oddlycalm

Cook with them once then use them to patch the fence....? oc

You may be out of range for fresh caught Pacific salmon. If you did manage to find some it would be expensive. Even here in Oregon the very best quality Copper River, BC chinook is only available a few weeks a year and is $22/lb. We're lucky to have local wild caught at the farmers markets for a lot less. Your wife is right about the flavor and texture. Cedar plank salmon has a very buttery presentation. I favor Alder planks which work the same way. When it comes to fresh caught Kings T Rex is living the dream. oc

Easily and inexpensively solved. I'm in Portland and got the predictable mold after buying a #7 K back in 2004. I had Koveroo make me a Koveroos III permeable Tyvek double layer cover in a neutral beige. Light as a feather yet it's held up for years now. Current price including storage bag is $60 USD. Problem solved. The Koveroo folks are easy to work with. Make sure to verify the dimensions will fit your KK. http://store.koverroos.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=K&Category_Code=C_GRILL_KETT oc

Nice, Tofino and the Pacific Rim of the island absolutely amazing. Most people have no idea anything like that exists in North America. We stayed at the Wickaninnish Inn a few years back and I would have killed to have a boat like yours while I was there. Even better would have been to have a KK cooker. oc

If you get to where you need some wagyu beef or kurobuta pork you can always have it sent in. If you ever find yourself in Portland it can be had at Dave's Uptown Meats. http://secure.abfoodsusa.com/ABCommerce/products.0;jsessionid=159977d5b022b094b3cad650f53a At first blush it looks silly expensive but if you ignore the steaks and prime cuts it comes a bit more into focus. The 1/2 pound burgers are outstanding as is the pork collar, pork belly, beef zabuton and pork loin pack. There are only a few producers and the SNF coop is the largest. The biggest advantage of having it here local is not having to buy so much at one time. oc

Access to the highest quality seafood is my limiting factor. Unless you live near the water and fish yourself like T Rex does (sigh...) the opportunities are diminished. One of Karla's "secrets" was to only smoked what we might refer to as shashimi grade fish, and I only have access to that level of product at certain time of the year at the farmers market or from the shop that sells me Wagyu beef and Kurabuta pork. I don't bother with salmon harvested from the rivers by the native tribes as they have used up much of their fat content on their journey up river and result in an inferior result. Good luck with the oysters. oc

Here is some smoked chinook that I smoked just prior to vacuum bagging. The white schmutz on the surface is due to not getting the fish dry enough prior to smoking. It doesn't effect the flavor, just the appearance. The fish really needs to be completely dry and form a shiny pellicle membrane on the surface. Overnight in the fridge is the best way to accomplish that. I tried to get by with a couple hours on the counter with a fan this time and won't try that again. oc

Here's the complete recipe for Karla's incredible smoked oysters for one gallon of medium size oysters. 1) Place oysters and their juice in a large kettle with 1.5" water. Bring to a boil for 2-3 minutes and remove from heat. Let stand in covered pot for 10 minutes. 2) Pour oysters into large collander and let cool until lukewarm. 3) Put two handfuls of dry fish cure (3 parts sugar to one part non-iodized salt) and a half handful of brown sugar into a large bowl and mix. 4) Place cooled oyster into bowl with cure and mix gently being careful not to break up oysters. 5) Put oysters back in colander and let stand for 7 minutes. 6) Rinse out bowl and fill with warm water. 7) Pour oyster back into bowl and rinse off cure. Rinse the colander to get any remaining cure off. 8 Gently wash the oysters in the bowl while running warm water in until the cure is washed off and transfer back to colander to drain. 9) Let the oysters drain for 15 minutes and they will be ready to smoke. 10) Smoke at low temperature for 20 minutes. I use a hot plate and keep the dome temp below 140F. Remember, they are already cooked so your just trying to get some smoke on them. 11) Use a vacuum sealer to pack 4-6 oyster per bag and keep refrigerated up to 2wks. Do no freeze. These oysters are very rich but it's hard to stop eating them so be careful... oc

When Karla Steinhauser arrived on the Oregon coast back in the early 1960's the only people doing any smoking were a few guys smoking bacon and sausage using traditional dry cure methods. She used a basic sugar, salt and Morton Tenderquick dry cure recipe to good effect on everything. My take is that it dries the outside of the fish a bit as opposed to brine and leaves it with more of a pellicle after drying and a firmer texture after smoking. Karla used a lot of (white) sugar which also helps provide some level of carmelization flavor. After curing wash with warm water, drain and refrigerate. I have approx. 30 pages of notes on curing times for every species and piece size of fish as well as her smoking temperatures for each. I have another 10 pages of notes on prep and different cut shapes all with illustrations by Karla. Cure times are far shorter than I have seen from anyone using brine. For white fish with low fat content 7-15 minutes is typical depending on piece size. For salmon the times range from 1hr for a small coho to 2hrs from a 15-20lb. filet. She cut her fish down after curing. The hardest aspect to duplicate is that in her large smokehouse with a remote fire pit she used green vine maple in addition to dry alder wood. I'd never put green wood of any type into my K for fear of imparting a bitter off flavor that would never go away nor would I advise others to do so. In addition to 37yrs of smoking experience Karla had 50yrs of seafood care experience and she had very specific idea about when fish should be fileted. She would always refrigerate fish overnight prior to cutting them down to give the blood time to coagulate and the flesh to relax. The way I have used this information was to form a basis for my own method. I am 100 miles from the coast and I don't own a walk-in cooler or a large smoker with a remote fire box. I do however use dry cure rather than brine though mine has some black pepper and spices in it. I don't use green smoke wood but I also don't use kiln dried furniture scraps or wood with bark on it. oc

Thanks for the pics T Rex. Nice boat and some of the nicest water in the world to fish in. Vancouver Island and the straits is like having the keys to the kingdom. I'm in Portland and I've been a frequent visitor over the years. Having a good ceramic makes it a complete win. I've done everything from grilling prawns in mine to smoking salmon. Karla, an old timer down here on the Oregon coast ((Karla's Seafood), shared her rather unique dry cure method for smoking fish. It's one that got her recognized as one of the best in the world over the years. oc

Ironically, it was a search for a vacuum sealer that led to my discovering ceramic cookers quite a few years ago. I have stuck with the top of the line Foodsavers due to the reasons Syzygies mentions plus one he doesn't. We use the vacuum canisters to store chopped fruit and veggies for our parrot Manny. We're on our second unit after 6yrs on the first. We use it daily but we don't use it all day long. When we moved into the city (Portland) and downsized we gave up our massive freezer so we don't store as much as we used to. oc

Exactly, the difference between what wins bbq contests in the south and what most of us would consider good cooking practice are about as related as apples and tuna. What wins is what I would call "meat candy" as opposed to good food. A salt and pepper cook from Texas can be a decent cook yet fail miserably on the contest trail where the flavor expectations are off the chart sweet. I've seen other contests judged by more mainstream food people from different regions where Myron has failed and was criticized by the judges for burying the meat flavor with fruity sugar water injections. He went away cussing and saying they had no idea what contest bbq is supposed to taste like. He is good at what he does but he's a one trick pony. Reality TV is anything but IMO. It's about creating fake drama where none exists. oc