Hi!
I agreed to smoke a salmon for my in-laws even though I haven't done one before. Up to now I've been sticking to pulled pork with some experimentation with ribs and chicken. After reading through some of the posts in this forum, I'm likely to follow AKhap's method here: http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/127170/hot-smoking-salmon-throwing-down-the-gauntlet.
However, the caveat is that I need to have it ready by 2pm and don't see myself being up at 5am to do the 3.5-4.5 hours of prep work and then a low smoke at 140-150 degrees. I have no idea how long the smoke would take. Heck, I'm not even sure if I can get my Master Forge smoker that low....
So while I will follow AKhap's instructions to a tee for the brining and formation of the pellicle, my question is what will happen (and how long will it take) if my smoker is about 200 degrees instead? Will this pretty much ruin/dry out the salmon by the time it gets to the 140-145 degree internal temp? Or should I be ok and it will just get done sooner?
I'd prefer not to screw this up for my in-laws but on the other hand don't want to be up before the sun is up to get things started. :-)
Thanks for the tips/suggestions/wisdom!!
I agreed to smoke a salmon for my in-laws even though I haven't done one before. Up to now I've been sticking to pulled pork with some experimentation with ribs and chicken. After reading through some of the posts in this forum, I'm likely to follow AKhap's method here: http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/127170/hot-smoking-salmon-throwing-down-the-gauntlet.
However, the caveat is that I need to have it ready by 2pm and don't see myself being up at 5am to do the 3.5-4.5 hours of prep work and then a low smoke at 140-150 degrees. I have no idea how long the smoke would take. Heck, I'm not even sure if I can get my Master Forge smoker that low....
So while I will follow AKhap's instructions to a tee for the brining and formation of the pellicle, my question is what will happen (and how long will it take) if my smoker is about 200 degrees instead? Will this pretty much ruin/dry out the salmon by the time it gets to the 140-145 degree internal temp? Or should I be ok and it will just get done sooner?
I'd prefer not to screw this up for my in-laws but on the other hand don't want to be up before the sun is up to get things started. :-)
Thanks for the tips/suggestions/wisdom!!