It’s tough to make good barbecue in your kitchen, but that may be changing thanks to the GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker. This countertop-sized smoker (measuring 16.5 inches wide, 16 inches tall, and 20 inches deep) is the first of its kind, allowing you to easily smoke food indoors without setting off your fire alarm due to an active smoke filtration system.
Honestly, the system seems a bit like magic: it burns wood pellets and converts the smoke into warm air for cooking, giving food that smokey flavor without any actual smoke. The device uses the same pellets you would use for a standard pellet grill or smoker but uses far fewer than a traditional grill. There are no filters to clean, only a small water tank that collects and extinguishes the pellets plus the racks are dishwasher safe. This simplicity makes it the easiest smoker to clean, turning smoking from an arduous process to an easy everyday cooking option – and one you can easily do in an apartment or during inclement weather.
It’s also designed to be easy to use, even if you aren’t a professional pitmaster. The smoker has six preset cooking modes for different types of meat, so all you have to do is turn the dial to brisket, ribs, pork butt, wings, chicken, or salmon. If you want to cook anything else, like veggies or sides, you can customize the time and temperature manually. You can also control the exact level of smokey flavor: because the smoker uses a separate heat source for burning pellets and cooking food, you can turn the smoke up or down while continuing to cook at a consistent temperature. A built-in temperature probe will let you monitor cooking for the perfect results.
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And the GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker can feed a crowd: you can cook three racks of ribs (cut in half), a brisket (cut in half), a whole chicken, a 14-pound pork butt, or 40 chicken wings. It will also hold food at a safe temperature for up to 24 hours, so it’s hot even if dinner runs late, something you can’t do with a typical smoker. If you enjoy barbecue – or maybe just want wings to accompany Monday Night Football – but don’t have the space for a conventional smoker, this could be the perfect kitchen gadget.
This indoor smoker started life in GE’s FirstBuild, a makerspace where creators pitch product ideas and GE helps bring them to market. Last year, a highly successful Indiegogo campaign raised over $845,000 to produce the first version of the smoker – then called Arden – for customers. With over a thousand Arden models in customers hands, GE is now bringing the device to market under its own brand. As a GE appliance, it's gaining a few new smart features through the GE Profile Connect+ app, including the ability to adjust smoke levels and monitor cooking remotely.
So what’s the downside? Cost. The GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker will set you back $999, so you probably won’t want to buy it unless you’re dedicated to barbecuing. But if you’re committed to having the perfect brisket any night of the week, it’s available for purchase right now on Amazon.
[Image credit: GE]
Elizabeth Harper is a writer and editor with more than a decade of experience covering consumer technology and entertainment. In addition to writing for Techlicious, she's Editorial Director of Blizzard Watch and is published on sites all over the web, including Time, CBS, Engadget, The Daily Dot and DealNews.
