Salmon Steaks Kummok Style - Questions

[bob_loblaw]

Last Friday with a day off work and a round of golf in the bag, my buddy took me to Calumet Fisheries which is a smokehouse along the river.  Real hole in the wall consisting of a shack on the side of the road, no tables, bathrooms anything.  Just takeout.  Fantastic fish and has been featured in the news.  They smoke thick salmon steaks with the skin on and it appears they hang them.  See link for pictures.  http://www.calumetfisheries.com/photos.html

I immediately wanted to replicate.  Had 2 frozen steaks and gave them a try last Saturday with Kummocks recipe.  Did not hang and the steaks were thin, but everything came out great.  It was a bit sweeter then what I had so I may cut the sugar a bit.  Well my mother LOVED it.  In fact, she loved it so much she wants me to make another batch and she will provide the fish.  Yes!  Practice!  Wanted to lay out my plan to see what the more experienced think of my plan/timetable.

I will be smoking 8 thick salmon steaks with skin on.  I plan on using a large needle to run string through them and hang the steaks from the top rack of my bradley.  Steaks will be dropped of Wednesday July 14 in the evening.  Brine will be prepared in advance with Kummocks recipe and fish will be rinsed and go right in.  Thursday morning around 7:30 they will come out of the brine.  I live in a condo in downtown Chicago so no real good cool places to leave a few racks of fish.  The  plan is to dry in the refrigerator on upside down racks.  Thursday night after work they will be smoked.  

Its summer here and quite hot with ambient temps expected to be 80ish.  From my last smoke I know it will be hard to keep temps at 100-120 in the smoker.  Solutions in my head include ice in the water bowl, and putting a foil pan on the bottom rack to "block" the excess heat from the generator.  Smoke will still be able to get around the pan.  Expected pick up date is Friday July 16.  Specific questions below:

1) does that timetable look good or is there something I am missing/not factoring in?
2) Drying in the fridge ok?  only other option would be counter around 70 degrees and I could use a fan.  I am not home from 8 am until 530 pm though so its a loooong time at that temp is that even safe?
3) Is the foil pan idea a good one?  I came across it when I accidentally blocked all the heat going to my ribs a few weeks ago.  Temp was 225 below the pan and only 150 above (I was trying for 225).  Did not realize until 2 hours in and there was no problem with smoke flavor in finished product, only heat was blocked.  

Thanks in advance and I will grab my gf camera and take some pictures as I go along.  

[Kummok]

Time estimates look good to me. Drying in reefer could take a bit longer unless you could figure out how to move air inside and vent....quite a challenge for normal kitchen reefers. Is it possible to set house A/C at high 50s/low 60s and pellicle on counter/table with fan moving air slightly? Out of these two choices, I'd prefer inside reefer myself....not so much worried about "safe" as I would be about getting too dry on counter but with your steaks being thick enough, probably won't be an issue.  Worse (meaning "longest time' ) case is let dry in reefer all day/night Thur and smoke early Fri am ?!?!?

I can't speak to the foil pan heat block idea...heat's never been a problem for me here in Homer, Alaska... Fairbanks? Maybe, but not Homer!

[Habanero Smoker]

Instead of the pan, a better way to bring down the cabinet temperature is to off-set the generator from the cabinet and smoke with the vent wide open, and adjust the heating element; if needed. If the cabinet gets to hot you can open the door, or crack the door open, to let some heat escape. Some smoke will escape, but there will be enough smoke to flavor your fish.

Cold Smoking with the Bradley

[Caneyscud]

I can't speak to the foil pan heat block idea...heat's never been a problem for me here in Homer, Alaska....

Homer = End of Road     ;D ;D ;D

[Kummok]

Got that right, Caney!! One has to live here to really appreciate how many folks got here to the "end of the road" and have never been able to raise enough money to leave....  ;) :D   Lately the end-of-the-road has been the finish line for the 'Hoka Hey Challenge' ( http://www.hokaheychallenge.com/ ), which is becoming more recognized locally as the "Hokey" Hey due to its dubious organization/management. At least these guys/gals can sell their ride to get airfare home if they want!

[bob_loblaw]

Thanks for the help gents.  Will post some pics as I move along. 

[bob_loblaw]

Busy schedule prevented mom from dropping fish off.   >:( Temporary delays but expect will give this a go in a week or so. 

[bob_loblaw]

Well the hype of smoked fish was too much so I my lady picked up some salmon steaks and a whole whitefish that we had scaled, gutted and cut at the butcher.  Made a half recipe of kummok's brine and threw in a salmon fillet we had laying around in as well.  Brined over night in fridge and then left on racks yesterday for 12 hours during work.  At 4:30 when the girlfriend got home, no pellicle  ???  She took out of fridge and put in front of fan. 

By 7pm there was still not a ton of pellicle and I had a tough decision between smoking anyway or leaving for another 24 hours or so in the fridge as I had to work today.  I went with smoking and gave the fish 2:20 smoke (Pecan) at 120 degrees, increased to 1:40 for 2 hours and then 1 final hour around 175.  I only tried the head/tail pieces of Whitefish that I pulled out 30 min early.  They were quite good, but I think I prefer chilled.  Will try salmon tonight when I get home. 

I wanted to hang the steaks like the place I am trying to replicate, but the needle I had was too small.  Still plan on doing this again in a few weeks for the family and will hopefully have solved the hanging problem by then.  I took a few pics, but how do I upload them?

[FLBentRider]

Try this to get your pictures going:

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?488-Answers-To-Bradley-Smoker-FAQ-s&p=768#post768

[bob_loblaw]

Thanks FBR, I currently do not have a photobucket account.  Does anyone know if it is possible without a third party account?  If not, I will set one up sometime this weekend as I will have more pics coming soon!

[squirtthecat]

I use Google's PicasaWeb to host mine. 

[FLBentRider]

Thanks FBR, I currently do not have a photobucket account.  Does anyone know if it is possible without a third party account?  If not, I will set one up sometime this weekend as I will have more pics coming soon!

Most forums these days do not host pictures. You'll need to "park" them somewhere, photobucket, picasaweb, flickr, snapfish, you're own web site if you have one...