Smoked food is some of the best tasting you can get. By necessity, you have to do this outdoors. I have never done ribs right until I got a smoker. The key to good ribs is to cook at a low temperature for a long time.

A smoker is just right for this. I can put them on in the morning, and just let them go, and by dinner time they just fall off the bone, and taste great to boot.

There are lots of smokers you can get. I just purchased a relatively inexpensive one from our local Home Depot. It is electric, but you can get ones that take briquets. The thing that i like about the electric smoker is that you don't have to do much after you start it. Put your wood chips in the bottom, put your meat in, plug it in, and you are done. I have even left it while we ran errands for the day.

The disadvantage is that it is harder to control the heat the way you could with a smoker that used briquets. But since you are cooking at low temperatures for long periods of time, I don't worry about that too much.

Here is what looks like a homemade smoker that turned out some tasty looking brisket.

If you have tried smoking your meat, you have to give it a try.  It only cost me about $35 for an inexpensive smoker to get started.  You can always upgrade later if you like it.