Great Salmon - thanks Nature Boy

Unknown

Hey Nature Boy,
Thanks for the Salmon recipe. I used the mustard and peanut oil marinade - cooked skin side down @ 400 for 20 minutes with direct heat...best Salmon of my life! Think I'll try pizza this weekend. [p]Thanks for the help![p]Salmon recipe -
Marinade
lime juice - 1/2 lime
1 tbsp yellow mustard
1 tsp Dijon
1 tbsp peanut oil
spices - Tony chachere's & corriander - sweat basil - salt - pepper [p]Smoked using pecan wood

Nature Boy

Kurt,
Always happy to help. I mainly use that paste on white flesh fish, but now I will try it on salmon! [p]Try Gretl's dijon/bourbon recipe next! Also keep an eye out for some killer fish ideas from our friend Sprinter, who is an expert on fish.[p]Thanks for the report.
NB

sprinter

Nature Boy,[p]Funny you should mention that NB. My dad is in FL right now, Cobia season is under way. He hooked an 80 pounder yesterday, got it to the boat and the line snapped. I know, fish story but sounds good. I believe him though. He's bringing home about 50 pounds of Spanish Mackerel and a couple smaller Cobia. I think they are about 45 and 35 pounds each. I was going to try and make it down to FL in late April for a Cobia tournament and fish it with him but busness is too heavy right now. Also, we're heading down there for a week in June, will get some fishing in then. By then the bottom fishing should be good and the snapper and King Mackerel and Grouper will be in. May even get some flounder as well. Looking forward to that. Fish on the egg this weekend, he's leaving FL on Friday.[p]Thanks for the plug, I'll be getting ready to don the fish gills pretty soon. I LOVE fresh fish on the egg. And it looks like it will be a pretty good season so far.[p]Troy

sprinter

Kurt,[p]If you like smoked salmon (not grilled like you did it) you will like the following method. Alt, a member of the forum, gave this idea to me last year and I've not smoked salmon any other way since then. Good stuff.[p]Rinse the salmon fillets and pat them dry. Skin side down in a glass dish, sprinkle them LIGHTLY with salt and LIGHTLY with sugar, then put some dill (little bit) on the fillets, either fresh or dry. Repeat this process, salt, sugar, dill, until the salmon fillets look like they have been snowed on. Then, cover them with plastic wrap and put them in the fridge for a couple hours or overnight. I leave mine overnight typically.[p]Smoke them indirect as low as you can for a couple of hours. This gets the good smoke penetration into the meat. Keep it NO HIGHER than 200 if possible for the first couple of hours. You can let the heat rise a bit after this, still no higher than 250. Mine take anywhere from 4-6 hours depending on the thickness of the fillet, this recipe is for about 2 pound fillets.[p]Let me know if you try this and if you like it, all of my friends who have tried this stuff say that they love it. Most have the recipe and use it to smoke their salmon. Hope you like it.[p]Troy

Unknown

sprinter,[p]After pulling from the reefer, do you rinse the fillets? I would expect that you should.

Nature Boy

sprinter,
Sounds like a great season coming up for you. Nothing like a fat juicy grouper filet. In fact all of the fish sounds incredible. Can't imagine how much meat a 45 pound fish has on it...let alone the 80 pounder that got away. I love fish more and more evey day!
Have a great one
NB

sprinter

Salmon Lover,[p]Sorry for the omission, you absolutely DO rinse the fillets after taking them from the fridge. Thanks for picking up after me, I must have been daydreaming about eating that salmon and skipped a step.[p]Troy

Gretl

sprinter,
...and in addition to what you do--after rinsing the salmon, I allowed it to air-dry uncovered in the fridge overnight before smoking. I'm not exactly sure why, but someone told me to do this and of COURSE I obey everything I'm told. <vbg>

sprinter

Gretl,[p]Its akin to drying sausage in the fridge for a day or so after you stuff it into casings, it just allows it to dry somewhat. The sausage and fish loses moisture very slowly in the humidity of the fridge and a day or so in the fridge for freshly stuffed sausage allows it to setup nicely in the casings. I've done this with smoked fish in the past, salmon and others, and it seems to take a bit of time off of the grilling time but it also seems to make the fish TOO dry for my tastes. I like the smoked fish a bit moist and drying it in the fridge overnight seems to make it a bit chewy or too flakey, even if I shorten the cook time. Just my observations and experience, I've not found it to add anything to the finished product and have found that it actually detracts from it for my tastes. Have you tried to smoke it without drying (refrigerating it uncovered) first? I'd be interested to know your experiences if you have.[p]Troy