Salmon candy

[PZ]

This was a load of Copper River salmon I did some time ago, and is one of my favorites (friends and family too). I'm using a 1-2-3 method: 1 hour at 100 degrees, 2 hours at 140 degrees, and up to 3 hours at 175 degrees. Wood is alder, and smoke time is two hours. The fish is done when it looks right, and the poke test reveals it is done.

The marinade is very simple:

   
• Half Yoshida's Teriyaki Sauce, half soy sauce - volume is enough to thoroughly cover the fish in the bags
• Red pepper flakes, and black pepper to the level of heat I like

Click the pics to toggle full/normal size I like to marinade the fish overnight in plastic storage bags - the osmotic potential of the marinade draws out some of the water, which starts fish preservation as the salt and sugar infuse the fish.     A tacky pellicle was allowed to develop while in the smoker for about 30 minutes. Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login     Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login The fish has that "perfect appearance" at the beginning of the smoke. Alder pucks are the wood of choice. Smoke is two hours in length.     Here are a few tail pieces - sweet, smoky (delicate) and savory with the hint of red pepper Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login     Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login

[Art Blade]

that looks delicious

The colour is crazy. You're the only one who can compare the real fish with the photograph, is the colour really that extreme?

[fragger]

Phwoar, smoked salmon... My favourite fish dish

They look tremendous, PZ

[PZ]

Thanks gents 

It is absolutely delicious, and yes, the color is just like that, but Copper River salmon is wild caught, and the color is very bright.

[mandru]

Beautiful. 

This is a set of images that makes me wish I could stand the taste of fish. 

[Art Blade]

you can -- just pretend it was beef.

[PZ]

   still tastes like fish, only does not taste "fishy" as in what I would call spoiled.

When I went fishing as a youngster, I would catch the fish, kill and clean it immediately and throw it on ice. Those most delicious fish never had a fish taste at all because they were so fresh. The biggest problem with fish is that it spoils so quickly, and quickly acquires that "fishy" smell.

[fragger]

I think I wrote about it once before, but for me a close second to smoked salmon is barramundi (you may know it as Asian sea bass, even though barra is technically a perch - apparently. Fish terminology can be nebulous). Usually described as having a "clean, buttery flavor and meaty texture", it's not quite like any other fish - provided you get the genuine article (some unscrupulous types try to pass off fish such as Pacific dory or nile perch as barra. The flesh may look roughly similar, but the taste, and texture, is a mile off). It has to be fresh and cooked properly to bring out the real flavour. I've never cooked barra myself, so I can't tell you the procedure. It won't poison you or anything if it's not cooked right - it's not puffer fish But you just won't get the full taste. Despite being fish, ideally it shouldn't taste very "fishy" at all when done right.

Barra has many things going for it. It's not full of needle-like bones - it only has a few large ones, and these are easily removed. It doesn't have a pervasive fishy smell like most other fish, either when it's raw or cooked. It's chock full of Omega3 and due to its fatty content, you'd have to practically burn it to overcook it. But when done just right, it's like the scotch fillet of the fish world. Delicious.

I don't know what the availability of barra may be in your respective parts of the world (if you see anything in a store or supermarket called "Australis" or the like, with an Aboriginal motif or some other kind of Aussie imagery on the packaging, avoid - it's not genuine barra. A dirty ripoff is what it is. I can't imagine that any of you discriminating gentlemen would buy mass-produced, pre-packaged fish anyway). Barramundi is found throughout the Indo-Pacific/Oceania region, and being quite abundant it's a very sustainable food source without the need for "farming", which is another plus (no added hormones or any of the rubbish that inevitably infuses farmed fish these days). I always try to get the Aussie variety as it's more likely to be the real deal and not some imported, hormone-laden Asian knockoff. It can still be a lottery, but luckily I know where I can reliably get the right stuff locally.

I can heartily recommend barramundi, if you can obtain it and find out how to cook it properly. I've never bothered trying. I probably wouldn't be able to do it as well as a particular seafood restaurant in town does anyway - they have it down to a fine art If I feel like barra, I go to them.

This photo is not mine, it's from the net (labelled for reuse, so it's safe to show it here ). It's just to show what nicely-cooked barra looks like. If I did cook it, I certainly wouldn't serve such a mearge portion with those ridiculous artsy-fartsy sides. I hate that kind of thing. I like a hearty meal, not a piece of trendy artwork on a plate! The restaurant I mentioned serves up a good slab of it with either a generous garden salad or a pile of crispy beer-battered potato wedges, your choice of. Eat in or take out.

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[PZ]

Looks and sounds delicious fragger 

I've never seen it in any stores I've visited 

[mandru]

I'm highly aware of the logical reasons for the consumption of fish.  Its nutritional qualities are excellent as well as its being readily available.  In appearance it's also visually appealing when care is taken in that regard but personal tastes are not always overcome by reason.

you can -- just pretend it was beef.

Making a mental flavor association with a food I enjoy considering the ever lasting results of that synaptic connection wouldn't be wise on my part. 


The summer I was 14 my parents hosted a supper for the adults (about 30 couples) of the entire congregation of the church we were attending.  It also served as an open house showcase for the new home we had built and finally completed the finishing touches.

One of my parents friends (a professional game fisherman) had offered his expert catering services for setting up his smoking/cooker.

It consisted of:

* Three steel food grade 50 gallon drums (split in half top to bottom filled with kindling plus split alder logs) blocked (to prevent shifting) and laid out long wise on the ground in a 2X3 pattern.

* A corrugated steel skirt that surrounded the drums with an interior lip near the top (to give proper distance above the heat) to support cooking screens and eight inches above that at the top of the outer skirt an inter-nesting rim that allowed a matched rimmed cover with variable vents to give control over heat and smoke levels.

To the best of my memory the overall size of the rig was 48 in (1.22 M) W X 108 in (2.74 M) L X 40 in ( 1.02 M) H.


The morning of the event at 3:00am my dad left home with three large coolers filled with ice in the back of his pickup to drive the 150 miles (241km) to Westport Washington.  There's a port terminal there where you can find "for hire" charter boats going out to sea as well as early morning returning commercial salmon boats.  He was able to make connection with one of those returning commercial fishing crews and purchased twelve cleaned and headed fresh caught Sockeye Salmon which went immediately into the ice chests.  Each of them ranged between 10 to 14lb (4.53kg to 6.35kg).

When dad got back home it was a bit after 9:00am.  The caterer (who had arrived earlier) had everything set up.  He'd awaited dad's arrival to light the barrels and start getting the correct temperatures set.  While the coals were getting to just the right heat the caterer made a firm tinfoil boat to sit under each salmon splayed open along its spine (inner flesh up) and then coated each with butter, lemon juice, and of course his own personal secret seasoning which he lavishly dispensed from a shaker once the fish laden foil trays were placed on the cooking screens.  By 10:45am everything was loaded and cooking had started.  Never letting the heat get too high it was kind of a poached/braised (in addition to the smoking) approach to preparation and received a quick basting every :30 minutes or so.

The feed was supposed to start at 2:00pm (a late luncheon).  Everything was right on schedule and dad even got to grab a quick nap to make up for the his early morning outing.

For me as a kid it was all very exciting.  That is to say, until about 10 minutes after fish met fire.

At 14 I knew that I didn't like fish but for some reason (beyond reason  ) all of the talk about "Special Preparation" and its being made just for us by an award winning Salmon Smoker (who happened to be a school friend's father as well as a really interesting and personable character) had lulled me into overlooking that one insurmountable detail.

I remember looking at my mom and saying "I can't do this."

I ended up sealed in my bedroom with double layers of duct tape at all the door's edges.  It didn't help that my bedroom door (marked with a hastily made "Quarantine! Do Not Open! sign" was immediately next to the only bathroom accessible to the 30 couples in attendance that day.  Even with that you wouldn't believe the number of busybodies who tried to force their way into my room (breaking the odor barrier provided by the duct tape) to tell me "You don't know what you're missing.  Here just try it, I brought you some. Can I just come in and talk to you?" 

You would have thought they were evangelical vegans who'd adopted practices from the Spanish Inquisition trying to force me to eat overly fermented stinky tofu. 

After the first few times my doorknob rattled and I had to literally throw myself against the door to prevent their entry I braced the door shut with my chest of drawers and reinforced that with the bulk of my desk and jukebox.

There was more interaction with guests and my parents that day than I really want to go into and with each intrusion I became less and less nice about things from my side of the door. 

Even when I emerged (ravenous) from my room after 36 hours (6:00pm roughly dinner time the next day) the smell of salmon was still heavy in the air putting a cap on my ability to eat real quick and everything in the fridge was permeated from leftovers as well.  I grabbed two tins of ravioli, my trusty P-38 survival tin opener, my sleeping bag, a piece of tarp, and with the parting shot "Open some windows will ya?" I left getting well upwind before camping in the woods for that night and two additional days before returning.

Dad came out to where I was camped the second evening trying to convince me that the air had cleared.  In retrospect I see the similarity with my reaction to his showing up and that scene from the much later released Silence of the Lambs where Jodie Foster first goes into the high security prison for the criminally insane to meet with Hannibal Lecter and to paraphrase one of the inmates I recoiled shouting "No, I can smell the fishiness on you!"

[PZ]

Dang mandru, there's no way you can pretend it is beef 

[fragger]

Okay, now I see the big picture, mandru I would probably have more success talking you into licking a bug zapper than I would have of selling you on barramundi

+1 from me, very entertaining read to start the day off with

[Art Blade]

bug zapper

+1 from me, too. Good read, and I too got it.

mandru, have a proper steak and enjoy the day.

[mandru]

Thanks guys.

Bug zapper indeed! 

[fragger]