Frozen Salmon from Sam's

[mbetz]

Has anyone tried smoking the frozen marinated salmon from Sam's?  We have some in the freezer right now and was wondering if it was worth trying.

Thanks,

Mark

[Quarlow]

I have never cause there is no sam's up here but I always freeze my fish before skoming them. The ice crystals expanding in the meat help to sort of tear the flesh up and allows it to brine better. Then when smoking it takes smoke nicer too.

[mbetz]

Thanks Quarlow.  Anouther quick question.  I was going to use the Alder pucks for the salmon.  How long should I apply the smoke?  And what temperature should I cook them at?  And what IT do you recommend?

Thanks,

[aces-n-eights]

Hey Mark, when i smoke salmon, i usually apply about 2 hours of smoke.  Alder works great on salmon, and i have had great success with apple as well.  I don't really go for an IT with salmon, i ramp the temps up - 1 hr at 120, 1 hr at 140 and then 160 until done.  I test the salmon to be sure it's cooked thru - the testing is the best part!

What is the marinade flavor of your salmon?  That may have an impact on what wood to use - alder is a bit stronger tasting than apple.

Be sure to rotate the racks.  The salmon on the lower rack, inside, will cook a lot faster than the top rack.

Let us know how it turns out!

[mbetz]

Aces-n-eights below is a picture of the frozen salmon we have.  Now that I have a PID and with your information ramping up the temp in stages will be manageable.

[aces-n-eights]

Cool!  Yes, a programmable PID definitely makes life easier.

This is a link to Kummok's salmon recipe over on the recipe site.

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?t=105

If you haven't seen this, take a look, especially at the cooking times and temps.  This is definitely one of those tried and true recipes for me.  Obviously you won't have to brine - that's already been done for you - but the technique may be of interest.

Enjoy!