why do i have boogers, ive read on here that its a sign of cooking too fast/high so why do i have big slimy boogers even at 110*F
What thermometer are you going off of? Try a different one in a different location. You need to rotate front to back top to bottom. I noticed if i don't have a good pelicle it allows the fat to come out more and make BOOGERS, but they taste just like the salmon. :)
I had a good pellicle both my redi check digital and the door thermometer were reading about 108. I was only using the sg burner, didnt even have the main burner on. The redi check was hanging in the center of the rack. I was using two racks
At 110 degrees, I would be very surprised to get boogers on any of the kinds of fish which I've smoked. What kind of fish were you smoking?
sockeye the same thing happened to me last time also
Do you happen to have a couple pictures you could post. 110 degrees shouldn't make the fish fat out like that. Is it all the fish or the fish closest to the heat source.
no dont have any pics it was pretty much all the fish some were worse, didnt really make a difference after i rotated
Farm salmon are full of fat if that's what you have
The brand was wildcatch, the package says wild alaskan but i dont believe everything i read lol
Are you letting the fish sit out after brining and rinsing to form a pellicle? You can put the pieces on racks in the fridge overnight or as I do by leaving the racked pieces of fish on the counter witha fan blowing across them. This aids with getting rid of more moisture before it even hits the smoker.
ya it sat in the fridge on a rack for three hours and then two hours in front of a fan, it had a good hard pellicle
I get boogers on mine most of the time but I don't worry about it any more because the fish still turns out good, tastes great and is very moist. So to heck with the boogers. ;D
How does yours taste?
DTJim
Just out of curiosity, where are you measring the temp from?
I know you indicated the Maverick probe was in the centre of the rack but you should be measuring the temp below the lowest rack. That way you are truly measuring the temp the fish is being exposed to. You also need to keep the probe a comfortable distance from the fish.
If you are measuring the temps above the rack, the temps can be reduced dramatically at that location because of the moisture being given off the fish. This is the same for the built in thermometer.
Mike
it turned out good but could be better. I used two racks one was in the second position from the top and the other in the third. The probe was hanging from number 2 rack
Like Mike said put your probe just below the bottom rack. I use an alligator clip and clip it to the bottom of the bottom rack. The biggest thing is to rotate your racks often if you don't have a fan. Even with a fan you should rotate a couple of times because no matter what someone will tell you there will be hot spots in the smoker even with a fan. Hope this helps yo out. I have done a poop load of salmon and when I started I had Boogers also but now I can do them in my sleep ;D
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-gJdZIutCn0s/Ty3J24vRG5I/AAAAAAAAB6E/DAjlvaPkyAM/s1024/DSC_0037.JPG)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-AU2fvUUZS40/Ttap3Ocg5nI/AAAAAAAABnE/KD9tWUhm9tc/s1024/DSC_0036.JPG)
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those look great how do you determine when their. My salmon was good but a little overdone. I had a total of 9 hrs cook time alot of that time was in the 100-120 range, after about 6 hrs it seemed to be done. It looked done and was flaking but the internal temp was only about 125 so i continued until i hit 145 out of fear of getting sick. What does everyone do to gauge when their done
I have two fans in my smoker, not that you need them but it helps. The last few smokes I did with salmon I left the temp at 130*F for the entire time. It took between 7-8 hours to get the job done. I have found it better to pull them early if your not sure. even after they cool down and you find the thicker parts are not done to the way you like them just put them in the oven at 150* for a bit to get to where you want them. Been there done it. After a while you will start to see the texture you want. I never smoke to temp on smoke fish, thats just me and others might but I don't
I don't smoke fish to temp either - it is more of a look, feel, texture thing for me. I will pull some apart and if it looks right and feels right; it comes off. I usually end up taking fish off the racks at different times because even with rotating the racks it still does not all cook evenly.
Devo your fish looks excellent.
I follow Kummok's method of staging the temperature from 120/140/170F and I almost always get boogers beginning at the end of the 120F stage. I only use the nuclear-powered mutant ninja Atlantic farmed salmon. The only time I can recall not getting any at all was when the store had a sale on salmon and was filleting each fish just before the sale.
Salmon that has been frozen and badly defrosted (i.e. quickly) will booger up almost completely, I've found.
Rich
I didnt know defrosting methods made a difference, i wish i would have pulled it out when it looked done instead of worrying about temp
The faster you defrost the fish the more"mushy" the flesh becomes. If you have the space, the best is to thaw in the fridge. I get my fish in 50# boxes and use the boxes for thawing. It slows down the thaw process. I notice in the photos the "splits" in the fillets. That's usually a side effect of freezing whether it's fillets or whole. Fresh caught and filleted fish doesn't split like that. The splits are a pooling place for the moisture and proteins(boogers) that the heat is driving off. I've also been smoking salmon for a long long time and don't use temp for determining when it's done. I use touch to tell when the fish is ready to pull. After pulling let the fish cool down to room temp before sticking in the fridge, or when it's cool outside I shut down the Bradley and open the door for cool down. Usually only takes 15-20 min.
The other thing about boogers is how "gently" the pin bones were removed. A fillet that looks like they were removed with a crowbar will booger a lot.