First time smoking big King salmon

azbohunter · Nov 29, 2014

Waiting for someone else to reply to this and maybe offer more experienced opinion.

I would think you could, I am not sure you would get much pellicle formed in the fridge because of the environment but maybe, with the frost free stuff it would work. I have done mine in the fridge in our rv a time or two but I am able to put a small fan in there to circulate the air and it is not frost free.

Maybe you could keep in fridge over night and them leave them out for a while under a fan to get some pellicle and bring up to room temps before putting into the smoker?

I am sure someone else will chime in!

Good luck...

cmayna · Nov 29, 2014

I have never done it before, but don't see why you couldn't leave it in the fridge overnight. I would still room dry with a fan before it goes into the smoker? If you were to go ahead and do it today, what time do you estimate smoking? 5pm? If it's not raining up there, you could be done 8-9 pm. Wouldn't be the end of the world unless your flashlight runs out of batteries...LOL

yjay · Nov 29, 2014

I'm going to give it a whirl. I'm going to do like suggested and form the pellicle at room temp tomorrow. The reason is I may have to leave tonight before it would be done.

yjay · Nov 29, 2014

Rinsed, a little coarse pepper, and off to the fridge for the evening. My crummy phone makes it look kinda pale. Just a small batch to check my technique.

chinook.jpg

yjay
Nov 29, 2014

azbohunter · Nov 29, 2014

Looks great, you are going to enjoy some great fish tomorrow. Making me want to dig down into my freezer?

Will be waiting for finished products reviews!

cmayna · Nov 29, 2014

yjay said:
I'm going to give it a whirl. I'm going to do like suggested and form the pellicle at room temp tomorrow. The reason is I may have to leave tonight before it would be done.

Next time just fly me up (1st class, isle seat of course) and I'll watch it for ya.

yjay · Nov 29, 2014

How bout you fish with me, chip for fuel, I'll put you on fish, and you smoke it all. I only want half.

cmayna · Nov 29, 2014

Funny, that what I do with our fishing buddies. I'll smoke their Kings and charge 50%. Even at that, I'm still taking a bath but I still enjoy the compliments.

So will you, once you have done it a couple times.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

azbohunter · Nov 29, 2014

cmayna said:
Funny, that what I do with our fishing buddies. I'll smoke their Kings and charge 50%. Even at that, I'm still taking a bath but I still enjoy the compliments.

So will you, once you have done it a couple times.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Me too...........

yjay · Nov 30, 2014

cmayna said:
Funny, that what I do with our fishing buddies. I'll smoke their Kings and charge 50%. Even at that, I'm still taking a bath but I still enjoy the compliments.

So will you, once you have done it a couple times.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You'd be amazed at how much goes in to catching those stupid fish that you don't really think about. $12 bucks for a flasher (gotta have multiples of each color), $6 for a Superbait (again, multiples of each), Gomakatsu hooks, flurocarbon P-Line, $50 downrigger balls. Inevitably stuff gets lost. Plus fuel, tuna, scents, swivels, beads, nitrile gloves, soap, etc., spares for everything. It gets spendy. Not to mention the boat with downriggers, kicker, (autopilot which isn't necessary but almost is),electronics, etc. Guided trips seem expensive at $250 a day till you do it yourself and see what it takes. But it's the only fish that can put up a real fight and pull drag on 30 pound test around here. It's a 3 hour drive for me but I love it. I'd do it even if I couldn't eat the fish. Just dig the hunt and the fight.

I miss tuna fishing and this scratches the itch.

azbohunter · Nov 30, 2014

yjay said:
You'd be amazed at how much goes in to catching those stupid fish that you don't really think about. $12 bucks for a flasher (gotta have multiples of each color), $6 for a Superbait (again, multiples of each), Gomakatsu hooks, flurocarbon P-Line, $50 downrigger balls. Inevitably stuff gets lost. Plus fuel, tuna, scents, swivels, beads, nitrile gloves, soap, etc., spares for everything. It gets spendy. Not to mention the boat with downriggers, kicker, (autopilot which isn't necessary but almost is),electronics, etc. Guided trips seem expensive at $250 a day till you do it yourself and see what it takes. But it's the only fish that can put up a real fight and pull drag on 30 pound test around here. It's a 3 hour drive for me but I love it. I'd do it even if I couldn't eat the fish. Just dig the hunt and the fight.

I miss tuna fishing and this scratches the itch.

I'm not going to let my wife read this yjay. We live in Arizona but we spend summers in Oregon and the last two years I have developed a Salmon habit on the Big C! If she sees your post my good times might come to an end

Besides I pull a boat from Arizona, a non-resident license, and camping fees on top your cost???? I don't mind a bit and look at it as "cheap" entertainment. Not sure she agrees but she loves that smoked salmon.

yjay · Nov 30, 2014

Took a long time. 6 hours to get to 145. I've read the 40 to 140 degrees in four hours rule, what do you guys think? Is it safe?

chinook4.jpg

yjay
Nov 30, 2014

azbohunter · Nov 30, 2014

No problem, the brine serves as a preservative. Mine usually takes six hours to get to temp!

Your good to go. Let us know how it is...Great I bet!

yjay · Nov 30, 2014

Cool, thanks. Came out very good.

cmayna · Nov 30, 2014

Nice job.

First time smoking big King salmon

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