# Salmon - Kettle Style



## gmc2003 (Jul 31, 2022)

Man was/is it hot here today. Only about 81* but the humidity is killing me. 

Well, it's my last day of vacation bummer, and we were looking for something besides pork, beef or poultry for supper. I thought to myself how about salmon. So yesterday I had picked up a couple of salmon fillets from the local grocer and decided to cook them up today. I normally get up around 3:30am so when I did this morning, I made a brine of 1/2 gallon water, 1/2 cup of kosher salt, and a 1/2 cup of brown sugar. I brined the salmon until roughly noon. Then gave them a good cold-water rinse, patted them dry and put them on a cooling rack in the fridge until I was ready to fire up the kettle.

The beer pole was a tad confused when I put this on her: It tasted good in this heat.







Salmon out of the brine: These are farm raised supposed to be Coho. I can't tell the difference.





One charcoal basket and a small chunk of apple wood:






Seasoned up with a little freshly ground pepper and onto the grill:






After what I think was about 20 min. I squeezed a half of lemon, and also brushed them with some honey. The higher heat is causing the albumin to ooze its way out. 






Wifes piece:






...and my piece. Mine broke - I knew I should have used my fatty spatula. 





Served with cantaloupe and a hearty veggie(s). Who said I couldn't cook veggies.






Well that just about does it for this week. Thanks for putting up with me. Back to work in the morning for a vacation away from my wife's honey-does. 

Thanks for looking 

Chris


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## SmokinEdge (Jul 31, 2022)

Looks like a nice change of pace. We were thinking the same and going to do some Copper river salmon with salad tonight. Nice work. Oh, and the tail piece is my favorite.


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## millerbuilds (Jul 31, 2022)

Looks great, love salmon on the kettle!

- Jason


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## thirdeye (Jul 31, 2022)

Looks great!  I often harvest local trout, and totally $upport wild caught salmon for grilling or fish cakes... but for cured and smoked steelhead and salmon, the farm raised have a wonderful fat ratio. And I need to be mindful of the price because I'll smoke about 5# at a time so there is enough for gifting.


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## yankee2bbq (Jul 31, 2022)

Nice cook Chris. Simple enough. Salmon is good for you. (Wife tells me that all the time) And whats up with that beer? Never heard of it. You gettin’ soft on me? 

Hope you enjoyed your vacation.


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## gmc2003 (Jul 31, 2022)

SmokinEdge said:


> Looks like a nice change of pace. We were thinking the same and going to do some Copper river salmon with salad tonight. Nice work. Oh, and the tail piece is my favorite.


Thanks Edge. I like the tail also. A V8 is sorta like a salad isn't it. Afterall it is served cold.



millerbuilds said:


> Looks great, love salmon on the kettle!
> 
> - Jason


Appreciate it Jason. The kettle is surly a workhorse. Not much you can't do on one.

Chris


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## millerbuilds (Jul 31, 2022)

gmc2003 said:


> Thanks Edge. I like the tail also. A V8 is sorta like a salad isn't it. Afterall it is served cold.
> 
> 
> Appreciate it Jason. The kettle is surly a workhorse. Not much you can't do on one.
> ...



Chris, agreed, if I had to get rid of all of my smokers, grills, etc... and could only keep one, it would be the kettle.  

- Jason


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## gmc2003 (Jul 31, 2022)

thirdeye said:


> Looks great!  I often harvest local trout, and totally $upport wild caught salmon for grilling or fish cakes... but for cured and smoked steelhead and salmon, the farm raised have a wonderful fat ratio. And I need to be mindful of the price because I'll smoke about 5# at a time so there is enough for gifting.


Thanks Thirdeye, My brother-in-law will drop a few salmon and trout off to me from lake Champlain. They're good and not nearly as fatty. Wild salmon from the grocers around here are outrageously expensive. I think they're currently running around 12.00/lb. I do buy them when I'm cooking for company. 




yankee2bbq said:


> Nice cook Chris. Simple enough. Salmon is good for you. (Wife tells me that all the time) And whats up with that beer? Never heard of it. You gettin’ soft on me?
> 
> Hope you enjoyed your vacation.


Appreciate it Justin. It just didn't feel like a beer day today. Maybe I'm coming down with something. I've heard salmon is good for you. It's also supposed to be brain food. I better up my intake of salmon.

Chris


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## gmc2003 (Jul 31, 2022)

millerbuilds said:


> Chris, agreed, if I had to get rid of all of my smokers, grills, etc... and could only keep one, it would be the kettle.
> 
> - Jason


Jason, I have two kettles a 22 and a 26". I also have a 22" WSM that's been collecting dust for at least the last year or two. Even thou I haven't used it. I just bring myself to the point of selling it. I'd keep the 26" kettle if it came down to selling them.

Chris


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## gmc2003 (Jul 31, 2022)

jaxgatorz
 Thanks for the like

Chris


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## millerbuilds (Jul 31, 2022)

Chris, 
I now have two kettles, but one is going to the ranch I hunt on.  The new one stays here.  I also have my little Smokey Joe that I bought 30 years ago when I was in high school, I should get rid of it as it has not been used in 10+ years....  I would get rid of my offset, electric, gasser and Pit Barrel before I would get rid of the kettle.

- Jason


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## JLeonard (Aug 1, 2022)

Looks great. 
Jim


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## thirdeye (Aug 1, 2022)

gmc2003 said:


> Thanks Thirdeye, My brother-in-law will drop a few salmon and trout off to me from lake Champlain. They're good and not nearly as fatty.* Wild salmon from the grocers around here are outrageously expensive.* I think they're currently running around 12.00/lb. I do buy them when I'm cooking for company.


$ame here. My go-to option for smoking is steelhead trout which Sam's Club carries.  It's good quality, is skin-on and comes packed in some sort of sleeve tray that is vacuum sealed.  It has gone up a little in the last year, but is now around $8/lb.  Walleye on the other hand can easily fetch $14 or $15/lb.


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## tx smoker (Aug 1, 2022)

Good looking stuff right there Chris. Fantastic color on the salmon, and don't fret breaking one. It happens and I bet it didn't change the taste at all. I'd have been happy to eat it   

Robert


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## HalfSmoked (Aug 1, 2022)

Nice looking cook Chris.

Warren


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## gmc2003 (Aug 3, 2022)

thirdeye said:


> $ame here. My go-to option for smoking is steelhead trout which Sam's Club carries.  It's good quality, is skin-on and comes packed in some sort of sleeve tray that is vacuum sealed.  It has gone up a little in the last year, but is now around $8/lb.  Walleye on the other hand can easily fetch $14 or $15/lb.
> View attachment 639407


They are good. I smoked a steelhead when I was visiting my daughter in Georgia. Walmart carried them. 



tx smoker said:


> Good looking stuff right there Chris. Fantastic color on the salmon, and don't fret breaking one. It happens and I bet it didn't change the taste at all. I'd have been happy to eat it
> 
> Robert



Appreciate it Robert, It was a rookie mistake, but one I can live with.

Chris


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## gmc2003 (Aug 3, 2022)

HalfSmoked said:


> Nice looking cook Chris.
> 
> Warren



Thank you very much Warren.

Chris


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## cmayna (Aug 3, 2022)

Chris,
Looks great.  I can't remember the last time I had Salmon on the kettle.  So, am I right that you used just one chimney's worth of charcoal?  And for how long?   Any idea as to what temp it ran at?

Think I'll thaw out a couple filets to meet with the kettle.

Craig


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## gmc2003 (Aug 3, 2022)

cmayna said:


> Chris,
> Looks great.  I can't remember the last time I had Salmon on the kettle.  So, am I right that you used just one chimney's worth of charcoal?  And for how long?   Any idea as to what temp it ran at?
> 
> Think I'll thaw out a couple filets to meet with the kettle.
> ...


Appreciate it Craig. It wasn't a full chimney, maybe about half a chimney just enough to come close to filling one charcoal basket. Also they were'n't completely ashed over. The bottom vents were open to about the size of knife blade. Total time was about 45 min. to an hour I would guess. I pulled them off at around 138* and let them sit covered on the counter for a short period.  Temp of the kettle would have been around 225* to 250*. 

Chris


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