~FFF~ Smoke This... My First Time Smoking Salmon ~ FoodFightFriday~

What should I do with the free salmon my Dad so kindly have to me?... Smoke it of course. When I got home I placed all the salmon in the freezer except for one pack. I kept a pack out to thaw in preparation for my first round of smoked salmon on my Green Mountain Pellet Grill. Now I was debating a bit on wether to use my Little Chief Smoker or the Green Mountain. I chose the Green Mountain because I can just place the salmon on it, close the lid, fill up the pellet hopper and walk away. The Little Chief requires a little more monitoring. I have a ton of stuff to do so maybe on the next batch I will do with the Little Chief and see how it goes. Alright it’s time to...

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I gave my brother a quick call to ask what he does for a marinade. His response... “Just throw a little of this and a little of that in a bowl and mix it up. Put whatever you want in it” .... Okaaaaay.... He did say soy sauce and honey.... so I went with these ingredients. Sorry no measurements, just give it a taste test.

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  • Soy Sauce
  • Orange Sauce
  • Brown Sugar
  • Honey
  • Apple Cider Vinegar
  • Course Black Pepper
  • Onion Powder

Basically just dig around and see what you got laying around and throw it in a bowl. Make sure it isn’t too thick so it can soak into the meat nicely. You want to make sure you have enough to completely submerge all your salmon. Wisk all your ingredients together thoroughly. Give the salmon a quick rinse in preparation for their nice bath in your one of a kind marinade.

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Now pour the marinade into a 1 gallon ziplock bag and those nice pink salmon fillets inside. I almost forgot, leave the skin on the salmon. No you aren’t gonna eat it but it does help when the time comes to eat the smoked salmon.

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Typically I would leave any meat to marinade for at least 12 hours. After 5-6 hours I grew impatient and set my Green Mountain Pellet grill at 175F. This should provide a good amount of smoke and a slow cook. I have seen my brother use charcoal and a couple small chunks of apple wood that have been soaked in water. Then he places the meat he want to smoke away from the heat of the charcoal. I tell you what, he has a lot more patients than I do. I am more of a “Set it and Forget it” type of guy. I have other stuff I need to get done.

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See how the honey leaves almost a glaze over it. I sure hope this turns out as good as I would like.

After 5 hours of smoking I decided to pull it off the grill and call this first round of smoked salmon done. I left it to cool then wrapped it back in a ziplock bag and out in the refrigerator... you know for breakfast :wink:wink

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Pay no attention to the little nibble out of the corner, I couldn’t resist

After waking up and grabbing some coffee I opened the refrigerator and unzipped that bag of tasty goodness. The sample I snuck in last night didn’t do it justice. It was still warm and I like my smoked salmon cold. The texture and color look good on this piece, a little oily... Perfect.

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I found out really quickly that when I make the next batch I am gonna have to hide is from my daughter. Oh don’t get me wrong, I ate my fair share I can tell you that much. I had to practice self control and walk away. Plus sharing is caring right?!?

I do think that it could have smoked a few hours more and an overnight marinade would have definitely stepped it up a notch. Combine that with making a sort of glaze to brush on during the smoking process... game over!! Create like a candy coating on top of the salmon... okay, that’s it! Time to thaw out another pack and go pick up some wood chips for the Little Chief Smoker. I just gotta make some more!!

Until Next Time...

Hive On
and

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Might as well
Make a
DIY Marinade...

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