If you're smokin' in here, you better be on fire!!

May 9th! Can you believe it??? The burn ban has been extended to May 9th for the county and that left me no choice, but to bring the smoker inside. Now let me quell your concerns right off the bat as I won't be firing up my water smoker in the house. I did entertain some thoughts of cooking steaks in the fireplace though!

My indoor smoking solution was to purchase a Cameron Stovetop Smoker. It looks like a long cake pan with a sliding lid on top and folding handles on the side. Simple as could be to operate, I had it up and smoking within an hour of opening the box. Add a small pile of wood chips (looks like sawdust) to the bottom of the pan, place the drip pan on top of the chips, grill grate comes next, food on top of that and then slide the top on. Place the whole thing on top of a stovetop element preheated to medium and let it smoke. Most of the smoking is done in less than 45 minutes.

The smoker came with four sample containers of wood chips (Alder, Oak, Cherry and Hickory) and a small instruction manual/recipe book. More than enough to get you started and hooked on smoking foods. As you run out of chips, you can order more online or you may have a local source available.

Airtight it isn't! I found that out the first night and fixed it quickly with a foil wrap along the edges. (Next time I'll use the oven mitts!) The smoker uses one heating element on the stove to smoke, but due to its' size it may cover two and take away some valuable stovetop space. Since this is just a smoker, you'll probably need to have a grill pan,your gas grill or oven ready to add the finishing touches to your food. Clean up isn't bad if you add foil to the bottom of the drip pan and hit the cooking grate with a non-stick spray before cooking.

This is a great way to do a quick smoke on your food and add some extra flavor to many of your recipes. So far I've smoked chicken breasts, turkey cutlets, salmon and on the veggie side, tomatoes for my salsa. This'll hold me over until the burn ban expires or I save up enough money for a burn ban exempt outdoor smoker!