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stepping outside my comfort zone and smoking a salmon


 
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Susan Z:
I skinned my salmon. Yers looks beautiful, Shawn. Mine is a wimpy pink, and THAT's with enhanced color from the farm. Bleah. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> thanks, yours will be great too. Unless you eat lots of fresh salmon or have a very finnicky pallete I think it's kinda like the difference between an eye of round steak and a ribeye at a steakhouse. Although the ribeye is better the eye of round is still really good. You already made the decision when you left the store with the farmed so all that's left for you to do is cook, enjoy and try not to get too hung up about 'farmed'.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> What it sounds like to me is condenced flavor and any moisture left is mostly oil and not water. Is this a good guess? I also prefer a firmer, drier salmon. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> sounds reasonable and I would agree the drier stuff is somewhat oilier though I'm not really sure of the mechanics of it. It makes a killer cream cheese spread.
 
So I divert from the recipe and rinse off the salmon and blot it dry about 1/2 hour early (ok, maybe an hour even). Fire up about 1/3 of a large chimney of Kingsford, pile about 1/3 of the ring's worth of unlit coals (in the ring), plus a couple of small chunks of apple wood (I don't have any alder, and failed to buy the pellets Keri recommneded, drat it). Put a wee bit of water in the brinkman pan (figure it's up to the smoker---if it all boils away, it'll become an empty pan cook. How's that for splitting the difference?).

The ET-73 is doing that new trick it taught itself and bouncing the temps around in 2 degree bumps (for the last two cooks it was doing 4 degrees at a time--bizarre). So it's somewhere around 225 to 230, methinks. It's been on there for about 40 minutes now.

Very curious to see how this thing turns out...!
 
Well, I just checked it (hour and a half mark) and it looks like it's probably done. Firm, but cooked thru, but where is the smoke?? I was trying not to oversmoke the thing, but I can't tell if it has the least little bit of smoke flavor in it (I broke off a speck to try). It tastes like...well, like salmon.

So as a last ditch effort I threw a couple of small chunks of applewood in, just to see if 1/2 hour of additional smoke would do it any good. It doesn't look like it's been magically transformed by the WSM, tho maybe the downside has some color to it. It's just...pink as it was when I started.

Color me confused.

On edit: I just remembered that I have a remarkable ability not to be able to taste my own cooking (I'm far too critical, I think, and can't taste it objectively). So I'm flying blind here, methinks. I'll have to see what my family thinks of it---they'll tell it like it is!

Ok, one more edit: went outside to clean the fish remnants off the grate (having removed the rest of it with a large spatula) and empty the water pan (sadly, it still had water in it, for those hoping for a dry cook) so there wouldn't be anything fishy going on for my next cook. When I came back inside where the salmon was resting, I smelled smokiness! So....hooray! Maybe there's hope for this fish yet.
 
Me Too, I think the ending might be tomarrow
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EDIT: Left hanging once again
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Susan, wife and kids love salmon i do not. They want me to do some salmon on the WSM for them. HELP
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Bryan
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bryan S:
... wife and kids love salmon i do not. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hey Brian, have you thought of tuna or halibut? Might find some common ground there.
 
Hey, Bryan (and everyone). I don't like salmon, either, but I have to tell you this was a total success! Even I ate some of it (on cute little toasts) and it wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be. Rich (like all salmon) and really buttery. I'm the only one who bothered with the darling little toast things. My mudder and brudder just wolfed it down plain. I think my brother nearly ate a pound of it himself (I'm not kidding---he kept grabbing bigger and bigger pieces of it. I was thrilled!) They've requested bagels and cream cheese to finish the remainder of it later today. I might even try a bit more myself, even tho I'm not a salmony kind of grrrl.

So what color was I expecting it to be? Not sure, but I thought it would have some kind of bark or something.

It was a winner! (If you like salmon.)

Start with a two pound piece of salmon. Soak it in a cup of dark rum for 15 minutes.

Pour off the rum, blot the salmon dry, and wipe out the dish it's sitting in.

Rub it with 1 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of coarse salt, 1 tbs black pepper (you'll actually cake it on pretty thickly on all sides). Let it sit in the fridge for 4 hours. Smoke it at 225 for an hour and a half to two hours. I used apple wood and it was A okay.

Voila!
 
I just made salmon Friday....on the grill, not on the WSM, but heres what I did with the small amount that was leftover:

Cut into cubes and mix with pasta and a handful of peas in a pink sauce. The light smokey flavor (from the cedar plank) was great in the pasta. It made another enjoyable meal from the small piece of salmon that was leftover.


Hope it turned out great !


jeff
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Susan Z:
Where did you find a cedar plank? (that you're sure was untreated)? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The first time I got them over the web, packaged for cooking fish. Beyond that I purchased them at cooking stores--William Sonoma had them on sale for less than I paid on the web (beleive it or not), and Chef Central has them too. Great flavor. I looked around for untreated cedar and either the stock is marked that it has been treated, or nobody can give a clear answer if they have or not. I am not willing to take the chance so unfortunately I pay a lot more than if I were to purchase a bundle of cedar shakes for a house--cedar shakes are $8 for a bundle of about 20 boards and the grilling planks are about $10 for 4 planks.

jeff
 
Hi Susan, glad to hear it was a big success, sounds intruiging with the dark rum.
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Susan Z:
Where did you find a cedar plank? (that you're sure was untreated)? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Many grocery stores in my area carry them, perhaps some in yours will as well.
 
I don't think a rum and salmon juice cocktail is gonna catch on anytime soon (it looked pretty oogy afterwards). Poor rum.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Susan Z:
.... rum and salmon juice cocktail ... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Salmon Daquiri?
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though I'm cheap, not even at happy hour thanks
 
I agree. It would take a whole bunch of alcohol before I would go for a "rum and salmon juice cocktail".

I make a really great margarita, though (no salmon for ingredients).
 
Thanks Susan. You have delighted me with stories of smoked salmon, tickled my funny bone, and have forced me to smoke a salmon this weekend after I get paid.
For those of you who remember Saturday Night Live from the late 70's - early 80's the Salmatini reminds me of the Bass-O-Matic, perhaps the best way to make a Bass or Salmon drink of your choice
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Ewww, the bass-o-matic, yuck!

They were still eating the salmon tonight (this time with bagels and cream cheese, topped with some hot peppers and onions and squash and cukes done bread and butter pickle style (a first-time effort by yours truly---trying to figure out what to do with my bumper crop of hot peppers. The ones I put in vodka are a heckuva lot easier, but oh so hot, hot, hot).
 
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