Smoking on Labor Day
We’ve been pretty much vegetarian this summer. Three of us are still eating meat, but it’s become less often and mostly fish now. One thing that we all like, though, is smoked tofu and smoked salmon.
For the tofu, I use this recipe, which is simple and tasty. I found this guide to smoking salmon, but it doesn’t look that complicated. I’ve never smoked salmon before–I hope it turns out ok.
I was telling some vegetarian friends of ours from Chicago about my home made smoked tofu, and they were interested until they realized that it requires owning a smoker. I’ve had my smoker now for at least a decade, and I know that I don’t use it enough because every time I do get a chance, it reminds me how this is probably my favorite form of cooking.
Right now I’m sitting in a lawn chair in my back yard. It’s overcast and cool, but the cicadas still drone in the trees. There are so many birds. At least three of us feed, and the little birds are all over, but there’s also larger birds, like this jay that settled in to sing in the pear tree next to the smoker.
Once the smoker has stabilized, ie, you’ve adjusted the vents to keep a steady low temp, then there’s not much else to do but sit and wait and listen.
