Buying a smoker in China?

[Oli]

Hi everyone, new here!

I've been living in China for a few years but am originally from Montreal. I miss Montreal-style smoked meat sooo much and it's nearly impossible to find here (there's one restaurant in Shanghai but I live in Shenzhen). It didn't occur to me before but someone suggested I could attempt to smoke some myself, so here I am. I have never smoked meat before and barely can cook so I would need to buy a newbie-friendly smoker.

I live on the 14th floor of an apartment building but have a balcony. I figured an electric smoker would be the best to start. My options would be to either buy one on Amazon and have it shipped to China (quite expensive) or buy one locally (cheaper).

I found some electric smokers on Alibaba but most sellers do wholesale with minimum order quantities (there are some exceptions). I also tried some local e-commerces like taobao but I couldn't find anything interesting and to make things worse, there doesn't seem to be a direct translation to Chinese for electric smoker.

Anyways, any advice would be greatly appreciated. I apologize if I posted this in the wrong forum.

Cheers,
Oli

 

[chilerelleno]

Dang'it Man, you're definitely in a bit of a conundrum.
Ask a local.
Have one built.
Modify something, e.g. buy an open coals rotisserie and add a cover.

Also... Welcome to SMF.com

 

[AllAces]

How to Make a Stovetop Smoker
By Cook's Illustrated Published March 2013

 

[Oli]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Unfortunately, it looks like Amazon won't ship Masterbuilt smokers to China. I found a few retail products on Tmall:

https://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=561067215999&skuId=3676556471460
https://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=557107753587&skuId=3452391897320

And here on Alibaba:

https://teklltd.en.alibaba.com/productgrouplist-801862868/Electric_Grill.html

Apparently, I had to search for "电熏烟炉" or "电熏烤炉". Still not decided on what to buy.

 

[flatbroke]

would a pellet grill work?

 

[radio]

It is ironic that most electric and gas smokers are made in China, but you can't buy one there. Living in an apartment I would be VERY hesitant to use anything that produced smoke. Not a great substitute, but in your situation I would use liquid smoke and slow cook in the oven.

 

[Oli]

Thanks for the tip (although I don't have an oven either!). I didn't hear about liquid smoke before.

I think I'm going to go with that one (Fordeary D1701) and leave it outside on the balcony.

My plan was to do the smoking at night to avoid disturbing neighbours. Pretty much everyone here has their doors and windows closed with A/C cranked up at this time of the year. I have a friend who's been occasionally BBQing on this balcony and didn't get complaints.

Cheers!

 

[old sarge]

That doesn't look all that different from a couple of makes sold here in the states. Enjoy!