I'm officially a smoker
I'm super excited and have to tell someone. At about 1030pm last night, I pulled two salmon fillets out of my Pit Boss vertical pellet smoker. They came out perfect. I glazed them with 1 part got honey, 1 part ginger honey, and about 3 tbsp of minced garlic.
But this isn't just about salmon. I've wanted to smoke meat since I first had smoked salmon when I was a kid. As time went on, I never found an opportunity, whether because of money, where I was living, or who I was living with.
I just turned 30 this year. In the last two months, I married the love of my life and bought a house, and my wife surprised me with a smoker. This fish isn't just fucking delicious, it's the culmination of years of hard work, and good luck. It's a small, savory reward for making it through the bad days, and making the most of the good ones. It's my silly little way of telling myself I've finally made it.
The recipe I used can be found here.
32 replies
The problem with smoking a nice piece of salmon like this is that I never know which end to light.
Just grind it up and pack it in a bong
Y'all ever dab one of these bad boys?
Oh hell yeah. Them oils are potent as fuck. Be careful on those, too many and it'll fuck you up.
Get baited lol (it's the best fish pun I could muster)
Marrying the love of your life and buying a house, wow. I'm stoked for you dude. May nothing happen to sour this feeling! Take care, and don't wait too late to have kids if you want 'em! 😅
I appreciate the well wishes!
Epic looking salmon.
Welcome to the actually cool smoking club.
Thank you! Next on the list is either tri-tip or brisket.
Very, very different. With tri-tip, you're going to want to get it like 5 degrees from medium rare, then sear it on a grill or pan. It's a very short smoke.
Brisket is a very long smoke, easily 16+ hours, and it's easy to mess up. I usually recommend people do a pork shoulder (pulled pork) before brisket. You cook it exactly the same way, just a different rub, but the meat is much more forgiving and much cheaper (still delicious). Get that dialed in, then do the brisket.
Good luck!
I'm 2 years into the journey myself.
I've done a couple of briskets, easy as to do - it's just a daunting task considering the size and time involved. My only warning is the volume of meat needs an army to consume!
Pulled pork, chicken wings, lamb shoulder, and racks of ribs - all easy to do and I absolutely recommend having a go.
Omfg I hadn't even thought of lamb. The good news is I have plenty of sinks to dispose of extra product, exorcism if it comes out good! Lol
Lovely cook! Kind of makes me think I should be smoking salmon, too.
I will tell you the recipe I used is really excellent. Very simple, easy ingredients. The most important thing this recipe gives you is the drying step. Drying the fish in the fridge overnight develops a pellicle on the meat, which seals the juices in the fish to keep it tender, and it gives a tacky surface that the smoke sticks to. Definitely not something I would have thought to do, that's for sure.
Not smoking, but drying pork belly overnight in the fridge, is the secret to getting some really crunchy crackling.
It's very important, but overnight isn't really necessary. I pull them from the fridge, wash the curing stuff off, pat them dry with paper towels, put them on a drying rack, and let them sit while I get the smoker ready and the smoke goes from white to blue, and they come up to room temperature. Seems to work fine that way.
That's brilliant! Thanks!
had a mini heart attack reading the title
Looks great. I too acquired a love of smoked salmon as a kid. Now I'm questioning if I need a smoker...
If you're not sure about the hassle, the electric ones that look like a mini fridge work pretty well and hold a temp like an oven. No charcoal, just chips. You won't get a smoke ring on red meat, but it's a myth that a ring has anything to do with flavor.
I would very seriously recommend it. It is definitely an investment, but it will pay dividends on your taste buds and open a whole new creative avenue.
How about a midnight toker?
Tbh with how long it was taking to get up to temp, I was a little worried it was gonna end up going that long. 😬 Fortunately not.
Has anyone ever called you Maurice?
Smoking your own salmon is extra dope because (in the US at least) it is the only way you can taste proper smoked salmon.
For whatever reason, the FDA will not allow smoking to be the only method of preserving salmon (maybe wise considering how little attention the food producers pay to making sure their stuff's fully on the up and up.) You have to also salt the shit out of it, to the point that it really doesn't taste all that good. Proper smoked salmon is absolutely fucking delicious, and doing it yourself or having a friend who does is the only way you can actually experience what it's supposed to taste like.
Now that is interesting, I didn't know about that. It's kinda funny, because it came out so good, but also so different than I was expecting for a second I thought I fucked it up.
Yeah. It's so good. Try it with big black peppercorns on it, and lemon juice. Capers too, I think. IDK, there are probably recipes instead of depending on my faulty memory, but you can make it up so it's some magical goodness.
They say smoking is an appetite supresser, but I am not convinced. It always makes me hungrier
Looks absolutely delicious. Nice flavor combo on the salmon. I've always wanted to get a smoker.
Looking back, I actually missed an ingredient. The glaze was 2 parts ginger honey, 2 parts hot honey, 1 part orange blossom honey, plus the garlic. The orange did a really good job of mellowing out the hot honey and rounding the flavors out. If you ever get the opportunity, I would very seriously recommend getting a smoker. It's a lot of fun to do, and the food is great.
Let me just put on my house pants and buy a house too so I also can be happy oh yes oh aha you worked hard yes of course... (Oh god this seems so fucking delicious, congrats)
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