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I tired some Striper cheeks I saved from last summer's cape cod trips.   They are more fatty and have a consistency more like scallops.   I made a dry brine with creole seasoning, 4:1 brown sugar to salt, and wrapped them up in plastic wrap over night, pulled them in the morning, rinsed quick...

thanks Al!!!

So is it recommended to vac seal it right out of the smoker to cool then take it out the next day to slice?  What is the benefit of that?

I got it right this time.  I made a batch of the cure/rub as per: http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/87043/making-lox-a-picture-guide Applied it all to one fillet, sat it in the refer for 48 hours. Pulled it, put cold ice water in the same tub and let it desalinize for an hour. Racked it in...

Thank you for the reply!  I know what you mean, for a newbie like me (I only started smoking about 6 months ago and really only started to really enjoy cooking a year ago so a lot of it is all new but im a very fast learner) its hard to get a solid handle on the right and wrongs because the...

Same here I do metal fab, hot rods, powdercoating, I just cant buy something I can build.   Ran to the metal supermarket for $10 worth of stainless perf sheet drops and made my own U turn tray.  works perfectly fine.   Now I want to rip the junk controller from this MES 40 and build another PID...

oh and the cheddar I smoked too which I also gave out as Christmas gifts.  I bought a big 5lb brick of the cheddar from Pricechopper for $30... nothing special about the cheese I got.   I cut them up into wedges, let them reach room temp, popped them in the smoker for 6 hours at 65 degs, pulled...

I forgot to bump this with the results.  the bottom one wasn't that good, the top one was great.   firm enough to break up into chunks for the salad but moist and very good flavor.  hardly any salt taste, nice and sweet with good hint of smoke. I also brined and smoked those venison steaks...

this morning they look better.  stiffened up slightly too.   I am just going to hot smoke it up to 145 IT and be done with it.   Next go around I will get curing salt and follow http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/87043/making-lox-a-picture-guide exactly.

well i got home pulled it out of the brine which would be around 17 hours in it total... its very soft and pliable, nothing like when i dry brined it in the past.   i thought it should have stiffened up and shrunk a bit too??? I rinsed it over cold water for a few minutes and soaked it in cold...

also I may have screwed up by leaving the brine and the fish in the brine, in the nonstick pot I boiled the solution in initially. :(   everything I keep reading about nonstick/Teflon being non-reactive doesn't seem to be set in stone either.   maybe I should toss the fish and start over?

I also have been trying to find the difference between curing and brining.  I was under the impression that once you pull it from the brine and air dry it in the fridge that was the curing part?

ok i gotcha... but, so what are the "required" amounts?   and is this a safety thing, the required part I am speaking about.

I am trying some for the first time too:  http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/239921/first-cold-smoked-salmon I am between # 3 and #5 because my girlfriend went into work early and I originally wanted her to pull them out of the brine around hour 12 but no ill just pull them around hour 17 once...

3 weeks ago I did my first cold smoke with some cheddar and it came out awesome.  I welded up an amazin knock off pellet tray of my own, mailbox modded my MES40 and it works awesome.  So now im going to try some salmon and a hunk of tuna. Both are previously frozen store bought, 2 good sized...

I read your go to show post and learned a ton.  I probably searched 30 threads today and got a good handle on it all thanks to you and the other great contributors here.   The smoking food game I think is all about confidence, because once you break it down its actually very simple! I will be...

I want to try cheese for the first time to do gifts too.  If I vac seal them, what kind of storage is needed? like I don't need to put the gifts in the fridge do I? lol Also I just started researching cheese smoking, but the aging, curing, storage still has me somewhat confused.

Great success!  Right off the top I want to thank all that replied, and many more who provided great content for this forum in other threads I used for help! I got up at 4:00 fired up the smoker and pulled the bird out, dried it, rubbed it and put it back in the fridge for an hour as the smoker...

I just got one too.  I have been practicing and learning the machine.  right now i have 2 probes on the iGrill2 on the middle rack, suspended on corks wedged between the racking one on the left and one on the right, and i put a 3rd probe top center. left middle is 242 right is 247 top is 252...