Those of us who are omnivores enjoy summer because it’s the time of year to barbecue.
The season brings back memories of my father, who was a bit of an inventor and tinkerer. One of his inventions was a “smoke house”, which he designed and constructed. (This was before the era when Traeger and similar products were widely available). He’d create a fire at the base of his smoke house, usually using locally grown oak wood (never any pellets), hang meat at the top of his smoke house through the door you see above, and in the heat and smoke cooked our dinner.
He’d season the meat he’d be cooking the evening before and let it rest in the fridge overnight. There were certain things he enjoyed cooking and was very good at. He enjoyed smoking fish from Lake Winnipeg, especially a fish known as “goldeye“, which is excellent when smoked. Also, as you can see in the top photo (center), he also liked to smoke a locally produced pork sausage known as “farmer sausage“, which was superb as he prepared it.
Reviewing these photos brought back a lot of memories. Sadly those days are long gone, and both of my parents have passed on, but I’m pleased to say that his smoke house continues to cook great meat decades after it was built (my cousin has it).
