Smoked Salmon Cook W/Pictures


 
Bruce Bissonnette

Bruce Bissonnette

TVWBB Guru
Loaded the WSM up with 8lbs of salmon. Brined it for 3 hours then rinsed and patted dry. Let sit on racks until pellicle formed then brushing with maple syrup and using Hi-Mountain Salmon Seasoning.

I used 4 small chunks of sugar maple, equivalent to two large fist size chunks. Temps in the WSM were 200-205 at the top grate and 190-198 on the lower grate, with a third grate in between the two. I put the salmon on at 12:35pm and took it off the cooker at 2:45pm, internal temp of the salmon ranged from 144º - 151º.

The salmon was still moist with good smoke flavor with a detectable hint of sweetness to the bark from the maple syrup.


http://community.webshots.com/album/546648085NhJtSV
 
Bruce great pics fish looks awesome. I had a freinds dad ask me to do some salmon for him. He requested I smoke it with corn cobs. Him being an American Indian I listen to his request. It actually gave the fish a light smokey taste. He was pleased at my first and only attempt at smoking fish. Oh yea I crushed the corn cobs up also.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Rick Soli:
Bruce salmon looks very tasty. Also are your grates stainless steel? If not how do you get them so clean.

Rick </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Rick,

Trust me, you just happen to catch me on a good day. When I decided I was doing the salmon cook I took the grates down the basement and soaked them in extremely hot water with Dawn Ultra whatever it's called and Greased Lightning, then I hit 'em with a real stiff bristle brush, till you see the results.

Beleive me, that don't happen unless I'm doing salmon. Usually I just use a wire brush and Grease Lightning.
 
Bruce--

The salmon looks terrific. (And those grates look new!).

Unrelated question: Is it you who has a baffle for your kettle? I had a friend ask me about them and I told him I'd ask around.
 
Nice looking fish!

That's a ton of salmon, though. How are you going about storing and reheating? Does it freeze OK?
 
Kevin,

Yes I have a baffle for my kettle. Got The BBQBaffle for Christmas, and I have been really impressed.

Following the insructions, I was able to maintain 225-250 temps in the kettle for slightly over 4 hours, without additional fuel, for a rib cook a couple weeks ago. The only variation from the instructions was that I used a small water pan on the grate above the coals along with the water pan opposite the coals.

I also foiled one-half of the charcoal grate as specified.

For indirect cooks, using the specified amount of coals, temps settle in right around 370-375, with no water pans.

Stephen - Some of that went ot a friend of mine, some was for dinner, the rest I vac pac'd with FoodSaver and froze. I was told by a guy on another forum that smoked salmon will keep frozen for up to 2 months, maybe longer vacum packed. Reheating...probably do it in bag in boiling water.
 
Bruce,
Thanks for posting the pix. I showed my wife the ones of your "tricked out" smoker with all the devices on it, so she could see there's some guys out there with more Q gear than me!
Also, nice looking salmon.
 
Erich,

Great, now she hates me. My wife doesn't even say anything any more, she just shakes her head. She hasn't quit eating yet though.
 
Bruce,

Great pics - did you actually smoke just inside your garage? If so, how did you handle the smoke in the garage? Just curious.

Thanks.

Ray
 
Great pics bruce. What was your brine solution? and where did you get the seasonings?

p.s. Ray, I often use my smoker in my garage when its rainy or windy. I just move it in about five or six feet, leave the g/door up, and make sure the back door is wide open so the smoke doesn't settle. Works fine for me.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Clay Jackson:
I can't tell how you have your therms mounted on your grill....but it looks great. How did you do that? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's an FJ Abraham Nu-Temp Sensor Mount Triple, ver. 2.5. See this thread . I have one too. It's great.

A version 3 in in the works works.

-gbeck
 
Scott,

Here is the brine I used:

BRINE

1 gallon of water
1 cup kosher salt
1 cup dark brown sugar
½ cup soy sauce
½ cup white wine
1 tbls granulated garlic
1 tbls onion powder
1 tbls dried thyme
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dill

Ray; In the winter time I move the smoker in the garage. I always place it right at the opening, can't close the garage door or it would hit the smoker. Smoke rises and is 99% of the time sucked right out of the garage. For the 1% it isn't, there is plenty of ventilation with the door wide open.

Clay; I had one remote in the lid, one on the top grate and one on the bottom grate. The unit is held on to the smoker by 6 magnets on the back.
 
Bruce,

I finally stopped drooling enough that I could write this without shorting out the keyboard!
icon_wink.gif


Based on your post and pictures, it looks like you run about 10 degrees difference between top and bottom grates. The NuTemp placed in the top vent looks to be about 30 degrees higher. I'm interested in a couple of things:

1. How long of a stem is on that lid mounted thermometer, and how does it's reading compare to the probes?

2. Are these temperature spreads consistant no matter what you're cooking?

Thanks,

JimT
 
The lid mounted thermometer is a cheapo New Braunfel's I picked up at Home depot shortly after I got my WSM, amazingly though it is about 20º lower than the Nu-Temp probe, however, about half-way or more through the cooks it catches up and gets about equal. One day I want to replace it with an Ashcroft. The stem length is about 3 inches.

Temp spreads are about 10-15 lid to top grate, 10 from top grate to bottom, however, eventually they tend to just about even out. Surprisingly I've even had top grate temps be higher than lid temps on some long cooks. I think others here have experienced that also.

For example, right now I've got 3 pok butts on the cooker, 2 on top one on the bottom; my lid temp is 245 my top grate temp is 240. That's after 3 1/2 hours cooing.
 
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