Not a heavy metal band, it's a variety of salmon.

Bought a filet at Kroger yesterday @ $2.99/#. Was in a bit of a hurry when I got home, so I just rolled my Smokette to the patio, foiled the bottom and woodbox, popped in a 1.5oz piece of maple, unwrapped and racked the salmon, plugged in, set to 175F and left. Took all of 5 minutes. Returned a couple hours later to a delicious meal. Spent less than 5 minutes cleaning and putting away the Smokette.

Truly groovy when you can put less time into preparing a meal than into consuming it. Try accomplishing that with a gas or charcoal water smoker, wood burner, etc. etc.

Steelhead is not a type of Salmon. It's a type of Trout.

We've thrown Halibut Cheeks into our Smokette, coated with butter and some of my personal rub, and done the same thing. It's not always necessary to brine, dry, cure, or even season to cook in a CS. We take a car ride up to Cooper Landing, and when we get back, the dinner is done. You can throw small cut spuds in there, too. Add a can of drained corn. Put all in a 13X9 and have a complete meal.

Trout - that would explain why the texture and skin is a bit different from salmon. Must be a big trout, as the filets were about 5" across and weight of the whole fish would be about 7-8#. Much bigger than the farmed rainbow trout we usually see.

Bought another hunk yesterday and have it marinating in brine/pepper/dill/lemon zest. Will cook tonite and see if this treatment improves upon the "just smoke it" approach.

Mornin',tjr.

I'd be careful about brining that steelhead too long.

I did 10 lbs. last fall and it got very salty.

Andi chastised me and told me to stick with less than 3 hrs. for dry brine and 45 mins for wet.

She was right as usual.

The Goddess of Things Finny.

Nice title! I like it! Anyway, did I ever mention the other factors to consider when brining a fish?

The water: salt or fresh and if the fish does both, as Salmon and some Trout (Sea Run Dollies and Steelhead. If the fish is caught in sea water, it will be bright and firm. If caught at the mouth where the sea water mixes with the fresh, it will start to soften. If it has been in the fresh water a little further up the stream, it'll be soft.

The age of the fish and it's spawning schedule. If caught just before spawning, it'll soak up salt like a sponge, as the meat is softer.

A pretty cool fish name indeed. "Hey dude, I just smoked a steelhead!"

My dictionary claims that it's a rainbow trout that's lived in the ocean - is this accurate? Do these things look like a giant rainbow trout? The name suggests something more like a hammerhead shark that's capable of pounding or gnawing its way thru your boat hull if you make it angry.