We have a quest, we Americans. We want more flavor, more fun, more "jazz" in our meals. But we want less of the bad stuff fat, sodium, hassle.

Backyard smokers could be one of the answers. They're one of the fasting growing categories in outdoor cookery, according to the Barbecue Industry Association, a trade group in Naperville, Ill. You can find them everywhere, even in drugstores. Economically priced units can be found on sale for under $30. Many even easily convert for use as a minibrazier for portable picnicking.

With a little practice, you can use them to cook most anything, from the standard meat, poultry and fish (especially tangy sausage, chewy ribs, nut-scented turkey or flavorful kebabs) to unusual treats such as smoked tomatoes for soup, peppers for sauces or salsas, even fruit for an offbeat addition to dessert.

What smokers don't necessarily do is save time. But the results are worth waiting for. Especially if you factor in the dividend of well-planned make-aheads to heap onto fresh salads and tuck ** into sandwiches.

Long, slow roasting in a covered smoking unit results in golden-brown doneness. And depending upon the flavorings you add various hardwoods or fruitwoods stacked on the glowing coals, flavored liquids in the water pan, or marinades, rubs or seasonings applied directly to the food you can produce a range of deep, rich flavors.

Although major health organizations such as the American Cancer Society caution against overconsumption of smoked products, as an occasional treat they're a unique and fairly innocent indulgence.

Indeed, a U.S. Department of Agriculture spokeswoman indicates that properly smoked foods cooked by the indirect-heat method actually are of less concern to health officials than meats grilled directly over glowing coals. The reaction of spattering meat fats burning and releasing carcinogenic carbon back onto foods is the greater risk.

But you can cut any risk even further by "cold smoking," a process by which little charcoal is used to set smoking woods smoldering. They release just enough fragrance to scent seafood, scallops of meat or chicken parts that you'll use later in other dishes.

Try it. Backyard smokers are a new-fangled approach to an Old World style of cookery an entirely different "seasoning in a can."

"The Best Covered and Kettle Grills Cookbook Ever" by Melanie Barnard (HarperCollins, $16.95) is just what the doctor ordered assuming the doctor is working with a Weber or other covered grill, or smoker. This handy, lay-flat, ring-bound book contains plenty of useful information on working with such devices, as well as good-sounding and easy-to-follow recipes for barbecuing and smoking.

Here is a recipe from the book:

"This is not like commercial smoked salmon but rather a moist, smoky version of grilled salmon," Barnard writes. "It is perfect for a main course, especially when topped with a dab of dill butter."

HOME-SMOKED SALMON

(Makes 4 to 6 servings)

1/2 cup coarse sea salt or kosher salt

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 quarts water

1 1/2 pounds unskinned salmon fillets

4 to 6 handsful hickory or mesquite wood chips

Cook's notes: The longer you allow the fish to remain in the brine, the deeper the salty flavor. After 12 hours of brining you may want to remove the salmon from the liquid, rinse and dry it, then refrigerate the salmon for up to 24 hours before smoking as follows.

Preliminaries: In a large, nonaluminum dish or bowl, stir the salt and sugar into the water until dissolved. Add the fish and submerge in the brine. Cover and refrigerate 12 to 24 hours.

Procedure: Prepare the smoker according to manufacturer's directions. Soak the wood chips in cold water for at least 30 minutes, then add them to the smoker. Remove the fish from the brine, rinse under cold running water, and pat dry.

Smoke the fish, skin side down, about 1 1/2 hours, until cooked through but not dry. (If a drier, more potently flavored salmon is preferred, leave in the smoker 1 hour longer.)

Presentation: Serve warm as a first course, or chilled as an appetizer.

Mesquite Smoked Brisket is one of the most flavorful ways I've uncovered to imbue a tasty cut of beef with the deep, smoky flavor of old-fashioned Southern cooking.

The dish is the creation of New Orleans blues diva Marva Wright, who contributed it to a jazzy fund-raising booklet "Cookin' Up The Blues" (Tabasco pepper sauce bottlers McIllheny Co., 1994; details follow). Beef brisket is marinated overnight in a zesty mixture of red wine vinegar, pineapple juice and mustard that's sweetened with brown sugar and molasses and spiced with hot pepper sauce, Worcestershire and seasonings. The meat is then slowly grilled by the indirect heat method in a covered kettle grill.

"Cookin' Up The Blues" is, by the way, an awfully fun fund-raiser. The large-format, 42-page compendium is packed with lively photographs, bright graphics and alternatively soulful, historical and zany interviews plus down-home faves like burgoo, fried chicken salad, hoppin' john, stuffed crayfish bread and more. (With musicians like blues greats Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor and Maria Muldaur, plus rocker Joe Walsh and actor Danny Aykroyd included, along with their recipes, would you expect anything less?)

One dollar from the sale of each book goes to the House of Blues Foundation, "organized ... to foster racial harmony by teaching the social, spiritual and artistic legacy of the blues and other aspects of Southern and African-American culture," according to McIlhenny Co. releases.

For copies of the book, send $12.50 includes $2.50 for shipping and handling to McIlhenny Company, Avery Island, La. 70513, or telephone (800) 634-9599.

MESQUITE SMOKED BRISKET

(Makes 16 to 20 servings)

3/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice

1 bottle (2 ounces) Tabasco pepper sauce ( 1/4 cup)

1/3 cup spicy mustard

1/3 cup molasses

3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon minced onion

One 4 to 6 pound beef brisket

Red beans (recipes follows)

Prepare the marinade: In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients except brisket; mix well. Pour marinade over brisket in a nonreactive (glass or stainless steel) baking dish; cover and marinate overnight. Turn occasionally.

Cook the brisket: Build a fire with mesquite or other good smoking wood on one side of a covered barbecue pit. When fire dies down to low, place brisket on other side of grill and cover grill. Cook over low heat for 6 to 8 hours, or until brisket is tender, turning and basting with marinade occasionally. (Use tongs to turn meat, rather than a meat fork, as juices will be lost if meat is pierced.) Add additional wood to fire as needed.

Presentation: When brisket is tender, remove from heat and let stand at least 15 minutes before slicing. Serve warm.

RED BEANS

1 pound of red beans, soaked in water overnight

2 whole onions, chopped

6 toes (cloves) garlic

2 pounds of pickled pork tips (see cook's notes)

Optional: 1 pound of chopped smoked sausage

Optional: 8 ounces of hot sausage, whole

Salt, freshly ground black pepper

Dash Tabasco pepper sauce

Hot cooked rice

Cook's notes: Pickled pork or ham hocks can be substituted.

Boil red beans, onion and garlic for 45 minutes. Meanwhile boil pickled tips until almost tender; drain water; add pickled tips, smoked sausage and hot sausage to beans. Stir and continue to cook on medium fire until beans become creamy, stirring frequently. Add salt, pepper and parsley. Serve with hot rice and add pepper sauce to taste.

Felicia Gressette, food editor at the Miami Herald, favors this recipe from colleague and former food editors Jeanne Voltz. The recipe comes from "Barbecued Ribs, Smoked Butts and Other Great Feeds."

SLOW-GRILLED LEMON-ROSEMARY CHICKEN

(Makes 6 servings)

1 roasting chicken, about 4 1/2 pounds, butterflied (see cook's note)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 large or 3 small lemons

2 tablespoons dried rosemary or 4 tablespoons fresh

1 disposable aluminum drip pan to fit your grill

Wood chip or chunks of your choice, soaked in cold water at least 1 hour

Cook's notes: Have the chickens butterflied at the market or do it yourself. First, take out the backbone by cutting down either side of it with poultry shears or a very sharp knife. Open the chicken like a book, skin side up and whack on the breastbone to loosen it. Turn the chicken over and pull out or cut out the breastbone.

Procedure: Place the chicken skin side up in a large shallow dish and season with salt and pepper. Squeeze lemons over chicken and tuck lemon rinds around it. Sprinkle with the rosemary. Turn the chicken over, cover and refrigerate 2 to 6 hours. (Or let sit at room temperature for an hour while your fire burns down.)

Build a fire in your grill; when the coals are medium hot, move them to either side so that drip pan will fit in center. Place lemon shells and rest of rosemary in the pan. Place chicken skin side up on grill. Sprinkle soaked, drained chips over coals and place cover on grill. Leave vent open so fire doesn't go out. Cook, without lifting lid, for 1 hour, then test chicken with an instant-read meat thermometer. Work quickly; you may need to replace the cover and cook some more. If the reading is 170 degrees, remove chicken to a platter, tent with foil and let sit for half an hour before carving. (Retained heat will raise the chicken to 180 degrees.)

DECIDING IF YOU NEED A SMOKER

Do you need a smoker? That's a personal call. Here are a few questions to ask before you decide -- or before you choose what size to buy.

Do you like to cook outdoors? Will this be a tool or a toy? What's your family size, and how often do you already cook outdoors? What facilities do you have, both for cooking and dry storage (the latter is vital for electric units)?

If you don't want to buy a separate smoker but want that characteristic flavor, Betty Hughes of Weber offers these tips:

* Allow longer, slower cooking time.

* Use the indirect cooking method. Position the charcoals on the outer sides of the grill, place a drip pan under the center of the

grill, fill that pan with water, then position the meat or vegetables over the drip pan.

* If you like, add other liquids (wine, fruit juices, beer) or add fresh herbs, even barbecue sauce for additional flavor.

* Use a smaller amount of charcoal: say, instead of 25 briquettes on each side, work with 20. At the end of each hour, add 5 briquettes to each side, to maintain the heat.

* Add soaked wood chips to the glowing charcoals. Replenish as necessary or desired.

* Cover the grill with a lid.

* The vents can be partially closed, about halfway, all vents equally closed.