Gallery: Mason Jars in the Modern Kitchen

A cold-smoking apparatus like the Smoking Gun or Super-Aladin pumps smoke from burning sawdust through a tube, but what happens at the business end of the tube is your business. Some people like to direct the smoke into a big mixing bowl covered with plastic wrap, but I like to put it in a jar.

In the lid of a widemouth Mason jar, I punch two round holes on opposite edges. Into one hole I screw a hose barb (available in the plumbing aisle) whose diameter matches that of the hose of my smoker. The tube from the smoker fits onto the upper barb, and I can optionally screw on a tube from the underside that runs down to the bottom of the jar. The other hole can be corked (with Blu-Tac) to retain smoke, and unplugged to let air and smoke vent.

Recipe suggestion: Smoked heavy cream. Fill your jar halfway with cool cream, then add smoke and let it sit for a minute or three. Open the jar, whip the cream (you could use a blender attachment, and put a dollop on top of a bowl of soup.