I've made lox and gravlax, I would have to check through old texts, but if I recall correctly the weighted 24 hour cure is to reduce the water content as the dry rub gets absorbed, which is slower than the brine. Reducing the water content makes a firmer, more easily sliced product. A brine has the advantage of being faster, and increasing the water content, which helps guard against drying out, and should lead to a moister, flakier fish. It isn't necessary, but it is cheap insurance.
pat
Lots of good recipes and game related foods on that site. Looking to buy his books.Originally Posted by rob_s
pat
So I'm really, really glad I tried the salmon. After running 10 lbs of pork through the smoker last weekend, I am really, really tired of pork butts. I need other options for the smoker and this fit the bill nicely. Only downside is that it requires knowing a day or two ahead that you're going to smoke.
I'm not sure if I'll find enough other things to cook on the smoker to hold my interest, which really sucks since (a) I have a pretty expensive smoker and (b) for S Florida we are just coming into our BBQ season and (c) the pork is a pretty easy/fun/well-received thing to make for parties so I'll need another option for that (that isn't "burgers and dogs").
As mentioned, I wound up going this route. Here's my "AAR" (ha, to whoever bitched about that term in the pfestivus) on how it went...
I couldn't find birch syrup so I bought maple. Wound up being a non-issue, see more on that below.
I bought 2 lbs of salmon. Now that I have a sense of what I'm doing and the time involved, I'll probably do bigger batches in the future. Although I wonder what the consistency of the smoked salmon is like if it's frozen and then thawed...
My smoker is The Good One Open Range. The *great* thing about this design is that for most meats I don't want any hot/cold spots and with the longitudinal damper you really don't get any. Well, the downside is that the smoker is really designed to cood at 250-275 (which is my preferred range for pork), which makes it hard to get it down to the 175 they suggest for salmon. It makes it *really* hard to sneak up on 175 as the article suggests. Next time I might even try cracking the lid to let some out, although I'm not sure if that will mean more air flow and thus more heat... anyway, it was an issue. I'm not sure that the author's Traeger really gets down to the 120 , 150, and 175 that he describes either so...
I couldn't really dry it in the best way. I don't have a small fan, the house temp is 75 degrees, and he suggests under 60 but Alton Brown says not the fridge because it's too moist... So I put it in the mini fridge at about 55 for a couple of hours and then on the counter at 75 for a couple of hours. Not really sure what a true pellicle looks like but the surface did get a little sticky/crusty so I went for it.
I used a mix of pecan, apple, and cherry (I think). I tend to just toss all of my wood together so no telling what the actual wood was. I use Kingsford original as my charcoal and it performed as expected (no issues).
So I put the meat on with the factory smoker thermometer at 200, so while I don't know what the actual temp was I know it *wasn't* 200. An hour in I checked it, to baste as the article suggests with maple syrup, and it was looking kinda done-ish so I put the thermometer in and it was all ~135. Well hell. The article says take it out between 130 and 140, and my buddy who smokes salmon all the time said don't let it get above 145. So I basted it anyway with one coat and left it in for another 20 minutes.
Then I cooled it on the rack for an hour as instructed, and bagged it up and put it in the fridge.
It came out really, really good! Wife loved it so far. I have to say, even at just an hour the smoke flavor is noticeable and frankly even bordering on too much. I'm not sure I'd have liked it with 4 hours of smoke, even at 175.
One thing I'll change in the future is trying to get more consistent thickness to the fish. The fishmonger asked if I wanted it from the thick end or the thin and I chose thick, but that means that you still have a thin bit at the edge. In the future I'm going to cut that off first so I get a more consistent overall piece and I can still cook those trimmings as a bit of a treat partway through the cook. I'm also debating next time getting the "thin end" since that tends to be more consistent, although it also means it'll likely cook much, much quicker.
Heresy!
Here's two ideas... my non-pork favorites.
1. Smoked Duck.... It's my second favorite way, after Peking.
2. Beef Ribs.... Talk to your butcher. Have them save the rack of bones for you after they've cut their boneless Ribeyes. If they really like you, they'll leave some extra meat on the bones. Also, Costco sells this cut as well, but you have to knock on the window and ask for it.
Of course you're gonna try some smoked brisket, right?
Much more here: https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." - Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776
Brisket has been on my list for awhile, but frankly (a) most of the people I know that have done it said they didn't find the time investment to be worthwhile and (b) I don't generally like things that require overnight smoking.
but I'll get around to it I'm sure. Especially now that the pork is so boring.
I can do a family size brisket in a day, but it's MUCH easier on my electric smoker than it ever was when I was using wood or charcoal.
Start it at 5-6AM and it's ready by dinner time.
I'm still more of a pulled pork fan. Down-East Carolina style.
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." - Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776
When I was stationed at Hood, Brisket became my go to for smoking due to the availability of full packer cuts from the local HEB. I found the most difficult part to just be the meat prep- trimming the fat down, then separating the flank and point of the cut. Once I had that done, I’d just use a rub composed of 50/50 kosher salt and black pepper; and smoke for 12 hours at 225. Just do the prep work the night beforehand, wake up the next morning, fire up the smoker, and the juice was well worth the squeeze in my opinion.
that's been my go-to, I guess for too long. This last batch I actually ate with the red BBQ sauce that I only ever buy to placate the guests that don't want the proper mustard-based sauce that I've always preferred.
Congrats Rob, glad you liked it!!!
My wife can't cook, and I get the look of death when I tell her that clocks don't deterkine done. That you need to cook things for the amount of time it takes for them to be done. That is where the art and science of it collide.
I nixed traeger off my list, despite some special pricing, because it wouldn't go below 140 for cold smoking.
pat
The smoker equivalent of a shot timer is a good two-probe thermometer, one for the meat, the other for the smoker temp.
Otherwise you're just tossing ammo downrange willy-nilly.
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