Lavender-Smoked Salmon Fillets

I learned how to smoke food in Bruce Cost’s kitchen in San Francisco, where he showed me how to make tea-smoked duck and salmon in a wok. Since then I have used his method for many recipes, scenting the smoke with dried fennel twigs, different varieties of tea, oak chips, dried orange peel and lavender stalks and flowers. This last works very well with salmon and duck, both of which are rich enough to match the haunting fragrance.