Questions About Smoked Salmon

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Stogie's post is excellent. The only thing he left out is the kind of wood to use. If you're smoking salmon by itself, I recommend alder. If you have other meats in your smoker besides salmon, I recommend hickory, because I think it's the best all purpose smoking wood.
 
elchampino said:
Friends -

First off, a big hello to all you pit masters out there. The quick and dirty on me - I am by no means an expert, though I do fancy myself a better than average cook with a specialization in the School of BBQ. I can rock a decent set of ribs, a truly mean brisket, and while it won't raise any eyebrows on this board, I'm famous among my friends for successfully cooking pizza on the grill. I hope to one day upgrade to a smoker, but right now all I can afford is an old Weber - a time consuming pain for serious dishes, but indirect heat can work true magic in that old hunk a' metal. Looking forward to learning from all the wisdom and advice this board has to share.

Second, my question - I am planning on hot smoking salmon this Saturday for breakfast on Sunday. The thing is, I have no idea how to smoke salmon. The brining and drying process sound simple enough, but from there, I can't seem to get an accurate time window for cooking - I've heard as little as 20 minutes, to up to an hour a pound, to up to two hours a pound. I can only spare 4 hours smoking time to this little experiment (I'd devote more, but that whole pesky 'life' thing gets in the way of all the fun BBQing I wish I could be doing). Thoughts?

Also, anyone know where I can find cedar or alder planks in the DC area?

Cheers
elchampino


Hi, welcome to the forum !

Good luck on your fish smoking; as for timing, I know when I have up to 50 lbs of fresh king in the smoker it could take up to 18 to 20+ hours, variables are the thickness and oil content of the fish, and weather, and brine type - wet or a dry brine. But, I've never smoked fish on my weber kettle either, I have a cheap, top loader dedicated for fish only. Brines are something to play around with until you find the one you like best.... I would love to know how your salmon turns out, please post pictures and let us know !

I'm noticing that you can find cedar planks in most grocery stores now, good luck on your search .
 
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