Father’s Day 2020 Smoking

As the modern usual, we have a Fire Ban Issued for Yavapai County. We never needed bans until the hordes of city folks flooded in from the west fleeing oppression from bad politics. Now we have Covid, looting and Antifa that are causing the cities, towns and AZ Governor Ducey to mandate rules for dumb people. Not looting and wearing masks should be done because people are good and respectful. The idiots with Coexist or PETA bumper stickers are almost guaranteed to not wear a mask, try to intimidate old people or carry posters with the initials of Bureau of Land Management. I was asked to sign a de-fund the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Department. I told the young thug that if the Sheriffs Dept were de-funded, it would be open season for bad cops to kill thugs. They threw their paperwork in the garbage.

  

Today’s smoke is starting with a tray and one half of Maple wood chips, ½ opened air vent, 200*F with no pre-heat.

9:00 AM We put in 8 pounds of pork spare ribs sprinkled with Pit Boss – Lone Star Brisket rub that took one rack.

9:05 We put in the chicken thighs with the Lone Star rub.

9:10 We put in a half rack with 10 Brats from Denmark Foods in Peoria, AZ. They use only fresh high quality ingredients. The gap will be used for the salmon ends and some mushrooms.

At 10:15 we put the 2 Salmon filets on the counter to “pellicle” (dry a little on the surface). This seals the surface just enough to hold in the moisture but still allow the smoke flavor to soak in perfectly. I have not been salting the salmon because it dries it out. If I needed to store the salmon I would use the salt as a preservative, but this meat will all be eaten this week.

Now to prep the Mushrooms – wash, trim the stems and they are ready to smoke.

11:10 We put in the 10 Mushrooms and the Salmon. Note – the Mushrooms were added wherever there was room.

We added 1½ more trays of Maple wood chips, opened the air vent on top all the way and raised temperature to 225*F. Raising the temperature will cause the electric element to get hot again and start the fresh wood chips to smoke. Opening the vent will allow the excess moisture to escape so the salmon will remain sealed.

 We chose Maple wood for today’s smoke because it was on top in the bin of wood chips bags. It has a sweet smooth flavor that is not over powering. Alder, apple and cherry are also good choices for fish and poultry. Mesquite is a bit strong when smoking fish or chicken. Mesquite works great on a BBQ because there is less time the meat is exposed to the smoke and less smoke because of the higher temperatures with hot coals. Pecan and oak are really good on pork, beef or game meat smoke. My local oak varieties are Gambel's, scrub, live white and live blackjack.

2:00 PM pulled everything and turned off the smoker.

Notice how easily the skin just peels off the Salmon. I just turned the tail end and laid it on the other, and lifted the skin right off. That’s how all the rest went too.

A Fathers Day Feast for a King. The other 2 mushrooms never made it to the photo. Oh well, they are so good.