Heaven Help me...

Gordon · April 07, 2005, 05:50:13 PM

I have been staring at a BS for over a year...I just have not had the $$ to purchase one. Now, I think I am ready...

How is the chicken? I have an aversion to sodium, so I am looking for a good way to cook food without. What do yall think about smoking chicken, beef, and venison?

Can you smoke fish without the salt curing?

I really appreciate the help...

BigSmoker · April 07, 2005, 06:37:37 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Gordon
 I have been staring at a BS for over a year...I just have not had the $$ to purchase one. Now, I think I am ready...

How is the chicken? I have an aversion to sodium, so I am looking for a good way to cook food without. What do yall think about smoking chicken, beef, and venison?

Can you smoke fish without the salt curing?

I really appreciate the help...
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

No salt is required to smoke any food in the Bradley as far as I know. You might limit yourself somewhat as far as rubs, brines and marinades go but not an impossible task by any means. Welcome to the forum and I look forward to your non-salt posts[:D].

Jeff

Some say BBQ is in your blood, if thats true my blood must be BBQ sauce.

whitetailfan · April 07, 2005, 07:00:25 PM

Listen to BigSmoker, he knows his stuff.
Also you were asking directly about fish, and if you hot smoke them to cooked stage, there is no reason I can see that you need to salt cure it first.
Enjoy your new purchase - we all did.

whitetailfan
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

jaeger · April 07, 2005, 07:05:36 PM

Gordon,
Welcome to the Bradley forum. The very first time I saw a Bradley, I knew that I had to have one. Most recipes will call for salt in one form or another. Do a search on recipes, check out the ingredients and I'm sure you will be able to improvise to your taste in regards to salt content.
Check out Kummoks smoked salmon recipe. A big favorite here! Here is the link:(In this recipe it calls for pickling salt. This may have a cure mixed with it but it is very good!)
http://www.bradleysmoker.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=120&whichpage=1

One of the easiest items to smoke is a porkloin. Just season with your favorite seasoning and put a rack of bacon above the loins to drip down on the meat as it cooks.

When I make venison, I usually grind with beef or pork and make sausage using both salt and cure. I'm sure you could come up with a good recipe to your specifications that would make a great jerky, either whole muscle or ground/chopped.
Slice up some venison and try a few different recipes for a test.

Don't hesitate now, Buy a Bradley! You will be glad that you did.[;)]

Doug

JJC · April 07, 2005, 11:30:14 PM

Welcome to the Forum, Gordon! The advice you've seen about salt-free smoking is spot-on. Fish can be hot smoked without salt (I've done it with salmon and it's excellent). Turkey and chicken can be smoked without brining or added salt (I've done these too with excellent results). Low-sodium cheese is fantastic smoked, etc. etc. etc.

I'm not saying that salt-containing rubs, marinades and brines don't make a difference--they certainly do. However, your choice is between non-smoked low/no salt food and smoked low/no salt food. IMHO, the difference in taste that you will experience will easily justify getting a Bradley!

Let us know how your receipes turn out--lots of us could use less salt in our diets!

John
Newton MA

Oldman · April 08, 2005, 02:18:50 AM

Greetings Gordon!

I'm one of the strange ones here. I seldom use any salt at all~~! Never on my chickens, pork for slicing or my double smoked hams. I do a mullet (fish) with a very light salt. I seldom do any rubs, marinades or brines! There is some salt in my sauages.

Olds

http://rminor.com

manxman · April 08, 2005, 10:42:23 AM

Hi Gordon,

Welcome to the forum, what the experienced guys here don't know about smoking and curing is not worth knowing! Unfortunately I am not in that category by a long way yet!!![:I]

However for my 2 pennies/cents worth, I know a guy who uses a BS for commercial purposes and regularly smokes fish without salt curing. He mainly hot-smokes mackerel (probably a different specie to mackerel in the US) but other fish too and sells em. [:)]

I have tried a couple of times with limited success but the quality of the fish has been mediocre in the first place, I plan to try this during the summer months when we catch hundreds of mackerel (an oily fish) together with plenty of white-fish.

Success may depend the type of fish you are trying to smoke, my limited experience to date is that some fish end up mushy in texure when inadequately cured.

Has anyone ever tried curing or using a no/low sodium alernative in a rub, such as potassium chloride?

Advert quote: <blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"> "The contents of the NoSalt are: potassium chloride, potassium bitartrate, adipic acid, mineral oil, fumaric acid and silicon dioxide". <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Some low sodium salts contain iodine but this one does not appear to, no idea how the other ingredients would lend themselves to curing etc.?

Anyone any ideas or thoughts on this bit of lateral thinking that may well be a non-starter!!?? [:I][:)]

Manxman.

Oldman · April 08, 2005, 02:47:11 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">He mainly hot-smokes mackerel (probably a different specie to mackerel in the US) but other fish too and sells em. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

manxman your mackerel should be the Atlantic. On average Atlantic Mackerel weigh less than one pound--however, they can get as large as two pound. They are seasonal migrators. Where I'm at we have the Spanish which average 2 pound. The recond here is 12 pounds. We also have the King Mackeral. Average 20 pounds with a record here of 90 pounds. Both of these also are migrators. The Pacific is prized for bait and is a deep water fish in the fact that it ranges are 400-600 feet down. It can grow up to 24" but that is rare. The norm is 12". Generally they are caught using a Sabiki Rigs.

For the most part other than range and size, coloring they are all an oily fish and all are excellent as smoked fish. When the Spanish run here you can limit out within an hour! What a lot folks do here to get around the limit is go out to the South Skyway Fishin' Pier (it is a state park that goes out 3 miles into the mouth of Tampabay) pay to drive on the pier (ticket is good up 24 hours) catch their limit, leave, and return later.

I have smoked many a Mackerel for friends, but I prefer Mullet.

Click to enlarge

Olds

http://rminor.com

manxman · April 08, 2005, 03:09:40 PM

Hi Olds,

One thing I REALLY like about the forum is how it occasionally goes off at a tangent and you end up learning a load of new facts, particularly about fish and fishing which is a MAJOR hobby!![:D][:D]

Yes, our mackeral are Atlantic but whilst I was aware that there were different varieties in the US I had no idea what. Thanks for the info Raye! Wish ours grew to 90lbs, or even 12lbs!!![:)][:)]

The funny thing is that looking at the pictures I am pretty sure I caught a few Spanish mackerel off the pier in Clearwater around 5 years back. At the time I did'nt know what they were other than they had a similar look and feel to Atlantic mackeral but I never asked anyone.

I have also driven over the Skyway a few times on the couple of occasions I have stayed in Clearwater but never got to fish off the pier.[:(][:(]

Perhaps one day..........[:D]

We also get mullet, the thick lipped grey mullet which are notoriously difficult to catch because of their small mouths and large soft lips and the fact that they only suck in small bits of food..... very small bait and small hooks required. Presumably you have a different variety!?

Manxman.

Oldman · April 08, 2005, 03:46:13 PM

I believe we have the striped mullet. Striped mullet leap out of the water frequently. Biologists aren't sure why these fish leap so often. I've had them jump into a flat bottom boat before. They use to be taken with gill nets here, but the bycatch got totally out of hand. So now gill nets are outlawed. When they make their run to migrate for spawning they are hunted day and night for their roe which can bring up to 30.00 per U.S. pound. Otherwise you can purchase mullet for under one dollar per pound.

Like the ones you have they migrate offshore. They are not meat eaters. Next time you fish for them if you fly fish try a dry fly. It seems to work better than a wet fly. I have caught ours on very small white colored rubber jigs (about 1 inch long) that I was working real fast at the top of the water.

Here is a picture of its ranges for the Striped Mullet.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I have also driven over the Skyway a few times on the couple of occasions I have stayed in Clearwater but never got to fish off the pier<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">If you ever get a chance then fish the Southern Skyway pier and not the North one. Back in the 1950s on the gulf side of the Southern pier near the end of the pier several reefs were established. The Northern pier only goes out about 1 mile and has more of a sand bottom.

Olds

http://rminor.com

manxman · April 08, 2005, 04:48:19 PM

Hi Olds,

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">If you ever get a chance then fish the Southern Skyway pier and not the North one. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Thanks Raye, sure I will get a chance to fish this area again at some time in the future.[:D]

Manxman.

psdubl07 · April 08, 2005, 05:00:42 PM

Gordon, welcome to the forum. You can certainly smoke tons of things in the Bradley without using salt. Here's a recipe for pork tenderloin which I have used and the final product was outstanding. It contains a little salt, but there's no reason you couldn't omit it.
http://www.biggreenegg.com/recipes/newRecipes/pork0351.htm
As Olds, said, you can do brisket, pulled pork, or anything really with no salt at all, the smoke flavor by itself is outstanding.

Olds, are you a fellow fly fisher? I was down in your neck of the woods, (Keys actually) to fly fish for Tarpon a couple years ago in May. HOOOO-EEEEEEE, what a blast!

Oldman · April 08, 2005, 05:23:31 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Olds, are you a fellow fly fisher? I was down in your neck of the woods, (Keys actually) to fly fish for Tarpon a couple years ago in May. HOOOO-EEEEEEE, what a blast!<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

No I'm not. However, I have a friend that does and we do go out at times together. When we are fishin' at night around the bridges etc. I use a very ultra light spinner, with braided nylon line. It's only 4 foot long [^] What a blast on it when you get into something. Generally I can land most things with it except the snooks or large red fish. They just strip the line off of it...oh well I'm more into catch and release anyway.

Now the trout, whitting, flounders, give me fits with it but I generally land them with it even the bigger sail cats.

Olds

http://rminor.com

psdubl07 · April 08, 2005, 05:30:54 PM

Remember Olds, there's no such thing as a lost fish, just a LDR..Long Distance Release! [8D]

Gordon · April 08, 2005, 08:37:56 PM

Man! If I knew I was going to get that kind of response, I would have asked for lotto numbers...

Thank you all for all of your help!

Gordon