Tuesday, June 28, 2011

The Magic Wood Fairy Smoke Dance


This is a picture of Edie. Eating smoked salmon.

Word to the wise - don't leave your meat or fish hanging around our house because as soon as you turn your back to make a cocktail, someone will throw it in the smoker. And then magic wood fairies will do the smoke dance around the backyard.



I think a lot of cookbook authors underplay the importance of the magic wood fairy smoke dance, but I find it to be a critical step in the smoking process.


Later after the chanting has stopped, we have this:


Little children stuffing their faces with salmon and making ravenous beasts of themselves.




And then, like vultures descending on dying prey, they tear through the food, leaving only scraps




And satiated, surveying the carnage, put their tiny hobbit feet up on the table like barefoot heathens...


And then make complete pests of themselves until their poor mother photographs them pretending to be catatonic.


I don't know why. I've stopped asking.

xo YM

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9 comments:

Mardi Michels said...

Words fail me. Adorable!

Robin (Hippo Flambe) said...

I have the same smoker and I have never used it. I need to do some reading and smoke something. Although in my house they would be magic wood gnomes dancing.

Ethan said...

this is when pictures tell it all.

Two Minute Takes said...

Magical!

CookiePie said...

TOTALLY believe in the dance (I do a naked no-rain dance, and it works!). Such glorious pics. I want to be in your backyard, eating yummy smoked salmon and dancing around with your little ones! So sweet.

The Yummy Mummy said...

Robin -

Smoke something! Seriously. The hardest part was getting the charcoal to light. The rest was downhill.

The issues with this smoker are twofold: 1. the smoker can get pretty hot, so you have to keep an eye on it, open the vents. Salmon smokes low at about 140 and 2. judging whether the temperature gauge is correct. It's hard to know.

But whatever the challenges, the salmon was a huge hit and pretty simple to pull off. I used Hank Shaw's wet brine. Very tasty.

xo

Cheryl Arkison said...

Also missing in recipes is the crucial first swig of booze when you open something to deglaze a pan!

Mairi said...

Again just makes me smile, totally adorable & that salmon looks amazing!

Chocolate Balls Recipes said...

Great reead thank you