I spent about $100 of a Williams-Sonoma gift card on an Emeril 5-in-1
stovetop smoker. I was interested in just 2 out of the 5 - indoor
smoking and using the lid as a grill pan (can you tell that I moved
from a suburban home with a backyard and a BBQ pit to a condo?).

It's a big heavy (29 lbs) cast iron roasting pan with a lid, and a
drip pan and rack that fit inside. To hot-smoke food, you start with
1 - 1.5 T of the included wood shavings (smaller than chips, bigger
than sawdust) in the base of the roaster. Heat it up on 2 burners
until you get smoke. Then put the food on the rack (which sits on the
drip pan above the wood), put the lid on, and finish on the stovetop
or in a 300* oven.

I cooked a 7 lb bone-in pork butt with the hickory chips. It took
just 4 hrs in the oven (vs 7-10 in the pit). There wasn't any of the
normal bark on the outside or a smoke ring inside. But it did have a
nice mild smoke flavor, and the meat pulled easily. The meat rendered
most of its fat, so that the butt wasn't greasy (nor was it dry).

It's not quite the real thing, because of the bark and the smoke ring,
but it's pretty good. The lid is pretty tight - no smoke alarms went
off, but the condo does have a nice aroma of smoking meat. If you
cook on the stovetop, you should probably have a good hood.

I'll have to save the fish smoking for special occasions (to keep my
sodium down), but it looks like a good tool for chicken and ribs.
It's not so wide (the 7 lb butt fit easily with not much room left
over) or long, so I'll probably have to do briskets in separate points
and flats, and only small flats.

Clean-up is like any cast iron - clean (without soap) and dry, and
apply a thin coat of oil.

Louis Cohen > wrote:
> I spent about $100 of a Williams-Sonoma gift card on an Emeril 5-in-1
> stovetop smoker. I was interested in just 2 out of the 5 - indoor
> smoking and using the lid as a grill pan (can you tell that I moved
> from a suburban home with a backyard and a BBQ pit to a condo?).

Seems like that would smoke up the house pretty badly, even with a
good range hood. How bad did it get, and how long to clear?

bob prohaska

On Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:21:04 -0800 (PST), Louis Cohen >
wrote:

>I spent about $100 of a Williams-Sonoma gift card on an Emeril 5-in-1
>stovetop smoker. I was interested in just 2 out of the 5 - indoor
>smoking and using the lid as a grill pan....

So concerning smoking only, what can it do that you can't do with a jellyroll
pan, a rack, and an aluminum foil cover, a la Cook's Illustrated / ATK?

I tea-smoked a couple of racks of spareribs this past weekend, and the results
were terrific.

-- Larry

On Feb 12, 8:42 pm, bob prohaska's usenet account >
wrote:
> Louis Cohen > wrote:
> > I spent about $100 of a Williams-Sonoma gift card on an Emeril 5-in-1
> > stovetop smoker. I was interested in just 2 out of the 5 - indoor
> > smoking and using the lid as a grill pan (can you tell that I moved
> > from a suburban home with a backyard and a BBQ pit to a condo?).
>
> Seems like that would smoke up the house pretty badly, even with a
> good range hood. How bad did it get, and how long to clear?
>
> bob prohaska

The smoker (started on the stove and moved to the oven) has a pretty
good seal and didn't smoke up the house at all.

On Feb 13, 6:55 am, pltrgyst > wrote:
> On Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:21:04 -0800 (PST), Louis Cohen >
> wrote:
>
> >I spent about $100 of a Williams-Sonoma gift card on an Emeril 5-in-1
> >stovetop smoker. I was interested in just 2 out of the 5 - indoor
> >smoking and using the lid as a grill pan....
>
> So concerning smoking only, what can it do that you can't do with a jellyroll
> pan, a rack, and an aluminum foil cover, a la Cook's Illustrated / ATK?

Not much. I could have got that stuff, and a grill pan. It may seal
a bit better than the improvised rig, though.
>
> I tea-smoked a couple of racks of spareribs this past weekend, and the results
> were terrific.
>
> -- Larry

Louis Cohen > wrote:
>
> The smoker (started on the stove and moved to the oven) has a pretty
> good seal and didn't smoke up the house at all.

Very impressive!

bob prohaska