Cured and smoked some salmon over the past few days. Tossed in some Colby Jack cheese while I was at it. I used Bbally's method, and cold smoked 4 hours with a tube smoker and apple pellets. I gotta say, it turned out really well. It's briney and smokey without being overpowering. The fish flavor comes through, but again, it's subtle. The mouth feel is velvety and just plain awesome. This was a test run with just over a pound of grocery store, farm raised el cheapo salmon. I'll definitely be doing this again with some higher quality fish.
The finished cheese. Made the mistake of tasting it right outta the smoker. AAACK!!! I'll revisit that in a couple weeks.
The salmon after curing and freshening. I didn't get any pics of the curing process because I just kinda didn't think of it. The black specks are pepper that didn't rinse off.
On to the mini with the tube smoker in the fire basket. That thing astounds me. Exactly 4 hours of perfect TBS on one load of pellets.
Just left the smoker in the granny cart, easier to move around and since there's no heat nor need to access the bottom, no need to remove it.
One hour in.
Temp stayed at 55 for about an hour, then started to climb. Finally peaked at 88˚. I can live with that.
2 hours in . Pulled the cheese at this point.
All done. 4 hours of apple smoke. Tightened up nicely, though the outside is a slight bit leathery. No biggie though.
Sliced up after an overnight rest. Had planned to have some last night for dinner. but the wife has a cold so decided to save it. Will have it for Sunday brunch. Now I just gotta make some bagels....
The finished cheese. Made the mistake of tasting it right outta the smoker. AAACK!!! I'll revisit that in a couple weeks.
The salmon after curing and freshening. I didn't get any pics of the curing process because I just kinda didn't think of it. The black specks are pepper that didn't rinse off.
On to the mini with the tube smoker in the fire basket. That thing astounds me. Exactly 4 hours of perfect TBS on one load of pellets.
Just left the smoker in the granny cart, easier to move around and since there's no heat nor need to access the bottom, no need to remove it.
One hour in.
Temp stayed at 55 for about an hour, then started to climb. Finally peaked at 88˚. I can live with that.
2 hours in . Pulled the cheese at this point.
All done. 4 hours of apple smoke. Tightened up nicely, though the outside is a slight bit leathery. No biggie though.
Sliced up after an overnight rest. Had planned to have some last night for dinner. but the wife has a cold so decided to save it. Will have it for Sunday brunch. Now I just gotta make some bagels....
