New Smoker from Canada

[Zerolimits]

Hi guys thanks for the warm welcome. Unfortunately I do not have anywhere to set up the OBS untill the weather gets a tad better. It would be nice to have somewhere to get out of the wind and white stuff and start seasoning it. Till then lot's of browsing.
I did try my hand at smoking some salmon on my BBQ

but it was a very labour intensive operation.
When I had finally finished the result looked like this.

Does any one know why the white stuff appeared. The fish tasted OK but I was a bit worried about the white stuff

Hi fellas, I too am a newbie, and read your post about the cold temps...I just posted something on the board about smoking in cold temps.  Here's the link:  http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=6748.0


Fire that OBS up!!

I also highly recommend the PID, I built one, and like they said, it's worth it's weight in gold!

ZL

[Dalby Spook]

Hi Yul

thanks for the Isle of Man plug. As a Manxman I have to say our  smoked herrings or "Kippers" are the best in the world. A decent sized cod is indeed a rare beast in our waters these days but we do have some very good pollock, a close relative but not the fine flavour.
It does, however, cold smoke well. I brine for 30 mins in 80% solution, dry, then cold smoke for about 8 hours with oak. Very popular with my fishing buddies.

Cheers

[yul]

Hi Dalby, I have to agree with you 100% about those kippers. In my younger days I was introduced to those succulent beauties by an aunt that I would visit in Douglas. She used to get them by the box from the smoke house in Peel. She had a young  evacuee billeted in her house during the war and he later worked at the smoke house and he always made sure she did not go without her weekly kippers. Brown bread, a mug of tea, and dig in with your fingers.. I was hooked. Such a delicate flavor, just smoke, no additives or coloring. Sadly she passed away and my visits were curtailed but the craving for those golden beauties still lingers. On this side of the pond we get a "kippered herring" but it is so heavily salted  that it is nearly  inedible.
I understand that the herrings are not as plentiful as they once were and that it is getting hard to find them of a decent size.
I originally came from Hull in east Yorkshire and I think smoked cod was a local item. We had lots of smoked haddock but they had a dye added to the process to enhance the look of the flesh. I believe that any such tricks were prohibited by law on the Island.
We get plenty of salmon here and as you can see from the pictures that was what I tried as my first foray into home smoking. Now I have the BS I am going to increase the amount of fish smoked and thanks to this board I have got lots of ideas for ribs, chicken and beef.
Looks like I will have a go at making the PID, and  a vacuum packing/storage system (foodsaver maybe) is on the wish list.  According to the Foodsaver web site you can marinade food very quickly by placing it in a bag and sucking the air out. The vacuum is supposed to drive the marinade into the meat. I would be pleased to hear from anyone who has used this system to confirm if this is true or just advertising hype.
                     

[La Quinta]

yul...I very much enjoyed reading your post...(although had to ask my husband what billeted was!!) He explained...I guess he had 2 kids "billeted" (? pardon my ignorance) in his home when he was a kid...he is a kipper freak also...can't get them over here tho...but...just wanted to say I enjoyed reading what you wrote...very interesting!! :)
Cheers!!

[Dalby Spook]

What a small world. My wife is a Peel girl. Sadly there is only one smoke house there now, albeit a very good one. I understand the herrings are caught in the Baltic and shipped in. Still good though. For smoked salmon, Kummoks recipe is a must.

[yul]

Thanks for all the input. As you say ,it is a small world, the wonders of the world wide web, glad you find my ramblings interesting.
For my first try at salmon I used a method I found on this web site.

http://www.salmonuniversity.com/rs_htss01_index.html

As you will see it was a dry rub/brine. The result was a little sweet for my taste but I am sure this could be corrected by using less sugar in the mix.
One thing did puzzle me. After the salmon has been in the brine and is rinsed off they tell you to dry it until a "pellicle " is formed on the flesh. I was not to sure what to look for so just waited until it had a "varnished " look to it. Maybe I did not wait long enough? Have a look at the picture.


I got a little excited when I saw the link for brining herring but after looking at the method realized that they were processing them as bait to catch Salmon.

[Gizmo]

The varnished look you mentioned sounds like you got the pellicle.  Dry and tacky to the touch.

[tsquared]

I 2nd what giz said re the pellicle-sounds like you waited long enough--and the waiting is usually the hardest part!
T2

[bjl]

We are also the proud owner of a Bradley Smoker and living in Sask. How cold is too cold for using our smoker?

[Tiny Tim]

How cold can you stand it to go check on the progress?  If kept out of the wind, it'll work down to whatever you can stand for temps...may take a little longer to produce desired results or achieve your temps, but it'll work anyway.  Storage may be better inside, although mine's suffered through some -20 (F) nights in a tool shed, and works fine.

[bjl]

Thanks Tiny Tim for your reply. The cold doesn't bother us too much, however for the past couple of weeks our day time highs have been around   -20C to -30C without the wind and we weren't sure if the smoker would ever reach the desired temperature since we would be using it out in the open. Hopefully the weather will warm soon and then we will give it a try. Until then we will just continue with the BBQ.

[Tiny Tim]

Meant to say this before, but Welcome to the board and to the world of Smoking with the Bradley Smoker.

Lot's of innovative ideas on here about people keeping their smokers out of the wind and/or cold temps...look around in the General Discussions area.

[Mr Walleye]

Hi bjl and welcome to the forum.

Good to see someone from Saskatchewan. I'm in Moose Jaw.
There's lots of great ideas around the forum to sidestep the cold. Wind (which we get lots) is the biggest enemy.

Mike

[bjl]

Thanks again Tiny Tim and Mr. Walleye. I def have some reading to do.

[yul]

Welcome to the board bjl. You are going to spend lots of time going through some of the old post's. These guys are really helpfull. Nearly every question you have about the Bradley is answered somewhere here. Happy browsing.