Camerons Stovetop Smoker

This well-designed stovetop smoker makes it easy to give smoky flavor to a wide range of foods.

If you love the flavor of smoked fish, sausages, barbecue and other foods, the Cameron Stovetop Smoker is a convenient tool for achieving smoky flavor without setting foot outdoors (or, for that matter, having to maintain an outdoor smoker or grill for hours). The smoker is a cleverly designed box; a couple of tablespoons of wood chips (included with the smoker) go underneath a drip tray, and a wire rack holds the food above the tray. A metal lid slides closed, sealing the smoke inside the box. It only takes a few minutes on a medium-heat stove burner for the chips to start smoking, and then it takes around 20 minutes to cook a fish fillet or a chicken breast. Different types of wood chips yield different flavors and levels of pungency. The smoker comes with four types of chips (Alder, Cherry, Oak and Hickory).

The handles of the smoker are hinged so they can fold against the smoker for storage, and when extended, they don’t heat up. But they are long, which can make them a little cumbersome to use. While the smoker itself is only 3 inches high, you can smoke larger foods, such as a turkey, a chicken or a roast, by removing the lid and creating a foil tent over the food and the smoker.

It takes a little experimenting to determine how much of the wood chips to use, and how long to smoke foods. My first attempt (to smoke ground turkey for chili) had an unpleasantly artificial taste, but a batch of smoked sausages turned out delicious.

The smoker can be used for more than just smoking foods; it is the ideal size for a roasting pan, and can also be used to steam or poach foods, which helps to maximize the $50 investment of this cooking tool.