Abstract: A cooking appliance including a cooking chamber for cooking food items, the cooking chamber having a base, at least one wall and a door. A smoke generator is provided in the cooking chamber, the smoke generator made up of a smoke generation compartment in the base, a wall or the door of the cooking chamber and an igniter in, or installable in, the compartment. A fluid injector may be provided to inject a combustion-enhancing fluid such as air into the compartment. Combustible material, such as wood chips, is added to the compartment, covered by a vented compartment lid and then an automated process ignites the wood chips and feeds combustion-enhancing fluid to the compartment to maintain combustion and generation of smoke for smoking the food items.