SMOKIN': Recipes for Smoking Ribs, Salmon, Chicken, Mozzarella and More with Your Stovetop Smoker

Move over George Foreman. In the unique tradition of cookbooks constructed for a specific kitchen gadget, Chef Styler (formerly of the Black Dog Tavern in Martha's Vineyard) weighs in with 95 recipes for the CMI Stovetop Smoker, a contraption that requires just a handful of wood chips and heat from any kitchen stove. Often, the simplest of the book's dishes put the salivary glands into overdrive. Corn on the Cob and Garlic Mashed Potatoes speak for themselves. Smoked Corn Chips take 10 minutes to become warm and flavorful, thus enhancing the Smoky-Spicy Salsa, with smoked tomatoes, in which they're dipped. In-Flight Almonds combine sugar, salt, a bit of cayenne pepper and the scent of hickory for the classic savory snack, with no seatbelts required. Beef Jerky employs strips of bottom round, which are tossed in salt and brown sugar and smoked in mesquite or hickory, then oven-dried at low heat for four hours. Most of the recipes involve a finishing off, or some pre-cooking, in the oven or on the stovetop, since the Smoker favors complexity of taste over high heat. Styler doesn't overlook soups and seafood, uniting the two in Smoky Mussel Chowder with plenty of cream and butter offsetting the mollusks' intensity. Among the more complex offerings, Pulled Pork stands a chance of tasting fine given its dry rub and 45 minutes of smoke. And in a nifty variation, Tea-Smoked Duck with Asian Slaw replaces the wood with jasmine tea leaves. Agent, Kim Yorio. (Aug.)