First Cook: Peppered Salmon (Improvement Tips Appreciated!)

[micky]

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.

[1buckie]

Seems like you got close, but not quite the way you wanted.....

Couple possibilities....


Try it without the baskets, as they can impede airflow a bit & you already have the other observations in place (sooner dump on the coals, longer, ever-so-slightly higher heat cook)

The 'flaky' stage will likely be right up near where it starts to turn the corner toward drying out, so just watch it carefully near the ending......

Harder bark / crust might be better achieved by not soaking the chips, as that adds in moisture to the cook chamber.....a few less than they say, but added dry...........

[micky]

Thank you 1buckie.  I will try it again as you suggest. Aa little reassurance -- where the recipe suggests cooking with the vents open 1/4", does it seem reasonable to assume the ash sweeper shouldbe open all the way, and that such set up could be expected to give a cook time of 160ish for 60-80 minutes?

[pbe gummi bear]

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.

Are these briquettes all lit? 16 lit briquettes will give you a really high temperature but it sounded like you were going for more of a smoke. The vent handle on a One Touch opens very non linearly- The first inch or two of rotational travel will be where most of you air modulation will be- Any farther and the vents will be wide open. It's easy to make a kettle temp go up but difficult to bring it back down. Don't be afraid to give the salmon a nice sear or increase the temp at the end of the cook to get that crust you like.

I'll usually do a medium heat with fish, roughly 1/3 of a chimney lit, then dumped over roughly 2/3 of a chimney of unlit, indirect on one side only. Top vent wide open, bottom vent 1/3-1/4 open. Once the fire and smoke settles out it'll be around 300 and I'll let the fish ride until it's cooked. I'll kick up the temp at the end of the cook to get a crust. It'll cook pretty evenly if the fish is small. With a larger portion you might need to do smaller fires on each side or rotate the fish to get it to cook evenly.

[pbe gummi bear]

Thank you 1buckie.  I will try it again as you suggest. Aa little reassurance -- where the recipe suggests cooking with the vents open 1/4", does it seem reasonable to assume the ash sweeper shouldbe open all the way, and that such set up could be expected to give a cook time of 160ish for 60-80 minutes?

I don't think so- I think your temp will be higher. 16 lit charcoal is roughly what's burning during the snake method: This setup usually burns closer to 250F with the vent's roughly open 1/4-1/3.

[pbe gummi bear]

Oh- what did the thermometer on the lid say? While it's not super accurate, It'll give you a ballpark kettle temp. 160 Grill temp is pretty cool- You can usually leave your hand on the kettle for a few seconds at that temp. At smoking temps (~250) You can only leave your hand on the kettle for .5-1sec.

[micky]

Yes, all 16 were lit and fully (overly?) ashed when i dumped them out of the chimney. (Is it just me, or are the Kingsford briquettes smaller then they used to be? 16 didn't even fully cover the bottom of the chimney, and divided into 2 piles of 8, it seemed like a pretty puny amount especially because a fair number of them seemed to break up when i dumped them!).

Yes this is supposed to be a slow cool smoke.  Now im confused!

Following the recipe, i set an oven thermometer on top of the fillet, where it was supposed to stay at around 160. It was fluctuating there between 130-180.  And yet it took longer than expected to hit an interior temp of 140.  Of course i was lifting the lid about every 20 minutes to check the temp ...

I also had an infrared pointer thermometer but didnt find it particularly helpful -- it told me that tge fillet surface temp was generally around 120 IIRC.

[micky]

Also I was just looking online and saw that Kingsford has changed their briquette composition since this recipe was published - maybe that played into what seemed to be too-spent briquettes when they came out of the chimney ?

[Jon]

This doesn't sound like "cooking salmon", it sounds like "smoke curing." That's beyond my kettle expertise, I don't live in fresh Salmon country. I would build an Alton Brown salmon smoking cardboard box.

Although...a hot plate, some wood chips, and some dryer vent hose up to an open bottom vent would probably do it...