If you're trying your hand at smoking (on the grill, of course), Jamie Purviance, author of the new "Weber's Smoke: A Guide to Smoke Cooking for Everyone and Any Grill"; (Sunset, $21.95), has answers to some frequently asked questions.


Q What is smoking all about?
A It's basically about a little bit of heat, a little bit of wood and some food.

Q Doesn't it require hours of cooking time?
A No. It's as simple as when you're making your steak or pork tenderloin. Soak some wood chips and add a handful or two to the charcoal. Witness the difference it can make. It provides a wonderful background to the food. So many people think it requires hours of cooking and clouds of smoke.

Q What type of wood is best, and how should you prepare it?
A A mild moderate strength wood on something like chicken would be apple, oak or hickory. Mesquite would become too intense -- almost turning the chicken bitter. I think hickory is the most useful for a variety of foods. It's nice and people are familiar with it.
Wood chips need to be soaked in water at least 30 minutes so they will not ignite or burn. Wood chunks should be about the size of your fist and don't require soaking. They tend not to ignite.

Q Should you use a rub or marinate foods before smoking?
A Some form of seasoning is always helpful. The barbecue classics, like ribs and pork shoulder and brisket, they all usually involve some sort of spice rub. Smokers are trying to achieve the bark, or the outer crust. The bark is the melding of the spice rub and the fat in the meat and the smoke. That's the part people treasure the most.

Q What food should a first-timer try?
A Start out with something like chicken thighs with the bone in. They tend to stay juicier for however long it takes. Brown them over direct heat for a few minutes. Move them to indirect heat and add some wood at that point.
It's a good opportunity to play with the smoke and get comfortable with how easy it is. The yard smells beautiful, and everything is done in a short period of time.

Q What mistake do people make most often?
A I think they use too much smoke. Smoke is a wonderful thing and wonderful seasoning. Too much is too much, and it can dominate everything else in the food if you let it. They think you need to apply smoke for as long as you cook. Smoking the food for half the cooking time is the rule.

Q What's one thing to watch out for?
A Pay attention to the color of the smoke. If using charcoal, if the color of smoke is gray turning toward black, that means the wood is not smoldering properly and that it is starved of oxygen. Shuffle the coals to get more air around the wood. You will then get this white, almost blu ish smoke, which is aromatic and delicious.

Q Why shouldn't you peek (lift the lid) when smoking?
A You're creating wild fluctuations in temperature. It's worse when smoking because you're losing heat and that smoke, which you want to keep under the hood.

Q What is your main message about using wood smoke when grilling?
A I want people to understand smoke as a form of seasoning. It's actually a real easy way to make a delicious difference to their food. Often smoke can be an easier way to create deep, interesting flavors, and it doesn't always have to take hours. Very often it works in minutes.