"Half-smoke" salmon

However, inspired by the idea of halfway smoking something, I decided to try something different (maybe - for all I know, there could be 1,000 identical cooks on this forum, but bear with me, anyway) with a really nice coho salmon filet.  Scanning the forum, I saw nice planking-style recipes and nice cold-smoking recipes, but here's the thing:

I love smoked salmon, but it's not an entree.  Light pink, moist salmon is nice and tender, but it's wet and lacks the succulence I wanted on a Friday night.

Solution (and this is not for everyone, I will say this up front):  half-smoke it.

I rubbed the skin side of the salmon with a healthy amount of coarse salt.  I then rubbed the meat side with DP Tsunami Spin and olive oil.  I let the fish sit for a bit while I got the fire going.

This was going to be the last cook of my first bag of lump (having previously done overnight pork butt, overnight packer brisket, spatchcock chicken, a quick fireup for jalapeno poppers, and strip steaks, I still had lump left over from the BGE brand bag - is that true of 20 lbs, of Royal Oak's regular stuff or of WG?  Serious question, as BGE-branded lump is budget-busting), so all I had to do was stir a bit and poke my grate to prepare.  I scattered a healthy smattering of alder chips in a ring around the center of the lump, then lit my starter dead center.  Once a decent circle of coals was going, I piled alder chips on top, then set up raised-direct (for me, that's a CI grate, jalapeno popper rack centered on that, and standard grate on top of that) and tossed the salmon on.  I set the Maverick to warn me if the temp went over 320 (it didn't even hit 300) and when the salmon temp hit 130.  Alder smoke was very, very plentiful.

When the fish hit 130, I pulled the Maverick probes and double-checked with the Thermapen.  As it read 126, I closed the lid for another 5-6 minutes, then pulled the salmon and lightly foiled.  As it sat, my wife and I sauteed some spinach and garlic and steamed some couscous.

The result was a little drier and a lot meatier than regular salmon, a dark, smoke-ring pink bursting with alder flavor.  I concede it's not for everyone, and I further concede that the proper term for this might be "oversmoked," but we loved it.  Try it or punt it as you see fit.  Just thought I'd share.