The Apprentice Fish Smoker

Yesterday I gave away my last piece of vacuum packed smoked trout. The freezer homes a couple of dead ones in need of smoking, and one of them got done today.

It's drizzled much of the day and remained calm and cool, perfect for smoking fish. The pope wanted to help firstly by trying to eat the cured fish I'd sat in a dish on the ground while I prepared the smoker. He next "helped" by getting into the box the smoker is kept in and predictably emerged sooty and sporting new fur markings.

Even more predictably he didn't want me to wipe his paws. I've done my best but it's pretty much no points to me and at least 10 points to Benedict. I've lost the battle he's inside (somewhere) and hopefully he'll have a long cleaning session.