Firing up the Smoker Tomorrow (PET)...

[Mikey]

As long as I've got the fire going for 5 or 6 hours for the ribs, and have some extra space, I'd be remiss not to do some other stuff too, including some experimenting. I'll start a PET tonight, hopefully, while setting some things up.

I've got 3 racks of baby back ribs. I'll either marinate them tonight or set them up with a dry rub.

I've got about 2 lb of fresh coho salmon and about 1 3/4 lb of king. I tried smoking fish for the first time a couple of weeks ago over Memorial Day weekend, and it came out really good - better than anything I've bought. Like now I had some coho and some king. The king, prolly because of higher fat content, came out more moist and tender, but the coho tasted really good too. I'll be brining the fish overnight in a brown sugar and salt based brine.

I was gong to try doing some albacore but they didn't have any at the store, so I bought a couple of hunks of ono (or wahoo if you prefer). One of my favorites to grill, it should be good smoked too.

The fish only takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours, so when it's done I'll throw in some chicken thighs and drumsticks. Should end up with about enough food for lunch and dinner for a week.

Oh yeah -- I'll be smoking with mesquite chunks and apple wood chips.

[Dinsdale]

Although I realize it's incompatible with your other fare, when you smoke salmon (salt and brown sugar is great brine, try brushing some honey on while it's smoking), you really want it at about 160 degrees -- cook time varies with the size of the pieces, but is usually about 8 hours. TAKE IT OUT before it gets to your desired moisture/dryness -- it tends to keep drying well after removal. But there's a definite learning curve associated with it -- you'll figured it out).

We usually brine for 24 hours, then rinse off the pieces, then you lay them out to dry for about an hour. There's some chemical reaction stuff that goes down in the process, so it's a good idea to follow those guidelines.

As much as I love my charcoal/wood unit, my friends and I always use an electric for salmon -- easy to keep that nice low heat, but mainly because it makes the smoker smell like fish.

I didn't go today (my bestet fishing bud is trying to get everyone in the new bitchinbadass top-of-the-line driftboat, so I took the day off... on a hot bite day... blood on the boat floor. A chinook met a untimely end... on my freaking rod, when I sat the day out). Thursday wasn't so hot, despite my slight sunburn. Might hit them again tomorrow or Monday (less yahoos during the week anyway).

If you're going to cook it hotter than the 160, you can probably get away with little or no brining. I'm sure that stale old no-longer-in-the-U&L shit will be good regardless. But as I've said before -- if you haven't had a salmon tht was alive this morning you haven't truly had salmon... big difference. And Willamette River Spring Chinook has more omega-3 than any other fish-BTW... or so they tell me.


But thanks for getting my jones up to go slaughter some innocent animals. My bud's driftboat is the Rolls-Royce of rivercraft. We've both wanted one for the 20+ years we've fished together, and now it's done. He lives about 10 minutes from the lower ramp on the Clackamas -- feeling pretty spoiled right about now.

[Mikey]

Yeah, I'm prolly doing this all wrong, and you're sure to let me know exactly where I'm going wrong . But like you said, there's a learning curve. My smoker usually sits at around 180 - 200 deg or a little higher dependinng on how long ago I added fuel. So, my fish will take less time but it still comes out tasting good, at least it did last time.

Here are the ingredients for the brine. Last time I didn't use any fennel, celery or onion because...I didn't have any around the house. The peppercorns are my own addition.




Ingredients mixed together.




Here's the fish, all in one place.




Cut up into manageable pieces.




Ready to go in the fridge.

[Mikey]

This, BTW, will be tonight's dinner. Along with some hummos, flatbread, tadziki and a big salad.

[Screw_Michigan]

Dude, when are you gonna invite me over for dinner? I only live down the block. We can talk Communisim and acid.

[Dinsdale]

I forgot to mention (in case you didn't figure it out, I've smoked a boatload of salmon in the last 25 years)...

by all means, experiement with the brine -- the sky's the limit.

[Mikey]

Dude, when are you gonna invite me over for dinner? I only live down the block. We can talk Communisim and acid.

I already have two kids home for the summer. I don't need another fukkin freeloader...

Besides, you get all that free food all the time and stuff.

[Goober McTuber]

This, BTW, will be tonight's dinner. Along with some hummos, flatbread, tadziki and a big salad.

Holy shit. No wonder you're so fucking fat. What did the rest of the family eat?

[Mikey]

Holy shit. No wonder you're so fucking fat. What did the rest of the family eat?

I don't know. I think they went to McDonald's or something. They're not back yet.

[Mikey]

Here's the outdoor kitchen. Smoker in the back.




Soaking the apple wood chips.




Firestarter





Ribs ready to go.




On the grill.





Secret spray.




More fuel.




After an hour, the fish is on.

[Mikey]

Here's the fish, after about 40 minutes.

[Mikey]

Fish comes off.





Ribs are looking good.





Chicken goes on. I thought I was buying thighs and drumsticks yeserday, but I only got drumsticks. Oh well.

[Mikey]

Not really any crossover taste. The only real chance for that would be from the grates. I brush them real well and the ribs are standing in racks anyway.

The grills on the sides are both gas grills and, like cheap Mexican weed, aren't much good for smoking. The one in back will burn charcoal or wood and has a side box, where you put the fire for true indirect low and slow cooking. Also, the Webber (on the right) needs an overhaul and is out of commission until I get around to buying a new burner for it.

It looks like the ribs and chicken are just about done.




Checking for "doneness". Notice the nice reddish color, an indication that the smoke has penetrated well.



Some are sauced, and some are not.

[Mikey]

Ready to eat...

[Go Coogs']

225 for four hours on the ribs?

How long on the chicken and at what temp?

[Truman]

225 for four hours on the ribs?

How long on the chicken and at what temp?

'til your instant-read meat thermometer reads 165 degrees.

External heat and humidity will impact the smoker's internal heat and humidity, as will a number of other factors, such as the amount of charcoal used and the cut of the bird (whole, half, or parts). And no two smokers are exactly alike.

Low-and-slow is your friend, Coogs'. Crack the vents, crack a Shiner-or-three, and start checking after an couple of hours. You'll get a feel for "how long" after you get a feel for your smoker.

[Go Coogs']

I just bought one that was a rebuild from the local high school's welding shop. It was to raise money for a teacher with MS. I'm curing it with fat today. I'll get the temp up to 400 and walk it down to 225 with the damper half open. Probably burn the fat on there for a few hours and then ease my way into cooking something small and simple during the week. I'll probably go with chicken or small pork of some kind, then I'll move to ribs and briskett soon after.

[Dinsdale]

225 is good for just about anything.

I'm guessing a small 4lb whole chicken will be 4.5 hours, give or take a bunch.

Been having the rare summer rains, but I'm going to ECB it up -- pork sirloin. Premarinated and stuff... was cheap.

I'll bet it's good.

[Go Coogs']

Mesquite burns so freakin' hot, but I was finally able to get the temp under control after a couple hours. Got the fat on there and have been cooking it between 225 and 250 since 6pm. I'm just now playing with the dampers seeing how sensitive on temp swings. I think I can keep the inlet damper on the firebox just a hair cracked open and do most of my controlling with the stack. I'll try a chicken tomorrow if I'm up to it. Might have to wait 'til Wednesday.

[Dinsdale]

You bought an ECB, Todd?

Google "modify Brinkmann smoker" for ideas.

The thermometer sucks, but I'm told the "I" in "Ideal" is about 225.

I fill a coffee-can-chimney to start (especially if it's warm outside), and add a little more charcoal and wood chunks as I go. Filling the whole pan with charcoal seems like too much.

[Goober McTuber]

Now I believe I can get it to burn a little hotter if I want.{ which I'll probably most definitely want to do when the weather goes below freezing around here, and I move the smoker to my detached garage}

It will be much more comfortable if you set it up in your kitchen. Trust me.

[Mikey]

Now I believe I can get it to burn a little hotter if I want.{ which I'll probably most definitely want to do when the weather goes below freezing around here, and I move the smoker to my detached garage}

It will be much more comfortable if you set it up in your kitchen. Trust me.

Probably most definitely.

[Dinsdale]

I've read of people taking the lid of the ECB, and sealing it with a woodstove rope-seal, then drilling holes in the lid, and making a vent cover out of the lid of a tin can, like a regular BBQ. Allows you better airflow control.

You're a machinist, I'll bet you can figure it out.

[R-Jack]

I still have my ECB. I sit my chimey starter on it. It makes it easier to transfer my coals into the Oakie Joe. I also sit my dutch oven on it when I'm cooking with that. I guess you can call that modified.

Either way, if you're space or finacially challanged, a $40 ECB will cook your food every bit as good as my $500 monster or any cooker Indy could hang a flat screen from. I just have the ability to cook more good food

[Dinsdale]

I think I'll be firing up the smoker lately, to dispose of the bodies of some of the fish that met their demise at the hands of Dins' fishing party yesterday.

Got some coho jacks, and a rare steelhead jack (if you really care, I can explain what jacks are).

[Mikey]

(if you really care, I can explain what jacks are).

[Dinsdale]

It's JUST like that -- males showed up early to try and procreate with the surrounding hotties, but they just can't close the deal.

[Mikey]

I think I'll be firing up the smoker lately, to dispose of the bodies of some of the fish that met their demise at the hands of Dins' fishing party yesterday.

Got some coho jacks, and a rare steelhead jack (if you really care, I can explain what jacks are).

So how'd the adolescent fish come out?

[Dinsdale]

The surf-and-turf spectacular didn't suck.

The friday trip was part of my old buddy's weekend-long birthday celebration. The second leg of which, saturday, at which I wasn't present, involved taking his wife and 5yo boy to Tillamook Bay for some crabbing, then home to cook a giant seafood feast.

That part... not so much, and it's had ramifications that will æffect our early-season (starts right around now) salmon trips.

Homeboy borrows another friend's boat (14' Alaskan, a fine small-water fishing craft if ever there was one)... common practice, since dude who owns the Alaskan has no truck, so it's a reciprocal truck/boat arraigement... makes it to Tillamook, stops for the tourist trafiic coming in and out of the Cheese Factory, and dude in the brand new Grand Cherokee behind him decides not to stop... buh-bye, bay-boat.

Puts a damper on our short-term plan for salmon slaughter. I guess I need to get one of my ancient old Johnson Sea Horses going for the drift boat.

I'd hoped to post pics of the fishing adventure, but they haven't hit my inbox yet.

[Dinsdale]

About the only thing I'd think about using a kayak for would be ocean fishing, in the rocky coves along the coast -- the handful of people who do that get into serious seabass and lingcod.

And if I did get one (I won't), it would be a Hobie Mirage -- those things are pretty fucking cool. No paddling, just pedaling.

Homeboy #2 whose boat got smashed says he's not getting another Alaskan -- just got a big promotion at work, and is going to get a full on sled (I'm guessing it will say "Alumiweld" on the side).

Hell, the accident ripped the hitch out from under the truck, and my tired old 6-banger truck barely hauls itself up hills anymore, so we won't even be driftboating until it gets fixed (my bro said the rental company won't rent anything with a hitch on it... maybe UHaul will help us, since we're supposed to do the Clackamas River Cleanup on Sunday).


But we'll figure out a way to fish The Ditch in the next few weeks. Without a decent powerboat, fishing The World's Greatest Salmon Hole (that's really what it's called, aka Buoy 10, aka the mouth of the Columbia) is out. Tillamook Bay is doable.