About once a year I contemplate buying a smoker, but then quickly remember the appliances already in our equipment graveyard. 
Somewhere between the bread maker and the floor buffer, I learned my lesson.
I had given up the prospect of making my own smoked food, until I spoke with
Jamie Purviance, the James Beard-nominated author of “Weber’s Smoke: A Guide to Smoke Cooking for Everyone and Any Grill.” “All you need is a heat source, wood chips, and food,” he assures me. “Your charcoal or gas grill will do just fine.”
Hey, I’ve got a gas grill! Still, isn’t smoking an all-day process? Who’s got that kind of time?
“Smoke is really just a form of seasoning. Using smoke for as little as 10 or 15 minutes can add a nice underlying note to quickly grilled items,” says Purviance. “It integrates with other flavors and creates a subtle blend of tastes.”
I’m sold! Or rather, not sold on buying a smoker, and on giving his recipes from “Weber’s Smoke” a whirl. Some key tips to remember:
1. Pair the food to the wood. Delicate fruit woods such as cherry and apple pair well with seafood and vegetables, while beef and lamb can stand up to the bold taste of mesquite.
2. No matter what wood you choose, be sure to soak the chips at least 30 minutes prior to smoking. Dry chips can cause an incendiary flare-up.
3. Just about anything is fair game for smoking (even cheese!) but avoid fruit. “Fruit absorbs smoke so quickly. You can easily cross the line into a bitter, sooty taste,” cautions Purviance.
4. Wood chips can be placed directly on charcoal briquettes or in a gas grill’s smoker box. If your grill didn’t come with a smoker box, you can place the chips in a foil pouch, punch holes on one side, and place the pouch right on the burner (this is what I did, with great results).
5. Smoke the food for about half the total cooking time. Any longer than that, and you’ll lose the taste of the food.
“People love smoked food, but they’re intimidated to make it,” notes Purviance. “Just remember, it’s the oldest cooking method, and was originally done as a preservative measure.” He adds that once refrigeration came about, we didn’t need the smoke to preserve the food, but we still wanted the taste of smoke.
Put this technique to good use with Mesquite Skirt Steak with Salpicon Salad.
