Salmon and no Alder wood......help!


 
Status
Not open for further replies.
L

Larry Wolfe

Closed Account
Super Wally had whole wild salmon on sale yesterday for $5 each. I bought one just to experiment. I do not have any alder wood. All I have is hickory chunks and mesquite chunks. I think the mesquite may be too strong. Will one or two chunks of the hickory be too strong?
 
Hi Larry I've done about 5 salmons now using the recipe Salmon - Brown Sugar Rub from the cooking topics section of this site.

My opinion stay away from the hickory / mesquite if you can.

(As a Skins fan I'm sure you've had enough suffering already.)

First time I used hickory and it came out a little strong. Just my opinon definitely wouldn't try mesquite.

Last few times I used apple and it came out great. Once I mixed in some Jack Daniels soaked oak chips I got as a gift and that came out good too. I was planning on trying some straight oak next cook.

Not sure if your salmon was skinned or not or how you were planning on cooking/rubbing it, but here's a tip I learned the hard way.

If your fish is skinned you might want to cook it over a little aluminum foil instead of directly on the racks. It also helps to put the skinned fish on top of some lettuce leaves.

This seemed to keep it a little moister and prevented it from sticking to the grate.

I posted a picture of this about two weeks ago captioned "action shot" if you want to see what this looks like.

GOOD LUCK!
 
I used apple wood for mine (and did that cool Raichlen recipe where the salmon swims in brown sugar and rum beforehand---yowza!). I would worry about hickory, too.

You sure you can't walk around Bealeton and find some apple or pear branches lying under someone's tree?
 
Susan,
That recipe sounds pretty good. I didn't think about finding a limb or two. Oh well, I just threw a small chunk of hickory on. I will let ya know how it turns out.
 
Hope it came out ok, Larry!

No harm in drinking the rum instead of letting the fish have it. But definitely scavenge for some apple and pear and cherry----you'll have plenty out your way I bet.
 
The salmon turned out AWESOME!! Even with 3 very small pieces of hickory since that was all I had. I am not sure if I had fruit wood or alder wood if it could have come out any better! I would recommend this recipe 100% even for people who do not like salmon.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

 

Back
Top