Coho Salmon

[Jeff Bittel]

Yesterday I picked up a fresh piece of Coho Salmon (not farm raised). Weighs about two pounds.

Any ideas on how to smoke this without drying it out too much?

 

[Bruce Bissonnette]

Jeff,

Check the Recipe Section below under Seafood, there are several good recipes for smoked salmon. Also, if you check the main page Cooking section, I believe the Cardog's Recipe for Salmon is posted, that is really good.

 

[Rick Soliman]

I used the Brown sugar rub recipe from the board for my Coho I caughat. If you chck my post you can look at the pictures

 

[Ron Lewen]

Its been a long time since I smoked salmon (probably 25 years! My wife HATES any seafood, so I don't cook much of it), but here's what I used to do...

I would brine the fish in a brine (doh!) that included pineapple juice. I can't remember how long, but at least a couple of hours. Then I would put the fillets on the smoker rack and top them with a layer of sliced onions. On top of the onions I would put a generous layer of dark brown sugar.

At the time, I had an ECB, and I had no idea of what temperature I was smoking at, but the salmon came out very good. No one ever complained!

 

[Ron Lewen]

Oh... I forgot one thing... How thick is the Coho? It should probably be at least 1/2 - 3/4 inch thick, or it will dry out.

Another great way to cook Coho if this piece is too thin to smoke, is to take the fillet and sprinkle it with a little lemon juice and some lemon pepper, and put on a few small pieces of butter, and then broil it for a few minutes until flakey.

 

[Jim Minion]

No matter what recipe you use it's the finish temp that dictates the moisture level in the finished product. Don't let the finish internal go over the 145 to 155 degrees max depending on the moisture level you like it could be even a lower finish. Once the fish hits 160 it is a much drier finish.

You can grill at a med high pit temp and be done in 10 to 15 min or smoke at 225 to 250 and get more smoke on the fish.

Jim

 

[Jeff Bittel]

I cooked it last night on my kettle grill because I just wasn't too sure how to do in on the WSM. But that recipie with sliced onions and brown sugar sounds great for next time around. My wife loves salmon so I will have many more opprtunities to excel.

Thanks!

 

[Jeff Bittel]

Jim, how do you measure the internal temps of a fairly thin fillet like salmon? A couple minutes off and it's overdone, a few minutes under and it's raw?

Do you use a probe?

 

[Chris K]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jeff Bittel:
Jim, how do you measure the internal temps of a fairly thin fillet like salmon? A couple minutes off and it's overdone, a few minutes under and it's raw?

Do you use a probe? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thermapen works excellent for flaky fish and thin cuts of meat.

 

[Jim Minion]

Jeff
Like Chris said I use a Thermapen and measure in the thickest part of the fillet. One thing you may want to do is cut the filets into chunks so the thickness is about the same across that chunk. When you do one large fillet and it tapers the thin sections get done and dry out before the thick section is done.
Jim