Well, I finally got everything in place on my "new" SS Performer, so made my maiden voyage in cooking on it last night.
For anyone interested, my CL free SS is now cleaned up and sporting new 7444 ash sweeps (pretty easy to install) and the 2015 ash catcher (now I see why people dislike the squeeze mechanism). I didn't take the frame apart to do a "down to the bone" refurb job, but it was in pretty decent shape and with a little elbow grease it cleaned up very nicely. I also haven't been able to get hold of a current propane tank or to get the existing one (with OPD valve) recertified yet, so I went with a chimney instead this time. I did find that the SSP lid is rusting around the lid handle welds and that the entire exterior of the lid is covered in some sort of overspray-looking substance that wouldn't come off with the razor blade/soap/water/Krud Kutter technique, so I'm strongly considering trading lids with my soon-to-be-rehomed One Touch Platinum, which isn't rusting and came through the clean up looking pretty pristine.
Anyway, on to the actual subject! I tried the Peppered Salmon recipe from Sunset Magazine that my father-in-law has made many times. I had some trouble finding the right temperature for this cool-smoke recipe. You're supposed to keep the grill temperature at/around 160*, but I couldn't get it to stay there.
The recipe calls for you to start with 16 briquettes, placed in two piles on either side of the kettle for indirect cooking. (I used KBB since that's what my FIL uses.) The fillet is supposed to cook for 60 - 80 minutes, until the interior temp reaches 140* in the thickest part. You are supposed to soak wood chips (I used cherry) for 15 minutes, and then place a few on top of the briquettes as you go along so that you get a fine smoke throughout the cooking. The recipe says to add 3 briquettes to each pile of briquettes every 30 minutes. It also suggests leaving the vents open 1/4" but I misread it for awhile and thought it was saying to leave them open 1/4.
Now I'm an experienced cook, though not so much on a grill, and have only ever cooked on a gas grill before. And eventually, after about 90-100 minutes, I did end up with a nicely cooked salmon. It tasted great. It was, however, a little moister than I'm used to when my FIL makes it; his has a drier, more flaky texture and a harder crust on top (the recipe calls for a couple of TB honey to be spread on top of the fillet before cooking). I think I prefer my FIL's results, even though my fillet was really tasty.
So: how to improve in terms of temperature control and dry/flaky results? I think my first/main problem might've been that I let the coals burn too long in a chimney before putting them into the charcoal baskets. The recipe said to let them burn for about 20 minutes before starting to cook so I did that, but I think that was too long for the small number of briquettes I was using. They were fully covered with ash when I dumped them into the baskets, and some of them seemed to already be disintegrating. Perhaps I shouldn't have used the chimney, or maybe I should've only let those few briquettes burn for 10 minutes or so before dumping them out? My temps seemed to be low at first (135 after first 10 minutes), so I got a little antsy and added 2 briquettes to each side at that time, rather than waiting for 30 minutes. My other problem was probably that I had the vents open too much (1/4 open, instead of 1/4").
I'm going to be making this recipe again for Thanksgiving appetizers, so I'd love to hear your suggestions (assuming you haven't fallen asleep after reading this!). Thanks.