Smoker Racks

[Hot Smokin Gal]

Hi.  Just got my ss smoker 2 weeks ago.  So far, so good, except:  Not sure where to ask this, but just wondering - How do I keep everythng (especially fish) from sticking to the racks?  Have tried using cooking spray on them as I read in book, but does not help.  Smoked some salmon for brother-in-laws wedding and tasted great but presentation not pretty!  

I'll be ordering some of Chez Bubba's metal pucks.  Great idea!    

Still having fun learning to control temp for lower smoking temps but found lots of great posts on forums.  Another question I have is I saw some posts about a cold smoking plate, but do not find this listed as an accessory.  Anyone know what was being refered to as a cold smokng plate?  If so where can you get them.  I'm finding no one sells Bradleys around where I live in WI.  Actually ended up ordering one from Oregon!  But now as I'm going throuh pucks like crazy, I guess I'll just have to order online and pay shipping. LOL [8D]

[ruffinit]

hello hot.i just use spray non stick oil,like pam for all my racks and drip pans.i still get a little meat or fish sticking on racks even using spray,i think the longer and hotter you smoke the more chance of food stickin to the racks.i have'nt had anything stick so bad it messed up much of anything,i really spray the heck out of both sides of everything i spray with the oil.about cold smokin plate? never heard of such a thing,sorry.whats it for?

mike

[BrentK]

Hey Hot Smoke,

I've not had the sticking problems you've had.  I mostly use the non-stick coated racks now.

You can achive a "cold Smoke" by just turning on the smoke generator plate, not the heating element.  The BS will keep the temp very close to ambient temp with just the smoke generator on.  I've smoked cheese as low as 63F.  Outside temp was about 55-60F.

Enjoy your new smoker and have a GREAT day.[8D][8D]

BrentK
Grand Forks, ND

[Hot Smokin Gal]

Thanks much.  Would it help if I turned the food and resprayed halfway through smoking?  I think this would not have been a problem (or as much of a problem) if I would have been smoking fileted salmon halves.  Hubby and brother in law insisted on just gutting fish and having them smoked whole, which took probably much longer than if I would have smoked halves.

[David6340]

The only place that I think I've seen cold smoking plates is on the Cookshack website. I dont know anything about how they work, but I'm sure if you go to cookshack.com you can get the info.

Dave

[charlie]

hey
i would suggest buying some of bradleys new non-stick coated jerky racks. they're only a 1/2 inch weave as opposed to the full inch on the regular racks so the fish (or whatever you may be smoking) won't sink down as much and stick around the wire.
happy smokin'

[SMOKEHOUSE ROB]

you will need the new jerky racks, and let your fish cool on the racks before you take it off works a lot better, also you might want to ask chez about the new carrying/drying rack
smoke on

[tsquared]

One way I avoid salmon fillets sticking to the bbq grill is to not scale the fish when I clean it. Grosses my brother out, but he's a stubble jumper from Alberta, so what does he know? I tell him the scales are nature's non-stick. The only problem with leaving the scales on when smoking is that the brine wouldn't penetrate the skin very well on thicker pieces, so you might have to use a brining needle for  those. Hope this helps.
Tom

[Habanero Smoker]

If you are having problems with keeping your temperature down for cold smoking try this link. It was originally posted by grakka:

<font color="green"><i>My rig for cold smoking uses a tumble dryer hose and a cardboard box. With this setup, shown with pictures at http://www.johnwatkins.co.uk/personalpages/coldsmoking.htm , I can achieve virtually no increase above the ambient temperature within the cabinet. Its helpful that there is no conducted heat along the pipe and its a really low cost solution. So now our cold smoked trout and salmon is so simple to produce with about 4 hours smoking. Enjoy ! regards John

John Watkins
UK Distribution Partner
Board Administator</i></font id="green">

I once had a problem having salmon fillets with skin on, stick to my racks. I used the non-stick jerky racks and sprayed them with oil first. I smoked the salmon at 180 degrees, until the meat temperature was 140 degrees. The brine had a lot of Maple sugar in it, and vodka; which created a glaze between the fish and racks that acted like super glue [:D]. Did you brine or cure with a lot of sugar?

By the way my salmon turn out great; but did not look pretty.