Smoked Salmon - possibly dumb question

balliardi

Can you make smoked salmon on the BGE?

Hsa anyone tried, and how did it go?

Doc_Eggerton

No dumb questions, and yes you can smoke wonderful salmon on the BGE.

stike

pretty much everything has been done on an egg.

as for smoked salmon, depends what you mean: cooked and smoked (hot smoked)?, or cured, cold smoked, nova lox?

thirdeye has them both: http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/1995/02/seafood-dry-cure-for-salmon-trout-or.html

Doc_Eggerton

        Last Friday's smoke.     .

stike

and then there's a third way, as Doc shows.  which is basically cooking salmon, and including smoke. the two i gave you are for cured salmon, which is what i thought you meant.  maybe you just mean 'cooking it', and there's smoke involved.

you can also do cedar or alder (or maple) planked salmon.

Doc_Eggerton

stike,

I think what I am doing would qualify as smoking, although not really cool smoking like lox.

I apply a cure, or non-traditionally a marinade overnight.  For the dry one the rub I used to cure overnight gets rinsed and the fillet is dryed.  For the marinade the fillet rests on sea salt overnight which is wiped off before the smoke.

I do indirect, with a pan for humdity (in this case red wine), and chunks for smoke (in this one it was apple).  I then keep the dome closed and regulate the temp below 180.  If I let it drop below 150 the fire is usually out.

I most certainly also grill direct or bake indirect at higher temps .  Fried it one time on a paiea pan.

Are you able to smoke at lower temperatures than these?

balliardi

Thanks all - I meant cold smoked I guess, the type you buy which is called "smoked salmon"

Though all those recipes look delicious so might have to try them all!

Doc_Eggerton

I have never succeeded in cold smoke, because I can't keep the fire lit.  It will be interesting to hear other's experiences.

The internal tem on the last cook was 160 when I pulled it.  I certainly could have pulled it earlier, but I am not sure that is fully cooked.  I then refrigerate it and eat it cold.  It was delicious.

 

stike

ah. cool.  so we both thought "hot smoked salmon". hahaha

 when i saw your pics i thought that you were cooking salmon with some smoke (like a person might cook anything on the BGE). didn't realize you had cured it.

i actually haven't cold smoked salmon (or hot smoked cured salmon) myself.  i have cured it, but non-BGE related.  just did some of third-eye's dry and brine cured salmon last week, his nova lox method. but am not smoking it

you can cold smoked other stuff on the BGE.  bacon, hams, etc. and there are a few ways to do it.  probably easiest is with the a-maze-ing smoker, and a similar product called the pro-q smoker.   little metal mazes of screen that you fill with hardwood sawdust, light at one end, and they smolder over 8 to 10 hours, never quite catching fire.

or you can try a coffee can filled with a small amount of lump and filled with chips.  light the lump and do your best to keep temps low (minimal vent openings).  ...or, use the small BGE (if you have one) as a fire chamber.  connect it from its top vent to the large BGE via the lower vent, with a metal-foil dry-vent hose.  the smoke cools at is travels thru the hose.  300 in the fire chamber, and ambient temps in the smoke chamber (the large bge).  looks goofy, but easiest way for me to maintain continuous smoke, because the fire in the small can be 250-300 if you need it.  and you can add wood whenever you want without messing up the system

balliardi

Nice idea! would have to buy another egg first though... or could possibly do it with my old weber kettle. Thanks!

stike

depends what you mean when you say "smoked salmon".  what is it you want it to be when it hits the plate?

chrisnjenn

I bought this about 6 months ago for smoking at low temps on my BGE and it works extremely well.  Someone from the other site recommended it and I can as well.

http://www.amazenproducts.com/default.asp

Doc_Eggerton

Learn something every time.  That a-maze-ing smoker looks awful interesting.

balliardi

I bought this about 6 months ago for smoking at low temps on my BGE and it works extremely well.  Someone from the other site recommended it and I can as well.

http://www.amazenproducts.com/default.asp

Looks good. How does it work in conjunction with BGE then?

chrisnjenn

It works very well.  I know some use a can, but I like this better. I got the idea from this guy (link below).  I use the same method.

http://www.greeneggers.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=707118&catid=1

balliardi

Ah ha that explains it! Thanks - definitely have to give this a go with salmon.

Once again the egg heads come up trumps!

chrisnjenn

I bought this about 6 months ago for smoking at low temps on my BGE and it works extremely well.  Someone from the other site recommended it and I can as well.

http://www.amazenproducts.com/default.asp

Looks good. How does it work in conjunction with BGE then?

If you decide to buy one, let me know.  I have a ton of different kinds of wood dust ( I have a habit of buying too much of something) I bought from them and I will ship you some.

stike

balliardi.... just make sure you are curing the salmon first.