Food Saftey and Etiquette When Smoking Salmon

[sammyslabber]

I don't think it's necessary to hose out your smoker;just scrap off the slime build up &/or loose particles...best to put a shield over the fire to keep drippings off,if you pre-glaze or spray near the finish it will drip.

Birdsnest rack cleaning advice is spot on;someone else mentioned putting them in the BBQ to sterilize,it also works well.

C.R,re Bradley; it's not fool proof,you need to clean out the puck feed or it may jam from puck sawdust...I count the stacked pucks and check periodically to ensure they're feeding properly.If you dry your salmon in a cold room;bring the meat up to normal room temp before you put it in the smoker;don't put the heat on,racks in once the smoke starts, no heat...let the inside temp rise with the puck burning...2hrs in gradually turn up the heat. I would leave the water out of the puck catcher if the smoker sweats to much...it may dislodge soot build- up on your salmon.

Good luck/bon apatite

 

[Bondo Bill]

I built this smoker about 25 years ago.
I built it with 2 fire boxes....one off set for colder smoking, to be honest I never had very good results in that dept.
And the other fire box directly below the cooking chamber

Using the fire box directly under the cooking chamber I can control the temp any where from 90 to 400 degrees

Have smoked every thing from Prime ribs, beef bones, pork butts, pork ribs, yard bird, Duck ,Turkey, and Salmon



Prior to any smoke I fire up the smoker the day before and get her up to at least 300-350 just to clean her out

Cleaning the grilles and brooming out the spider webs is all the cleaning required

 

[UkeeDreamin]

That's a cadillac!!

Ukee