Last Sunday a friend had a cookout. Among other fare he smoked chicken wings. I’m not much of a chicken eater and wings are about my least favorite part of that bird to deal with. I couldn’t get enough of those wings! When I got home that night I surfed Craigslist and Marketplace and found someone selling a brand new smoker for $50. I picked it up the very next day. With dreams of smoked salmon, cheese, brisket, etc. dancing in my head I put that baby together in my basement (it was way too hot to do anything outdoors) and now that it’s ready to go I’m feeling a little intimidated.

We happened to have this book on our shelf so I dug in. There’s some really good info there but I don’t quite know where to start. Complicating matters is that my wife is a vegetarian and there are only two of us in the home. Of course the kids will come by when I get things rolling but I don’t know if I want to subject them to my first attempt. I’ve had smoked mozzarella before and will definitely try it, but again not as a first go. Do you have experience with smoking? I’d love to hear how you got started and what your go-to things are.

And as always, tell us what’s good on your plate this week!