~FFF~ Smoke This... My First Time Smoking Salmon ~ FoodFightFriday~
What should I do with the free salmon my Dad so kindly have to me?... Smoke it of course. When I got home I placed all the salmon in the freezer except for one pack. I kept a pack out to thaw in preparation for my first round of smoked salmon on my Green Mountain Pellet Grill. Now I was debating a bit on wether to use my Little Chief Smoker or the Green Mountain. I chose the Green Mountain because I can just place the salmon on it, close the lid, fill up the pellet hopper and walk away. The Little Chief requires a little more monitoring. I have a ton of stuff to do so maybe on the next batch I will do with the Little Chief and see how it goes. Alright it’s time to...
I gave my brother a quick call to ask what he does for a marinade. His response... “Just throw a little of this and a little of that in a bowl and mix it up. Put whatever you want in it” .... Okaaaaay.... He did say soy sauce and honey.... so I went with these ingredients. Sorry no measurements, just give it a taste test.
- Soy Sauce
- Orange Sauce
- Brown Sugar
- Honey
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Course Black Pepper
- Onion Powder
Basically just dig around and see what you got laying around and throw it in a bowl. Make sure it isn’t too thick so it can soak into the meat nicely. You want to make sure you have enough to completely submerge all your salmon. Wisk all your ingredients together thoroughly. Give the salmon a quick rinse in preparation for their nice bath in your one of a kind marinade.
Now pour the marinade into a 1 gallon ziplock bag and those nice pink salmon fillets inside. I almost forgot, leave the skin on the salmon. No you aren’t gonna eat it but it does help when the time comes to eat the smoked salmon.
Typically I would leave any meat to marinade for at least 12 hours. After 5-6 hours I grew impatient and set my Green Mountain Pellet grill at 175F. This should provide a good amount of smoke and a slow cook. I have seen my brother use charcoal and a couple small chunks of apple wood that have been soaked in water. Then he places the meat he want to smoke away from the heat of the charcoal. I tell you what, he has a lot more patients than I do. I am more of a “Set it and Forget it” type of guy. I have other stuff I need to get done.
See how the honey leaves almost a glaze over it. I sure hope this turns out as good as I would like.
After 5 hours of smoking I decided to pull it off the grill and call this first round of smoked salmon done. I left it to cool then wrapped it back in a ziplock bag and out in the refrigerator... you know for breakfast :wink:wink
Pay no attention to the little nibble out of the corner, I couldn’t resist
After waking up and grabbing some coffee I opened the refrigerator and unzipped that bag of tasty goodness. The sample I snuck in last night didn’t do it justice. It was still warm and I like my smoked salmon cold. The texture and color look good on this piece, a little oily... Perfect.
I found out really quickly that when I make the next batch I am gonna have to hide is from my daughter. Oh don’t get me wrong, I ate my fair share I can tell you that much. I had to practice self control and walk away. Plus sharing is caring right?!?
I do think that it could have smoked a few hours more and an overnight marinade would have definitely stepped it up a notch. Combine that with making a sort of glaze to brush on during the smoking process... game over!! Create like a candy coating on top of the salmon... okay, that’s it! Time to thaw out another pack and go pick up some wood chips for the Little Chief Smoker. I just gotta make some more!!
Hive On
and
Might as well
Make a
DIY Marinade...
Damn I wish I could have just a little nibble of that!! Looks good man, nice work!
The PNW is where the fresh salmon jump into your freezer. HAHAHAHA Or your Dad is super cool and fishing a ton and finally decides he has enough in his freezer. Lol
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I really like salmon amd I am a little jealous to see this. Maybe I will have some soon. I don't have a good place to set up a smoker, but salmon beed strips and duck is my favorite to smoke.
Do you have a charcoal BBQ? Not propane or natural gas they won’t work for way of smoking something.
The little chief is tiny. Maybe a 2 foot by 2 foot square and 3 feet tall.
I have a small charcoal BBQ and a portable gas stove. When I get my permanent BBQ spot, I will get a bigger charcoal/wood BBQ, and of course a small gas one just for grilling quickies. I'm thinking of something around 1.5X3 feet and barrel-shaped. I saw something at the Costco here which was a giant circular BBQ perhaps 4ft across, the thing looked awesome, but hilarious.
If you can get a hold of some sort of fruitwood soak it in water and you can smoke meat with a tiny portable charcoal grill. Let me find you a video rather than writing a bible.
Finding good wood is tough, but one idea I had was to grab sticks from pruned fruit trees. They don't even need soaking because it is already greenwood. Also, if your grill is small, using a can rather than a tray is better. I've even seen people just open a beer, drink half then stick it in the middle (I don't want the chemicals on the label in my meat.
I am not of fan of using aluminum when cooking at all. I wrap my ribs, brisket and pork roast in butcher paper.
This little twigs would work awesome.
Here is the basic concept...
That's exactly how I used to do it, except instead of apple juice, I use stale beer or wine.
Oh man... I so love smoking stuff. I used to have my own smoker. Not sure where it went ... I think it's time to rummage through the garage and pull it out... peppered beef jerky... so satisfying when you make it yourself.
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