New Egger, first couple cooks (Hot Smoked Salmon, Spatchcock & Reverse sear Ribeye - PIC INTENSIVE)

Well, one of my first real cooks that I was dying to try was a hot smoked salmon. I ended up getting a gorgeous wild caught Coho fillet for this project, before I realized that a lot of people say to use farm raised due to the higher content. I decided to give it a shot anyway and I'm glad I did

I ended up going with a soy/wine brine very similar to the first one on this page http://www.fishsniffer.com/recipes/salmon5.html
I was really afraid that it was going to be too salty, but ended up being the best smoked salmon I've ever had. SWMBO, who isn't even a Salmon fan ask to take some home with her. Always a good sign!
Here is the salmon after brining for 24 hours

Here it is after a cracked black pepper and maple syrup glaze:

Then onto the egg it went. I went with a placesetter legs up and put two trays of ice in the drip pan. I was able to keep the temps between 180-210 throughout the cook.

Just before coming off the egg:

And here's how it ended up:

I was very very happy with the results, to say the least. I brought a nice cut to a party later that night and it got rave reviews.

Next up I decided that these Spatchcock chickens you were all making looked too delicious, I had to try my hand at making one. I didn't brine, I just cleaned, spatch'd, dried for 24 hours uncovered in the fridge. Then EVOO and then did 1/2 the chicken with DP Swamp Venom and the other 1/2 with DP Raising the Steaks (Used Cherry and Apple for smoke). After about an hour, raised direct at 375-400 this is what I was rewarded with:

I took a thigh and some other parts down to the parents house and my 67 year old dad txt me about 20 minutes later and said "That is absolutely the best chicken I've ever had in my life". A very nice compliment, indeed. As I've heard others on here say....'once you cook a spatchcock, you'll never buy a roaster chicken again' - I couldn't agree more. I have another in the fridge right now that I did a creole injection on that I'm going to throw on tomorrow, low and slow. Since it's packed full of buttery goodness I was almost wondering if I should do indirect with a drip pan this time? Thoughts? I'm worried about the grill flaring up.

Lastly, after 1 failed attempt and a second "it was ok" attempt I finally managed to get a reverse sear done right:

I'm glad I took the time to learn though and finally have it down because it's just such an amazing way to do ribeyes.

Again, bit thanks to all of you out here posting pics and recipes, it really helps us n00b's out a lot when we are just starting out.

Happy Friday everyone!

Marty