Salmon questions

[C Mil]

I just saw an old episode of Good Eats and Alton was smoking two whole salmon filets in a cardboard box using an electric coil cooker, a cast iron pan, and sawdust. Do people really do this or was it for the show? I've got about 15lbs of salmon caught in WI on Lake Michigan and am wondering the best way to smoke it.

By the way, I don't even have a smoker yet but just trying to get into it. I'm considering a 18" WSM as I've read a lot of good things about it being a good smoker for a greenhorn.

 

[Gore]

Yeah, you can do it this way. You can also drive to work in a Yugo if you want to. It might be fun to do once or twice. The end result might be pretty similar, but I'd like to think we have more fun with nicer toys. :thumb:

 

[HankB]

Welcome to the site. I saw that episode as well. All I can say is that I've never done that. I have hot smoked salmon (store bought at about 250°F.) I found that cherry wood works very well for it.

I know of no reason why AB's method would not work and I'd be surprised if someone here had not tried it. I suppose it could be done in a WSM using a hot plate or soldering iron and sawdust.

I'm very fond of my WSMs and an 18.5 was my first. Many here will recommend that and others will suggest a 22.5. The only reason I have a 22.5 is because it came up on CL for $150 and I have no impulse control. :biggrin1:

Truth be told, I probably get more use out of my mini-WSM because it's so versatile. I used it just tonight to smoke some mac 'n cheese and then dumped the coals into my 22.5 kettle to grill some veggies and fish (walleye and bass.)

 

[Gore]

If you're looking at cold-smoking, you can do something like this:

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1642301

You really don't need anything special, especially this time of year when the weather is cold. There's also this one

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=119830