Boogers

[dtjim]

those look great how do you determine when their. My salmon was good but a little overdone. I had a total of 9 hrs cook time alot of that time was in the 100-120 range, after about 6 hrs it seemed to be done. It looked done and was flaking but the internal temp was only about 125 so i continued until i hit 145 out of fear of getting sick. What does everyone do to gauge when their done

[devo]

I have two fans in my smoker, not that you need them but it helps. The last few smokes I did with salmon I left the temp at 130*F for the entire time. It took between 7-8 hours to get the job done. I have found it better to pull them early if your not sure. even after they cool down and you find the thicker parts are not done to the way you like them just put them in the oven at 150* for a bit to get to where you want them. Been there done it. After a while you will start to see the texture you want. I never smoke to temp on smoke fish, thats just me and others might but I don't

[JZ]

I don't smoke fish to temp either - it is more of a look, feel, texture thing for me. I will pull some apart and if it looks right and feels right; it comes off. I usually end up taking fish off the racks at different times because even with rotating the racks it still does not all cook evenly.

Devo your fish looks excellent.

[Smokeville]

I follow Kummok's method of staging the temperature from 120/140/170F and I almost always get boogers beginning at the end of the 120F stage. I only use the nuclear-powered mutant ninja Atlantic farmed salmon. The only time I can recall not getting any at all was when the store had a sale on salmon and was filleting each fish just before the sale.

Salmon that has been frozen and badly defrosted (i.e. quickly) will booger up almost completely, I've found.

Rich

[dtjim]

I didnt know defrosting methods made a difference, i wish i would have pulled it out when it looked done instead of worrying about temp

[Salmonsmoker]

The faster you defrost the fish the more"mushy" the flesh becomes. If you have the space, the best is to thaw in the fridge. I get my fish in 50# boxes and use the boxes for thawing. It slows down the thaw process. I notice in the photos the "splits" in the fillets. That's usually a side effect of freezing whether it's fillets or whole. Fresh caught and filleted fish doesn't split like that. The splits are a pooling place for the moisture and proteins(boogers) that the heat is driving off. I've also been smoking salmon for a long long time and don't use temp for determining when it's done. I use touch to tell when the fish is ready to pull. After pulling let the fish cool down to room temp before sticking in the fridge, or when it's cool outside I shut down the Bradley and open the door for cool down. Usually only takes 15-20 min.

[Smokeville]

The other thing about boogers is how "gently" the pin bones were removed. A fillet that looks like they were removed with a crowbar will booger a lot.