Greetings all,

I'm the type of guy who likes to follow instructions to the letter and have perfect results. That being said, my love of AmeriQue grows and grows, from just the opposite of how I like things to work. I am on a journey with the AmeriQue, learning more and more---not from any instruction book, but from things I've noticed during cooks.

Ribs will be my last frontier, but to date, I am putting out awesome chicken, and Shrimp cooks. I've also been happy with fish cooks, but now I can add fish steak or fillet cooks to the list of ummmazing cooks that I do.

Shrimps I've been doing at 180º, but for fish I've been setting the AmeriQue to 200º The last time I did a 90 minute fish cook though, I noticed that the initial heating cycle sent the AmeriQue up to 228º before it started settling down. Eventually the AmeriQue cooked at a steady 200º. My fish has always been tasty, but tonight I did an experiment. I cooked my Salmon steak at 180º. The initial heat cycle, sent the AmeriQue to 209º. Eventually the heat settled down to the 180º I had wanted. Fish doesn't cook a long time, and my hunch tonight proved right on the money. Setting my AmeriQue to 180º, for the 90 minutes of a fish cook, let my fish cook at 209º for a while---enough heat to make sure that my fish was cooked through, but not enough heat to over cook. The averaging out of the temperature, after the initial 209º, let the fish cook through, and stay extremely moist.

Breaking up my wood chunks into chips for a low (200º and under) temperature cook, is the other epiphany, that lets wood smolder fully---but that epiphany was not self taught---it was SmokinOkie who suggested that trick!

Cheers all,
Jeff

I'm wondering out loud...especially since I don't do fish...would it make sense to bring a CS up to temperature before putting the fish in? Might that regulate the heat better? Yeah, yeah, you lose heat when you open the door, but the interior would at least be hot.

Just my thoughts is all.

Yep,fish/ shellfish are often short cooks.

Wood will start to burn about 135º.

Chips will produce more smoke ,quicker-if that is what we really want.

On these items,I like to let the cooker warm up and stabilize.

I also like to let the colored smoke burn off,before I put the fish/shellfish in.

Mesquite can be bitter,and burning the yellow smoke off can be particularly beneficial.

I learned that ,years ago,from Stuart.

chefjeff:

What kind of prep are you doing for the salmon? And do you cook it with a sauce or marinade of any kind?

I usually cook salmon in a butter/lime/lemon sauce with onions added and I cook in a baking dish for about 75 minutes at 225.

Yummy....

For the Salmon, I've been making a mixture of Dijon mustard and grade B maple syrup. I slather some on the Salmon and let it hang out in the fridge. From the fridge I place it directly on a cooking sprayed rack and then smoke for 90 minutes. And as I've said, in my AmeriQue, I now smoke at 180º versus 200º. I'm a Salmon freak, but I guess I should start trying other fish too!