It’s wise to open windows and turn on your oven fan, if you have one, to avoid setting off the smoke detector. This recipe doesn’t cause billowing smoke, but some detectors are quite sensitive.

Please see discussion of cooking vessels, above. Do not use your nicest enamel-lined cooking pots to tea-smoke, as the bottoms may be permanently blackened. Instead, use a lidded wok or old roasting lidded pan you don’t care about.

You will need tinfoil, a large lidded wok or old pan, and either a rack or skewers to rest the fish on.

Set the wok on the largest oven burner. Lay two 3-foot lengths of tinfoil crosswise in the bottom of the wok. You’ll be using the overhang to wrap your lid in a few minutes.

Pour the tea and rice into the bottom of the wok and mix a bit with your clean fingers or a spoon. Place a rack on top, or set up skewers (pictured above). You want the fish sitting above the tea/rice mixture. My skewers are bamboo, so I dampened them first.

Now lay your fish, skin side down, on the rack/skewers. If your fillet is large, you may need to slice the fish into two. Don’t crowd the wok.

Put the lid on. Bring up foil, complete encasing lid. Check to see if there are any gaps; seal with additional foil if necessary. Turn the burner to highest setting.

Don’t go away. Stay right there. Within 2-3 minutes, you will hear the tea/rice start crackling and smell the tea. You may see wisps of smoke escaping your wok. Don’t worry–these signs are quite evident provided you aren’t texting or freaking out over election news. Once you hear/smell/see, time 2 minutes, then turn off the burner.

If you can open the lid outdoors, please do. Otherwise, lift the lid by an open window.

At this point, the fish can be refrigerated 24 hours before the final sauté.

To finish cooking:

In a frying pan large enough to hold the fish, melt the butter with the olive oil over low heat.  Add just enough wine to create a pan sauce; my pan is 14 inches across, so I needed the full 1/2 cup. Add the garlic and bring up the heat to medium. Cook for about two minutes, allowing the garlic to soften but not brown. If it browns, turn the heat down.

Add the salmon, skin side down. Add the capers. Squeeze the lemon juice over all.

Add salt, mindful that capers are salty. Add the pepper.

Cooking time will depend on the thickness and cut of your salmon. It also depends on personal taste: some people prefer their fish cooked more than we do. As mine was thicker at one end, and my burner has hot spots, I carefully moved the fish around the pan. Ultimately I gave it about 4 minutes a side, but you can see from the photographs that it’s pretty raw at the center. I trust our fishmonger. Cook longer if you like.

We ate this with fresh fava beans and English peas–recipe to come, hopefully next week.