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Recently we got to attend a cooking school at the home of famed chef Jeff Blank, owner of Hudson’s on the Bend.  One of the dishes that Jeff made for us was smoked quail.  He said one of the secrets to the cooking at Hudson’s was Cameron’s stovetop smoker (their restaraunt sells the smoker in the store). 
::amazon(“B00004SZ9D”, “Camerons”)::
Cameron’s stovetop smoker allows you to smoke fish, game, and meat in the house quickly and easily.  It is constructed of heavy-gauge stainless steel, and at 11 by 15 inches, it’s big enough to smoke a ham or a whole fish fillet. The lid slides on for a tight seal, so food gets smoked, but your kitchen doesn’t. A cool design feature is that the handles fold along the side for storage.  It is fairly easy to clean if you remember to put some foil on the drip tray and spray it down with cooking oil. 

The first dish I made in the smoker was a simple smoked salmon–1 1/2 lb of copper river salmon, a bit of sea salt, some fresh dill and a bit of fresh sage with about 2 tablespoons of alder wood to smoke.  Twenty five minutes later–perfect salmon.   There was a bit of smoke that came out of the corners of the smoker (ok more than a bit until I figured out I had to seal the smoker tight…but with the exhaust fan going the kitchen didn’t get smokey.    You can find recipes for the smoker at Camerons Stovetop Smoker Recipes.  I can’t wait to try the smoked tomatoes.

Chantal pots are manufactured in Germany, where for centuries, they’ve been perfecting the art of enameling. Uniquely beautiful and durable, Chantal cookware performs under the conditions you expect it to. It’s also easy to take care of. The smooth enamel surface is easy to clean and doesn’t require seasoning or polishing.

At the enameling mill, glass fragments (known as frit), minerals, and color pigments are ground down to a fine powder. The formulation and consistency of the ingredients is crucial to the final outcome of Chantal’s enamel finish.

Once the glass enamel slip is perfected, up to three different coats of enamel are applied. Between each coating, the glass frit is vitrified in a high-temperature furnace. This high-firing process “seals” the inner carbon steel in a glass-like outer shell providing a durable, non-porous cooking surface that will maintain the flavor and quality of foods.

When heated, other cookware metals may leach. This sometimes affects the flavor of foods, leaving a telltale metal taste. This is not the case with Chantal. In fact, the characteristics of enamel-on-steel make Chantal’s cookware safe for food storage.

::amazon(“B00004RD9L”,”Chantal Tea Kettle”)::

In addition to their pots and pans Chantal has added on to their traditional line with stainless steel tools. After years of looking for the right fit, Chantal’s president and founder, Heida Thurlow, finally developed her own unique line of 18/10 Stainless Steel Kitchen Tools.

These beautiful tools come with a contoured, well-balanced handle that fits comfortably into the curve of your hand. The hang-loop matches Chantal’s mushroom-shaped lid knob and all the tools are dishwasher-safe and backed with a 10-year limited warranty. Items we tested were the Pizza cutter, several cheese cutters, tongs and a grater. Little touches made the tools a pleasure to use. For example, the tongs lock in a closed position making them much easier to put away. If you are a Chantal fan check these tools out—they fit very well with the rest of the line.

One of the tools that Ms. Beranbaum recommended for baking was a good instant read thermometer–a Thermapen.  It’s $85! That’s a lot of bread.  Luckily on her blog I discovered she had found a thermometer for under $20 that worked almost as well–CDN Pro Accurate„ Quick Tip„ Digital Cooking Thermometer on a Rope Model Q2-450.  Perfect.

I ordered it from Amazon–thank goodness for Amazon Prime it was there just a couple of days later.  It looks like a pen.  The “quick tip” feature means that the sensor is in the tip of the probe so you don’t have to immerse the entire probe to get an accurate reading.

Features include

• Temperature Range: -40 to +450°F/-40 to +230°
• Waterproof
• 5″ stem to let you keep your hands away from the heat
• Data-hold so that you can record the reading and read it in better light or position
• Recalibratable feature that allows you to recalibrate the thermometer by using a ice and water bath.
• Claims an accuracy ± 1/2° haven’t tested it
• Temperature guide on sheath–the sheath is also useful as an extender if you need to use the  thermometer further from the heat.
• Rope, yep it’s got it if you really want to hang it around your neck.  Never done it
• Auto-off in ten minutes–I do forget to switch the thing off.

So far I’ve used it for measuring the temperature of baking ingredients.  Of course soon as grilling season starts back up I’m going to test it out on the grill. The probe might not be long enough for big roasts but it’ll be perfect for those pork chops, chicken breasts, and even tuna steaks.  I’m also ordering a second thermometer for use in my darkroom (don’t want to mix those two up for sure!).

For more information on using this thermometer or how electronic thermometers work visit CDN’s website.