As you read this, think smoke.

Not the wildfire variety that has greeted visitors at some recent Western Montana Fairs, but smoke as from a backyard barbecue.

Not a backyard barbecue such as you and I throw, but one orchestrated by a skilled chef with 4 pounds of prime beef at his disposal, fresh-from-the-garden trimmings and spices and juices and aromas and ... well, that kind of smoke.

Now multiply that by six.

You really had to be there Tuesday to appreciate the fair's first Cast Iron Chef Challenge on the new West Lawn.

The first-day fairgoers who did gather on the warm afternoon numbered several dozen, then more than a hundred as the finish bell approached in the 90-minute cookoff.

Bob Marshall of Biga Pizza downtown talked to onlookers as minced onions began to sizzle on the grill.

"You know, my father-in-law used to come home from work late and my mother-in-law didn't have anything ready, just sautéed onions," Marshall said. "Ah, he'd say, that smells great."

But here there was beef to back up the salivating - rib-eye roulade, steaks garnished with morel mushrooms sautéed in huckleberry sauce, steaks smothered in smoked peppers and eggplant, and a Southwest barbecue platter that stole the judges' hearts.

That platter was the creation of Jacob Osborne, a sous chef at the Holiday Inn and, at 27, one of young-uns in a competition that included Marshall; Bob Zimorino, a retired chef of 25 years; Abe Risho of the new Silk Road on the Hip Strip; Todd Engel of the Iron Horse uptown; and Jeremy Engebretson, who caters in the Bitterroot Valley.

Each was flanked by a celebrity sous-chef of varying qualifications. County Commissioner Michele Landquist, who helped Engebretson, said she has long studied what makes food taste good and practices it on an appreciative husband.

Singer-songwriter Amy Martin worked diligently alongside Marshall at a table that drew the biggest crowds.

"It was fun work," Martin said at the end. "I like intensity, and it was intense."

It was also new and different, she added. "I'm a terrible cook."

Shane Clouse, another singer-songwriter and a third-generation sustainable farmer, helped Risho, then sung a ballad called "Montana Matters" while the judges sampled Risho's dishes.

The idea behind the competition was to showcase locally grown products in western Montana, said Gretchen Kirchmann. The fair's new publicist, Kirchmann helped hatch the idea of the West Lawn and the grilling contests. The Sustainable Business Council and the new Montana Cattle Co. did much of the organizing.

At the onset, each team opened a mystery box stocked with identical ingredients - 2-pound premium cuts of strip loin and rib-eye steak, sea salt, pepper and 8 ounces of olive oil.

"We went with staples," said Michael Donahoo of the Montana Cattle Co., though at least one chef registered surprise at the quality cuts of steak.

Each mystery box also included $25, to buy produce at a handful of Farmers Market booths nearby.

Osborne's sous-chef was John Klaudt of Mountain FM Radio. The conquering chef spent most of his first 13 years in New Mexico, and he drew from that background to whip up a platter that scored 161 of a possible 180 points.

It was an amazing experience, Osborne said afterward, especially because this was his first culinary competition. He knew he was going up against many of Missoula's heavyweights.

The key to victory?

"I think it was just going bold," said Osborne.

While others whipped up more diversified fare - one team even produced some huckleberry ice cream - Osborne stuck to a more basic plan. He used what he called "some great Montana ingredients that we all have available to us every single week throughout the summer" and turned them into a savory dish with techniques he learned growing up in New Mexico.

Osborne's description of his dish:

"First I cut some red potatoes and some underripe green tomatoes, and I grilled them to make a warm potato salad. Then I took some ears of corn and I grilled those and pureed them down, into a kind of mash to accompany the steak."

The steaks he cut individually, he said, "and I used some of Montana Cattle Co.'s Missouri River Rum, which is superb, by the way. I don't know if that's going to get me any points or not.

"I just quickly grilled those up right in the last 10 minutes and laid them over the corn puree, and then on top of that I did an heirloom tomato pico de gallo with some roasted Anaheim chilies."

As an "intermezzo" between the salad and the steak, he made a fruit salad of fresh raspberries and white flesh melons, with a dressing of raspberry chipotle jam.

"Hopefully you all enjoy it," he told the judges, who subsequently obliged him.