help with fish ASAP

[armpower]

good morning all,   i smoked my first Salmon a few weeks ago AWSOME!!!

now its today, and i have Salmon all brined up and getting ready to set to form the pectl sp?    however no skin on this,   i read about frog mats and dont have them.  so i am wondering if i could put them on parchment paper??

thanks

[KyNola]

AP,
If you're talking about laying the salmon on parchment to dry to form the pellicle, just turn your Bradley racks upside down and place the fish on them so the air can circulate around both sides of the fish, no parchment.  If you're talking about putting the parchment on the racks to lay the salmon on to smoke it, I would be wary of doing that.  You might inhibit the smoke and heat from circulating.  I would spray the racks down with a cooking spray and place the fish directly on the racks.  Yes, some of it is probably going to stick.  That's OK, that's when the chef gets a snack!

Just my opinion of course.

[smoker pete]

I have smoked salmon with no skin before and did not have any problems.  You also do not absolutely need FrogMats but they do come in handy.  You'll be OK with no skin on your salmon and no FrogMats.  Besides, when you smoked your AWSOME salmon a few weeks ago you didn't have FrogMats and it came out ... AWSOME  ;D ;D

I have never heard of anyone using parchment paper when smoking something in the Bradley and would not use it myself.  I would believe that it would interfere with the normal transfer of smoke to your salmon.  *Note* - Make sure you spray your racks with something like PAM to keep your salmon from sticking to the racks.

[BuyLowSellHigh]

I haven't done fish, but I think parchment would be an issue for even heat and smoke distribution.  If you have it, you can use cheesecloth.  If using cheesecloth lightly spray or brush the side with the fish will be in contact with something like olive oil.  I used cheesecloth under fresh mozzarella this morning - worked great.

[armpower]

thanks all,  just sprayed the racks real good and they just went in the smoke

[Gizmo]

Good deal, You may have a little sticking but you definatly did not want to go with the parchment paper.

[Quarlow]

Here is what I do when I forget to spray my racks while doing salmon with skin. I set a rack on top of it and then flip them both over and then set them on the counter. Then I take a paring knife and carefully kind of scrape the skin off the racks as I gently lift the rack they are stuck to. The rack on top helps to keep the fish from falling apart while I cut them free.

[armpower]

fish is smoked out and sealed!!! some to eat on crackers and some to make my soon to be famous salmon and green chillie dip!

[KyNola]

So did the salmon stick?

More importantly, salmon and green chilies dip?  Post it on this website and it is automatically world famous!

[Quarlow]

How about smoked salmon cream cheese. I get the spreadable cream cheese and chop the salmon up fine, then mix it well. And for a variation use Herb cream cheese. Spread on your fav cracker, awesome.

[Smokeville]

Hi all -- I just got frogmats but used parchment with great results -- but with fish with the skin on. I don't think it would be good for skinless for exactly the reasons everyone have shared.

The only problem I had with parchment is I cut it to match each fillet's outline. Like making a dress pattern for sewing. It was a HUGE time waster so I am happy to have the frogmats. Plus, after the smoke, the parchment stuck to the skin and had to be peeled off. Just a bit messy, although it saved the skin from sticking to the racks.

Rich

[armpower]

no stick!

for the dip

cream cheese
ricotta cheese
diced green chillies
smoked salmon

mix and try not to eat it all at once!