Controlling the amount of smoke flavor
 

Several of my friends have said they think my smoked ham has too much
smoke flavor-my brother said the ham was pretty good once they cut off
the dark part.
Keep all the brisket for myself-know the smoke on the brisket would
gag my friends-so eat it all myself.

Wow But after talking to a local guy who sells lots of smoked
salmon-learned this: He smokes large filet's for about 30 minutes at
225F and then into a convection oven to finish the cooking process.
He too got complaints about too much smoke flavor.

Here is the kicker-he said he has wrapped salmon in Saran wrap to
control the amount of smoke it gets. Have a small 7# whole salmon to
smoke-what I plan to do is wrap one half in Saran-supposedly ok to
400F and leave the other unwrapped and keep the smoker at 220-225F
till the internal meat temp his 140F.

Comments/suggestions

Controlling the amount of smoke flavor
 

"butch burton" > wrote in message
om...
> Several of my friends have said they think my smoked ham has too much
> smoke flavor-my brother said the ham was pretty good once they cut off
> the dark part.
> Keep all the brisket for myself-know the smoke on the brisket would
> gag my friends-so eat it all myself.
>
> Wow But after talking to a local guy who sells lots of smoked
> salmon-learned this: He smokes large filet's for about 30 minutes at
> 225F and then into a convection oven to finish the cooking process.
> He too got complaints about too much smoke flavor.
>
> Here is the kicker-he said he has wrapped salmon in Saran wrap to
> control the amount of smoke it gets. Have a small 7# whole salmon to
> smoke-what I plan to do is wrap one half in Saran-supposedly ok to
> 400F and leave the other unwrapped and keep the smoker at 220-225F
> till the internal meat temp his 140F.
>
> Comments/suggestions

There's a possibility that you're smoking over the billowing cloud of smoke,
which could render meat with an undesirable flavor, sometimes called
'over-smoked'. Light wisps of smoke do a much better job. If you're doing
this already then disregard the last 2 sentences.

As for the Saran wrap, that's just silly, IMO. I hot smoke salmon filets at
about 250º for about an hour and a half and they're not overly smoked, just
lightly kissed by the smoke. I put the fish on when the wood is burned to
coals and the smoke is light and white.

Jack

Controlling the amount of smoke flavor
 

> "butch burton" said:
> > Several of my friends have said they think my smoked ham has too much
> > smoke flavor
> >
> > Wow But after talking to a local guy who sells lots of smoked
> > salmon-learned this: He smokes large filet's for about 30 minutes at
> > 225F and then into a convection oven to finish the cooking process.
> > He too got complaints about too much smoke flavor.
> >> > Comments/suggestions
Then Jack wrote:
>
> There's a possibility that you're smoking over the billowing cloud of
smoke,
> which could render meat with an undesirable flavor, sometimes called
> 'over-smoked'. Light wisps of smoke do a much better job. If you're
doing
> this already then disregard the last 2 sentences.
>
> As for the Saran wrap, that's just silly, IMO. I hot smoke salmon filets
at
> about 250º for about an hour and a half and they're not overly smoked,
just
> lightly kissed by the smoke. I put the fish on when the wood is burned to
> coals and the smoke is light and white.
>
> Jack
>
I concur with most of what Jack Schidt says. Too smokey-flavored meat
happens when you:

*Smoke with a billowing cloud of smoke: add fewer wood chips at a time to
your lump. The smoke should be wispy, not opaque.

*Smoke for too long: only smoke for about a third of the time you cook
something.

*Smoke with the wrong wood: Please tell me you weren't using mesquite!
Mesquite can impart an acrid, burnt flavor. I live in Austin, arguably the
mesquite capital of the world, and I won't touch the stuff. I prefer
hickory as a standby, pecan if I want a milder product, like with salmon or
trout.

Then again, your tasters may just not like smokiness in their meat.

John in Austin

Controlling the amount of smoke flavor
 

JakBQuik typed:
>> "butch burton" said:
>>> Several of my friends have said they think my smoked ham has too much
>>> smoke flavor
>>>
>>> Wow But after talking to a local guy who sells lots of smoked
>>> salmon-learned this: He smokes large filet's for about 30 minutes at
>>> 225F and then into a convection oven to finish the cooking process.
>>> He too got complaints about too much smoke flavor.
>>>>> Comments/suggestions
> Then Jack wrote:
>>
>> There's a possibility that you're smoking over the billowing cloud of smoke,
>> which could render meat with an undesirable flavor, sometimes called
>> 'over-smoked'. Light wisps of smoke do a much better job. If you're doing
>> this already then disregard the last 2 sentences.
>>
>> As for the Saran wrap, that's just silly, IMO. I hot smoke salmon filets at
>> about 250º for about an hour and a half and they're not overly smoked, just
>> lightly kissed by the smoke. I put the fish on when the wood is burned to
>> coals and the smoke is light and white.
>>
>> Jack
>>
> I concur with most of what Jack Schidt says. Too smokey-flavored meat
> happens when you:
>
> *Smoke with a billowing cloud of smoke: add fewer wood chips at a time to
> your lump. The smoke should be wispy, not opaque.
>
> *Smoke for too long: only smoke for about a third of the time you cook
> something.
>
> *Smoke with the wrong wood: Please tell me you weren't using mesquite!
> Mesquite can impart an acrid, burnt flavor. I live in Austin, arguably the
> mesquite capital of the world, and I won't touch the stuff. I prefer
> hickory as a standby, pecan if I want a milder product, like with salmon or
> trout.
>
> Then again, your tasters may just not like smokiness in their meat.
>
> John in Austin

Me three <EG>

For fish, I don't even (usually) add any wood, just the wispy smoke from the lump
is usually enough.

Also, what did you cook the last time you used the smoker before you smoked the
fish?
If the last cook was really fatty (butt, ribs, brisket, etc.) you may need to burn
out the remains of the fat before you smoke fish or any delicately flavored food.
You might even have a greasy coating on the lid that you need to burn off.

HTH

BOB

Controlling the amount of smoke flavor
 

" BOB" > wrote in message >...
> JakBQuik typed:
> >> "butch burton" said:
> >>> Several of my friends have said they think my smoked ham has too much
> >>> smoke flavor
> >>>
> >>> Wow But after talking to a local guy who sells lots of smoked
> >>> salmon-learned this: He smokes large filet's for about 30 minutes at
> >>> 225F and then into a convection oven to finish the cooking process.
> >>> He too got complaints about too much smoke flavor.
> >>>>> Comments/suggestions
> Then Jack wrote:
> >>
> >> There's a possibility that you're smoking over the billowing cloud of smoke,
> >> which could render meat with an undesirable flavor, sometimes called
> >> 'over-smoked'. Light wisps of smoke do a much better job. If you're doing
> >> this already then disregard the last 2 sentences.
> >>
> >> As for the Saran wrap, that's just silly, IMO. I hot smoke salmon filets at
> >> about 250º for about an hour and a half and they're not overly smoked, just
> >> lightly kissed by the smoke. I put the fish on when the wood is burned to
> >> coals and the smoke is light and white.
> >>
> >> Jack
> >>
> > I concur with most of what Jack Schidt says. Too smokey-flavored meat
> > happens when you:
> >
> > *Smoke with a billowing cloud of smoke: add fewer wood chips at a time to
> > your lump. The smoke should be wispy, not opaque.
> >
> > *Smoke for too long: only smoke for about a third of the time you cook
> > something.
> >
> > *Smoke with the wrong wood: Please tell me you weren't using mesquite!
> > Mesquite can impart an acrid, burnt flavor. I live in Austin, arguably the
> > mesquite capital of the world, and I won't touch the stuff. I prefer
> > hickory as a standby, pecan if I want a milder product, like with salmon or
> > trout.
> >
> > Then again, your tasters may just not like smokiness in their meat.
> >
> > John in Austin
>
> Me three <EG>
>
> For fish, I don't even (usually) add any wood, just the wispy smoke from the lump
> is usually enough.
>
> Also, what did you cook the last time you used the smoker before you smoked the
> fish?
> If the last cook was really fatty (butt, ribs, brisket, etc.) you may need to burn
> out the remains of the fat before you smoke fish or any delicately flavored food.
> You might even have a greasy coating on the lid that you need to burn off.
>
> HTH
>
> BOB
Thanks for the suggestion but above the smoke racks the inside of the
smoker has a shiny, slick black coating. Below the rack I have large
thin AL foil trays to catch the fat drips and clean them out after
each smoking. Managed to get the grease in the very bottom way to hot
in a partially botched insulation experiment-worked too well-and it
burned some of the grease out-put out with a garden hose.

Think I will try the fish half uncovered with saran wrap and half
covered and see what happens-does not take much wood to keep my offset
smoker at 225F with the smoker part covered with 6" of insulation and
the firebox draped with 2" of foil backed insulation. Tried covering
the firebox completely and thing got way too hot-charred off the
wooden handle on the firebox side.

Controlling the amount of smoke flavor
 

butch burton wrote:
> Several of my friends have said they think my smoked ham has too much
> smoke flavor-my brother said the ham was pretty good once they cut off
> the dark part.
> Keep all the brisket for myself-know the smoke on the brisket would
> gag my friends-so eat it all myself.
>
> Wow But after talking to a local guy who sells lots of smoked
> salmon-learned this: He smokes large filet's for about 30 minutes at
> 225F and then into a convection oven to finish the cooking process.
> He too got complaints about too much smoke flavor.
>
> Here is the kicker-he said he has wrapped salmon in Saran wrap to
> control the amount of smoke it gets. Have a small 7# whole salmon to
> smoke-what I plan to do is wrap one half in Saran-supposedly ok to
> 400F and leave the other unwrapped and keep the smoker at 220-225F
> till the internal meat temp his 140F.
>
> Comments/suggestions

Prolly had way too much smoke. Most folks think smokin means billows &
billows of smoke comin from the cooker. Not so; you want just a wisp of
smoke comin out. How much smoke for how long is up to everyone's taste buds
but delicate meats like fish take a little smoke for a short while.

As for the Saran wrap - well, that's just plain stupid IMO. Seems ya puttin
wrap around it to keep the smoke from gettin to it when usin less smoke
would do the same thing. 'Sides, sounds like shrink-wrapped food to me.
--
-frohe
Life is too short to be in a hurry