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PRODUCT REVIEW www.kitchenwarenews.com n AUGUST 2017 n KITCHENWARE NEWS & HOUSEWARES REVIEW 13 Product Review BY GREG GONZALES Navigating my way to an event in downtown Tucson isn't difficult. It 's easy to follow the scent of f resh ribs and pork to the food trucks that smoke them. However, I've never tried smoking at home. Until recently, that 's what smoked meats has meant for me; it 's something a professional serves at an event, a way to enjoy food that taps into our ancestral campfire comforts, but not something I can do in a back yard or kitchen. But in recent years, smoking foods has made a comeback, and is more accessible than ever. Gourmia's SmoCooker combines a smoker, steamer and pressure cooker into a single unit. Since my studio kitchen consists of several small appliances I set on a table to use, I figured this combo cooker could eliminate two other cookers while adding a smoker to my arsenal. The smoker function on the SmoCooker enables users to smoke their meats and cheeses inside, with a little stainless steel cylinder that only requires three to five smoking chips. That means people living in small spaces, like me, won't get smoked out of their homes. During my late-June test of the cooker, daily Tucson temperatures had climbed above 110, so I went with the smoked salmon dip recipe Gourmia recommends for this model on its website. Setup was simple — just clean, dr y, stack, add chips, place lid and lock — and I had my salmon smoking in minutes. This recipe starts with a 20-minute cold smoke, a function great for cheese and other low-temperature foods that uses little heat or pressure. The recipe then calls for a three- minute hot smoke, which adds heat and pressure to get the food cooking, and I didn't have to do more than press a couple of buttons to change modes. In use, the unit looked as if it was releasing bits of smoke, but it was actually smoke infused with steam. It didn't fog up the house or set off smoke detectors, but it had my whole place soaking in the sweet smell of maple all night. The unit is mostly silent, except for quiet clicking noises, and the timer beeps loudly enough to hear but not so loud as to annoy. Once the salmon was done, I released the pressure valve and opened the lid to find juicy, flaky salmon, cooked to satisfaction. I flaked the salmon, mixed the herbs and lime juice into my avocado mayonnaise and cream cheese and then added the salmon. The dip only required about half an hour of prep and cook time, but two people consumed the entire eight servings in about 15 minutes. No harder to use than the average blender, with solid results. The whole unit consists of a removable cooking pot, the stainless steel SmokeCube, two smoker racks, a plastic spoon, a silicon cap, gasket and a measuring cup. A digital display shows the time, temperature and status, and the system features three adjustable pressure control settings. With those settings, the unit cooks food up to 70 percent faster, and can cook up to 4 pounds of food. For more information on the SmoCooker and Gourmia's line of products, visit www.gourmia.com. KN Smokin' and Dippin' with Gourmia's SmoCooker

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