Smokin' in the kitchen.

Byline: Jim Boyd The Register-Guard

If you want to add smoke flavor to food, there's a way to do it without resorting to an outdoor grill or a bottle of liquid smoke. A $50 cooking utensil called a stovetop smoker will do the job.

Chef Mike West, owner of the River Ranch Steakhouse and Three Square restaurant, will be using a stovetop smoker for a cooking class he's scheduled to give next month at Cook's Pots & Tabletops.

Stovetop smokers give cooks the ability to very quickly, easily and cleanly smoke indoors, said West, who recently tested a model made by Camerons Professional Cookware of Colorado Springs, Colo.

"It does a phenomenally good job of flavoring a product - whatever that product might be - with smoke."

The Camerons model is a stainless steel device with four parts: a smoker base much like a lasagna pan on which you put about a tablespoon or two of finely ground wood chips, a tray to keep food juices from dripping onto the chips, a wire rack to hold the food, and a sliding lid to trap the smoke.

To operate the device, you put the pan on a burner and heat it until the chips start to smoke, then slide the lid shut. Using water instead of chips in the bottom of the pan transforms the smoker into a steamer.

West used the device to smoke tomatoes, which he pureed into tomato sauce and then cooked down into a tomato paste he called "smoked tomato jam." He uses the "jam" to make three dishes: crostini (toasted slices of French bread) spread with the tomato jam and topped with a mixture of fresh mozzarella, red onion, oregano and extra-virgin olive oil; a smoked tomato soup also using beef stock and whipping cream; and an entree of steamed monkfish served on a puddle of smoked tomato beurre rouge, a butter sauce he made from red wine, saba vinegar (a thick Italian vinegar made from grape must) and the smoked tomato jam. West topped the pieces of steamed fish with pesto.

Before turning the smoker into a steamer for the fish, however, West used high heat to smoke hard-shell clams until they opened. He caught the smoke-flavored juice from the clams in an aluminum foil "boat" holding butter, white wine and horseradish that he had placed on the smoker's drip pan. He added sliced green onions to the hot liquid at the last moment and then poured the mixture over the clams in a serving bowl.

West made a salsa from smoked corn, smoked chanterelle mushrooms, roasted red and fresh jalapeno peppers, red onion, garlic and cilantro to serve with grilled quesadillas - four 12-inch tortillas that he filled with browned pepper bacon, chopped wilted chard and both Cheddar and Mexican cotija cheeses.

For his finale, West reheated previously smoked tenderloin steaks in a smoked chanterelle mushroom cream sauce and served them with the mashed cauliflower he offers at his restaurants as a starchless side dish for low-carb dieters. He had steamed the cauliflower earlier in the stovetop smoker and pureed it with cream cheese, butter, salt and pepper.

West's practice sessions didn't go flawlessly, however. He complained of getting a steam burn on his knuckles while opening the smoker without wearing an oven mitt. And his plan to lightly smoke and then grill the tenderloin steaks went awry when he discovered the stovetop smoker's ovenlike heat had actually cooked the steaks well done instead of medium rare.

West discovered he had to pay a lot more attention to adjusting the temperature of the 7-pound stovetop smoker than he does with his restaurant smoker. It's a computer-controlled model the size of a large closet or small bathroom.

For example, West said he hadn't been able to figure out how to do "cold smoking" in the stovetop device.

What's more, given the 350- to 375-degree recommended cooking temperature for the stovetop model, technically, it may not be suited to conventional "hot smoking" either.

"There are two types of smoking - cold smoking, which occurs at temperatures of less than 85 degrees, and hot smoking, which takes place between 120 degrees and 180 degrees," Qchef.com says. "In between the two is kind of no-man's land, and above 180 degrees is not smoking but cooking."

The Camerons model (which comes in 11-by-15-inch regular and 7-by-11-inch mini sizes, both 3 1/2 inches deep) is one of at least three brands of stovetop smokers on the market. The Max Burton by Athena brand is a copy of the Camerons design and the 12-inch-diameter VillaClassic Indoor Smoker-Cooker looks like a cast aluminum roaster with a rack in it.

In August, William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins, published "Smokin': Recipes for Smoking Ribs, Salmon, Chicken, Mozzarella and More with Your Stovetop Smoker" by Christopher Styler of South Orange, N.J.

"Smokin' ' apparently is the first commercially published cookbook devoted exclusively to the subject of stovetop smoking, although both Camerons and VillaClassic have published cookbooks to accompany their products.

Styler is a chef who has worked as a culinary producer for several PBS cooking shows (`America's Test Kitchen," "Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen," "Julia and Jacques: Cooking at Home') and as a journalist for the trade publication Food Arts.

He started using a stovetop smoker about two years ago.

"I started using it, honestly, to fool around a little bit, and I found myself more and more involved with it," Styler said. "I really liked what I was capable of doing and I sort of came to think of it as another viable cooking method, in the same way I think about grilling and sauteing and roasting and so on. What it did was open up another option to me."

The publisher boasts that Styler's book contains `36 master recipes for smoking everything from whole chickens to shrimp, plus 95 recipes for soups, salads and sides that use smoked ingredients."

Styler's favorite recipe in the cookbook is Smoked Salmon Gone to Heaven - a smoked salmon fillet or steak served on a slightly soupy mixture of white beans and leeks.

Styler said the question he's most often asked is whether the smoker fills a house with smoke. It doesn't, especially when used with a vent.

"I've never set off my smoke alarm," Styler said.

Stovetop smoking isn't a new idea. The Chinese have been using a wok containing tea and rice to smoke duck probably since ancient times. And, locally, the Willamette High School culinary team won the state championship last year with pork tenderloin smoked in a cast iron Dutch oven.

Chris Malone, the originator of the Camerons stovetop smoker, said he bought a galvanized fish smoker and used it extensively when he was traveling in Europe in the mid-'60s. Then, when he returned home to South Africa, he and a friend who had a holloware company developed the current design.

The smoker was produced initially in South Africa. Then, when Malone immigrated to the United States, he imported a container load and started selling them here "in boat shows and on street corners and you name it," he said.

Malone's company was incorporated in 1984 and now sells not only stovetop smokers but also stock pots, roasters, kitchen gadgets and grilling planks. The stovetop smokers are manufactured at factories in Korea and South Africa.

Malone has owned a stovetop smoker for 25 years. He says he uses it probably two or three times a month.

"Doing things like smoked mussels and smoked oysters and smoked salmon and smoked pork tenderloins and all of those kind of things are an absolute treat," Malone said.

Smoked Salmon Gone to Heaven

2 1 1/4-inch-thick smoked salmon fillets or steaks (smoking directions follow)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 medium leeks, cleaned and sliced 1/2 -inch thick (about 2 cups)

1 can (19 ounces) cannellini beans or white beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup homemade or canned reduced-sodium chicken broth

3 or 4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced

3 to 4 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley or thinly sliced scallion 

To smoke the salmon: Season each salmon fillet or steak with 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Place 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons alder, cherry or maple chips in the bottom of a stovetop smoker. Place salmon fillets or steaks on rack. Place smoker on medium heat. Close lid when smoke starts to rise. Cook until the thickest part is warm and slightly opaque (for a "medium" fillet); 14 to 18 minutes after closing the smoker lid for a 1 1/4-inch fillet; a few minutes longer for a fully cooked fillet. Check 1 1/4-inch fillets for doneness at 14 minutes, thinner ones sooner.

While the salmon is smoking, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and the butter in a large skillet until the butter is foaming. Stir in the leeks, season them lightly with salt and cook, stirring, until they are wilted, about 4 minutes. Gently stir in the beans, toss a few times, and pour in the chicken broth.

Bring to a boil, adjust the heat to simmering and simmer, uncovered, until there is enough syrupy liquid left to generously coat the beans, about 8 minutes. If the salmon is done to your likeness before the beans are ready, remove the smoker from the heat and open the top an inch or so.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a very small skillet over medium-low heat. Scatter the garlic over the oil and cook, shaking the pan, until it is a very pale golden brown, about 2 minutes. Remove immediately from the heat and stir in the parsley, then stir the whole thing into the beans.

Taste the beans and add salt and pepper as you like. Divide the beans between two warm shallow bowls. Top each with a piece of salmon and serve at once. Serves 2.

Note: The beans - without the finishing touch of garlic and parsley - can be prepared up to an hour in advance. Rewarm them over low heat just before serving and add additional chicken broth or water to return them to their original juiciness.

Source: "Smokin' ' by Christopher Styler.

CAPTION(S):

Chef Mike West checks the progress of his clams as he smokes them open in a Camerons Professional Cookware stovetop smoker. Smoked clams and a salsa made from smoked corn, mushrooms, peppers and onions and served with quesadillas can be prepared using a stovetop smoker. Thomas Boyd / The Register-Guard Mike West creates appetizers of crostini topped with smoked tomato "jam" and a cheese and onion mixture.