Salmon To Die For

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I have been following Chris's directions for smoking salmon all summer with great results. But last night was the ultimate turnout. I smoked three huge salmon fillets (each about 4 lbs) for a dinner for 35 people. Used the salt/brown sugar rub as per usual. Oiled the fillets up and sprinkled some dill and brown sugar before hitting the grill. Used 4-5 pieces of alder. One hour later, perfection. The salmon was incredibly moist and succulent. Let's just say I had three marriage proposals before the night was over - and one was from a guy!
 
It got great reviews in Sunset mag and will be one part of the 13 part series on PBS (BBQ America series) sometime later this year or early next I understand.
Jim
 
Jack,

Reading your post here and lookig at Chris's recipe really made me hungry
I'm gonna try that this weekend.
Did you use King Salmon or will any Salmon do ?

Jim
 
Both Sam's and Costco carry gorgeous skinless, boneless farm-raised salmon fillets. Look big enough to be Kings. They usually are in 3-4lb range and around $3.29/lb. Helluva deal.
 
I use the salmon from Costco, too, and have always gotten superb results (if you don't count the time I fell asleep and let them brine overnight, talk about salty!!!)

Kelly
 
I didn't think you could use the skinless on the WSM? Does it really work that well even without the skin?
 
Yes it does. Why wouldn't it. Just brush some oil on to keep from sticking to grate.
 
First of all I'm not the "Jack" who made the original post.
Sounds like this forum needs a salmon 101 lesson.
Like every other meat fat is flavor.
Sockeye has the highest fat content and the flesh holds up well. BBQing and grilling is not a problem.
King salmon is second in fat content. BBQs better than it grills due to the thickness of the fillets.
Silvers bbq OK but they a hard to keep moist.
Atlantic Salmon (farm raised) losses it's texture and like silvers are tough to keep moist.
Chum and the others? Don't even try. They don't call it Dog salmon for nothing.
Jack
Smokin in the rain
 
I have yet to BBQ Salmon on my WSM, but I do grill it a fair amount. (In fact, I have some summer chinook caught in the Columbia in my freezer now) Chris's recipe states to cook for 2 hours to an internal temperature of 165. However, Jack states he cooked his for an hour and it was perfect. Also I have several recipes that recommend on internal temperature of 140. I prefer my salmon moist and not dry (doesn't everyone?) What is the better temp? On my gas grill, I cook on cedar planks, high temp, 20 minutes: perfect salmon. I've never bothered to check the internal temp. I want to try salmon on the WSM
 
Dear Jacks,

Hmmm...didn't know that the bulletin board software would allow two people to have the same publicly displayed name.

Maybe Jack #618 from No. California could add a last name initial to his publicly displayed to avoid confusion, since he's newer than Jack #365. Click "my profile" at the top of the page, then "view/update profile".

Thanks,
Chris
 
Dave,
The recipe Chris has on the site is based on the recipe that Jack (smokin in the Rain) and I have posted in the past, was in Sunset and will be on the BBQ America program. You can handle the cook a couple of ways, by grilling which can be done in 15 to 20 min or by smoking at lower temps that can take 2 to 3 hours. The slower cook puts more smoke on the fish. We normally take the internal temp to the 150 to 155 range but 140 would also work fine, depends on personel taste.
At 165? the fish will be much drier and closer Kippered Salmon texture.
Jim
 
OK first time I've ever had two many Jacks in one room...

Anyway, I can't see how you could possibly go two or three hours unless the temp was way low...around 200 or less. I usually wind up with a lid temp of around 240-260 and like I say I can set my watch to one hour on the nose. Last time I did three huge fillets in that time. I stopped taking internal temps and use the time instead but I think I was getting 155 or so. And it comes out incredibly MOIST! In fact that is the one thing people really like about it. I like oiling the fillet up too before it hits the grill.

Gonna do a bunch more of it this Sunday for a friend...
 
You can never have too many Jacks in your hand. Cooking time for salmon varies greatly due to the thickness of the fillet. Sockeye are a 5-7 lb fish so the fillet is much thinner than a fillet off of a 30 lb King. Jim Minion and I virtually ALWAYS use a thermometer or tooth pick or pull or twist a bone to know when our meat is done.
You MUST have a way of knowing if your meat is done to perfection. Perfection will be differant for you than for me because I like my meat to have a differant texture than you do. Once you have tried differant temps or ways to check you meat you will find YOUR perfect temps for the meats you cook.
Until you all figure out YOUR way to tell if you meat is done use a themometer and keep notes.
Jack
Smokin in the rain
 
Mostly true, but the fillets I buy are very consistent in size and weight and consistently come out wonderful without temp readings. So yes I have found MY way to perfection.
 
I made this recipie as I found some atlantic farm raised fresh salmon that looked prettty good on sale for 3.48 a lb. Now given I would have much rather had a king but in the midwest thisqualifies as a pretty good deal (considering the kings were $11.99 lb) It turned out very good but a bit too salty. I also only used 3/4 a chimney of coals and added a few by hand after they were in the WSM plus the 6 relatively small chunks of alder I had soaked for 1 hour. My smoker temp even without wather in the pan was around 235 and I pulled the 2.5 lb fish at around 1.5 hrs at 160 and wrapped it for 10 nminutes

I was real careful with the rinsing thing but wondered if it made a difference that I had morton kosher salt instead of dixie? What was that conversion you are supposed to use in one for another.

My other qustion is if I wasn't preparing Salmon as an entree but wanted to use it to smoke salmon as an appetizer does anyone have a good recipe for that or do I just cook this to a little higher
temp?

Thanks

Tom
 
Tom
If you used the recipe that is post by Chris the amount of time you leave it on the fish will give you the saltiness of the finished product.
The next time you prepare this recipe leave the first rub on a shorter time and rinse very well.
Just did 45 fillets for a charity gig last Thrusday night, used 2 hours for the first rub, came very well, even if I say so myself.
Jim
 
The ratio of table salt to kosher salt is one half. The much smaller granules of table salt means you get twice as much weight of salt per comparable volume of kosher salt.

Saltiness is a very personal taste obviously so Jim M is right, adjust brining time accordingly. The 3-4 hours time works fine for my taste. Are you adding any additional salt as a rub prior to hitting the smoker?
 
Question for Jim Minion:

In the Sunset magazine article last July, the recipe calls for more than 2 cups of rub per 3 pound salmon fillet (1 cup kosher salt, 1 cup brown sugar, plus several TBSPs herbs/spices). Is that how much you actually use per fillet? Or do you cure two fillets with that amount of rub?

Regards,
Chris
 
Chris:

Why do you specify 1/2 the amount of Morton Kosher salt as Crystal salt? The Crystal granules must be boulders!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by JackO:
[qb]Why do you specify 1/2 the amount of Morton Kosher salt as Crystal salt? The Crystal granules must be boulders![/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Can you clarify what you're referring to here? I'm not sure where I specified this.

Regards,
Chris
 
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