My first Scallop and Salmon Smoke

[eddisabledvet]

Hey smokers and smokettes. 

I attempted my first cold, well, probably, luke warm seafood smoke. 

I was not sure where to start and I felt too lazy to search the internet.  So I bought one piece of fresh salmon plain and one pre-marinated with brown sugar and bourbon.  I purchased 6 scallops at the same time. 

I did not do anything with the two pieces of salmon other than putting a little kosher salt on the meat side, not the skin side.  I marinated the scallops in a bowl of light brown sugar and apple juice for about a day.  Not because I planned it but the weather changed and I had to wait to smoke. 

Here are a couple pictures of how they turned out.  Since I have never had smoked salmon or scallops before, I do not have a reference for taste, but to me, they taste delicious.  My wife hates seafood, even the smell will turn her green so they are all mine. 

Let me know what you think. 

It was a little windy so I had a very hard time keeping the temp at 125, it was more like 160 or so for the first 2 hours.  I have to get the smoker up to 300 for about 30 minutes to get the apple and hickory wood chunks to start smoking.  After I had a good smoke going, I turned the heat down and let the temp level out.  I do not have a wind break so the wind kept blowing out my flame when I attempted 125 but I was able to keep it at 160. 

The last 2 hours, I bumped the temp up to 225 and took them out when the internal temp reached 150 and I liked the color.  Let me know what you think. 

I ate 3 of the scallops off of the smoker before the plate made it inside.  lol  I could not wait, they looked so good.  And they were. 

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• eddisabledvet
• Mar 18, 2014

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• eddisabledvet
• Mar 18, 2014

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• eddisabledvet
• Mar 18, 2014

 

[foamheart]

They look pretty good from here. I fell in love scallops in the service, and lobster too, we have seafood here, but not those. it was a totally new taste, so sweet.....

I keep seeing smoked fish and know it must be good, I liked it in my old camping days when I smoked in the campfire not really intending to. I just for some reason the last couple a years have not gotten the fresh fish I have in the past.  But I will try it soon also.

Like I said, it looks pretty tastee! Congrats.

PS Those scallops are sized to conveniently to not just be popped in the mouth finger food! 

 

[eddisabledvet]

Thanks FoamHeart.  I find it hard to get really fresh seafood.  The best I get is at a local butcher case.  I hope it is not frozen but it probably is.  But being in Kentucky, I cannot just go to the local seafood market and buy it extremely fresh.  So this will have to do. 

As for the size of the scallops I did, they fit perfectly in one mouthfull.  If your mouth is as big as mine anyway.  lol 

I recommend everyone try to smoke some fish if it is something you like.  I do not think it is a cold smoke, but at 125 to 165, it still turned out tastey.  It only took me 4 hours and I never had to open the smoker, I just turned the temp up after 2 hours.  Then after 4 hours, I opened it up and checked the temp.  Once I get a maverick temp guage, I will not have to worry about guessing on the temp but so far, been pretty lucky. 

 

[foamheart]

I tell everyone that growing up here its hard to eat seafood elsewhere, but since we don't have octopus, scallops, nor lobster its what I usually order if possible in a non-seafood area. If you're not used to fresh, fresh frozen is great!

Yeppers usually a cold smoke is consider less than >100 degrees

You will love your new maverick, it takes all the guess work out of smoking/cooking and you can cook like a pro with little or no prior experience. Its a great learning tool. Be careful though and remember how to smoke without it. Its like a computer, a tool, like a hammer or a shovel

 

[Bearcarver]

Salmon & Scallops Look Great, Ed !!!

I never smoked an Scallops---That's gotta be Awesome!!!

Bear

 

[kc5tpy]

Hello Ed.  Looks mighty good to me.  My good friend Foam has ya covered on many things here.  We have chatted in PM and you know about me and old school.  Foam is an old school coonass who knows his stuff and he makes a good point.  Remember the color and the feel of your food and the feel of your smoker at certain temps.  Check the smoker temps with your hand ( just hold your hand close to the smoker or close to the exhaust ).  Poke your finger into a steak at a certain IT.  That therm IS just a tool,  A valuable tool if you are learning or trying to achieve certain temps, smoking cheese, smoking sausage, medium rare prime rib; but still just a tool.  If it packs up in the middle of smoking a brisket for a party of 20 people you gotta carry on.  I am sure Foam learned as I did, by watching Dads and Granddads for several years.  These things will come in time.  Keep going you are off to a good start.  Fine looking food.  Keep Smokin!

Danny

 

[leah elisheva]

Hey there! I'm just seeing this thread now, and your creation looks absolutely delightful!

I love the deep color on the salmon and scallops and they must have been DELICIOUS!!!!!! I bet they smelled really wonderfully with the smoke too!

BRAVO!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers!! - Leah

 

[eddisabledvet]

Wow, thank you all for the great comments. Fortunately for me my wife hates seafood so I got to enjoy it all by myself. I had only had smoked scallops one time before and it was a long time ago. A friend of mine went to Homer Alaska on a fishing trip he was able to purchase fresh frozen scallops that had been smoked right before they were frozen. He brought them home and they were the most amazing thing I had ever eat in my entire life. So the day I was in the grocery store picking up the salmon I saw that they had scallops as well so I bought six of them hoping that I would be able to smoke them without screwing them up. If I must say so myself, they turned out fabulous as did the salmon. I currently do not have the maverick thermometer as I have to wait until next month to be able to buy it so right now I have to check every three or so hours and take the manual temp reading with my portable meat thermometer.

I really hope to get to a point to where I don't have to rely on the monitors but since I'm just starting out, one of my biggest fears is to overcook or undercook the items that I'm smoking. Today I'm trying chicken both a whole chicken and individual legs and I may even throw my cheese in their. I bought a round 1 inch block of Colby that of really want to try smoking but thinking about it it might not be a good idea as the high temperatures required for chicken will probably melt a Colby. So I guess the Colby will probably wait until another day where the wind is not blowing and I can keep my smoker and a very low temp.

Again, thank you all so much for the wonderful compliments. I am having so much fun with my smoker I don't know what I did before. I think the only person that's enjoying my love of smoking more than I is my wife as she gets to eat everything that I make. And so far the only thing she doesn't like and will not eat is the seafood.

Ciao and keep smoking, Ed

 

[Bearcarver]

We're in the same boat Ed, as Mrs Bear won't eat any fish or seafood !!  More for us, but I usually make it when she's not home.

Yes you'll want to smoke your cheese as low as you can, and if need be you can freeze some water in a jug, and stick it between any heat & the cheese to keep it cool.

An AMNS or AMNPS is the best I've found for cold smoking with perfect smoke.

Bear