Hickory salmon

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Mick
it will be easier to put the chicken below and figure 4 hours, tent it with foil at the two hour mark and place the salmon on the top track. Is this skin on fillet? If not place it on a piece of foil just slightly larger than the fillet.
Two hours on the salmon is normally enough, I cook to about 150? internal, it' still will have a little moisture in it.
Connie
Rick does have some hickory and you could get a bag if you wanted.
Jim
 
Hey Mick,
I looked at your previous posts, in this thread, and I can not determine, if you will be cutting the chicken in quarters or halves, or leaving whole.
Few weeks ago, I did half chickens, on the bottom grate. These were some good size roasters,(6 lb.) and I let them go for 5 hours, and they were delicious.
Top grate was at 235 or so. Personally, my belief is, the number one problem most people encounter, is longer than anticipated cooking times. Don't be afraid of doing the chicken first, and then the salmon. It will keep warm, double wrapped in foil, and stuck in the cooler. It's always easier to explain to your guests that they food is done a little bit early, than a little late. About one-half hour from eating, stick it in the oven and re-heat. Just trying to throw out ideas, ultimately it's your choice.
The goal is to have fun, don't rush the cooking process, and enjoy the family. It sounds like you have a great party planned, and I hope you have a great meal!

Jim
 
Hey everyone, thanks for all the help! The food came out great. Jim Morrissey correctly predicted the "longer than anticipated cooking time," but no one seemed to mind this time, so the pressure wasn't on me. The problem was that I aimed for a lower temp because of the salmon. Oh well, we still had plenty of time for food and dessert before some of our guests had to leave. Plus, even with my miscalculation, the chicken and salmon were ready at the same time.

I know it's generally a bad idea to disregard Jim Minion's advice, but I went ahead and put the salmon on the bottom grate after the chicken was on for a couple of hours. I figured that I was going to mop and turn the chicken, but not the salmon, so I wanted easier access to the chicken.

As for the hickory, I used only two chunks this time. My wife and I both liked the chicken better this way. Good smoke flavor, but it wasn't overpowering like last time. The salmon really didn't taste smoky at all. When I tried a little piece from the edge, I could definitely taste the smoke flavor, but eating a big bite, all I could taste was salmon.

That reminds me, I wanted to mention why I have so much hickory. When we bought this house, it had a gazebo half-filled with firewood. Since then, I've bought the WSM and an 18 lb. bag of hickory chunks. When I started to try to look for different types of wood, I wondered what kind of wood was in the gazebo. I took a log and matched up the bark to the different trees on my property. It wasn't oak, it wasn't maple, it wasn't cherry. But it looks EXACTLY like the bark of a hickory tree. It looks like the previous owners cut down a whole hickory tree and stuffed it in the gazebo. Some of the logs are about three feet thick. I realize that going by bark alone might not be absolutely reliable, so I guess I won't know for sure until I light it up and smell the smoke! Connie, I would definitely consider a wood swap, but only if you're interested in a log of "mystery wood!"

We also have two dead trees in the back yard that I think might be walnut. I don't have any live ones to match it, and I wouldn't know from the smoke. I also have a dogwood tree with a dead trunk. Is dogwood any good for smoking?

Thanks again for all your help!

--Mickey
 
Mick,
Way to go!!
It really pays off to ask as many questions as possible, the way you did, instead of asking later, what went wrong.
Cooking on the WSM, needs to be planned out well in advance to make the cook, successful.
What a great bonus, to find out the previous homeowner had no clue, about the hickory.

Jim
 
Hi again,

I would be happy to do a wood swap...if you determine that your wood is defineately hickory...I'm having enough of a challenge with my technique cooking on my WSM without "mystery wood"! Let me know what you figure out -- we're swimming in alder.

Connie
 
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