Smoking!
First report on the new stovetop smoker.
Last night wasn't a good time for anything elaborate: Linda's photography seminar was slated to run 'til eight -- maybe later -- and I had to be up at five the next morning, heading for Los Angeles to explore some new Tinderbox ideas.
But new equipment has its own imperatives, and so I put a few alder chips in the smoker and loaded it with a piece of west-coast salmon filet (dusted with brown sugar, salt and pepper) and an unadorned portabello mushroom.
The doc suggested 25 minutes; Sally Schneider specified 12. I opted for 30, because I wanted plenty of smoke and because I really didn't want to undercook the salmon. (No worries, though a more delicate fish would have been overcooked)
The salmon was very good -- smoky, tasty, pleasant. The mushroom, which went into the smoker unadorned, needed plenty of salt but turned out really well.