoes. The potatoes were not cooked all the way through by the time the chicken was ready, but it did not take that much longer to get them ready. Once done we were able to take the drippings that were caught in the bottom and make some very good gravy. In all it was a great meal and the Simple Smoker worked very well.