YvetteMT

BLTs and corn again. No bread this time.

I said at the start of this round of salmon smoking that I hadn't tried the hatchery fish. Well, I have now and there is a marked difference, enough that I added where the fish was from to each vac packed bag. it's not bad. Its different. Much milder in flavor. And soft. Soft almost on the verge of what Id call mushy. Soft enough to nearly be off-putting, to me at any rate. Next time, the hatchery fish will get a way longer smoke , with heat, in an attempt to firm it up more. Tonight I'm going to try it in a pasta dish. Later this week it will go in dip for a function. It's edible, not bad. Just different.

@liamsaunt I can see why you wanted to stay at that home! Is that a deck off the back that would have been a widows walk once upon a time? And while I love the outside, the sign over the kitchen sink is the icing on the cake!

8 hours later, off the smoker and cooling off. 3 hours with only the smoke tube, 4 hours at 120 and the last hour at 180.

@Alex as someone that has to eat gluten free, your meal sounds superb! Too often GF feels like an imposition and a spread mimicking gluten filled foods. Your dinner is fantastic, please do share photos!

I haven't! I make jerky out of waterfowl breasts and venison but haven't done fish,yet! The bellies end up drier and a little tacky from the maple syrup, wouldn't be a far reach to do jerky. Thankfully we've got a bunch more in the freezer so maybe this is the year to try jerky! And thank you. Partner or I caught all of our fish. We try to get to the ocean (WA or OR coast. Blessed to get to AK this year and last) every other year and also try to ice fish annually. Some folks plan trips to Europe, I plan fishing trips.

They will get individually vac packed and frozen. But, only after a chunk of belly is inhaled still warm! One of the bigger pieces will be kept out, I am taking salmon dip to a function on Thursday.

Catching the salmon up to this point- spent about 30 hours in a simple brine of water, kosher salt, and brown sugar. Spent 10 hours in the fridge uncovered to get a nice pellicle. And currently it's sitting in a closed (turned off) Traeger with a smoke tube and will be for a few hours. As the tube is dying, the grill will get cranked on to it lowest possible setting and the fish will get lightly brushed with maple syrup hourly. The bellys will get more maple syrup. Yesterdays other project was 4 lbs jalapeños turned into cowboy candy. (There was one jar left and with archery season coming, that's just not acceptable. There will be more made, this is but a start)

@Senior Sea Kayaker I wholeheartedly agree with you. 110%. Give humans a way to exploit the ecosystem to make a$ and we will. Cold or hot? Both. I start the fish with a smoke tube then kick the smoker on later. I love lox, partner would rather eat rusty nails. So, I start cold, pull a piece (or 3) for myself and then the rest get another dose of smoke, hot the second time.

The start of smoked salmon- these are both Kings aka Chinook. The bottom bright color fish is from Alaska. The top anemic looking fellow is a hatchery fish, Caught in freshwater at Fort Peck Lake in Montana. Many decades ago, someone decided that FT Peck needed a bigger draw for anglers. So there is a non-reproducing population of Kings in MT. These fish have no access to saltwater and so fish biologists "milk" eggs and milt from the population, and make baby fish at the hatchery. Those baby fish (fry) grow into fingerlings (not potatoes) and get dumped back into the lake. (I have not eaten one of these hatchery Kings before, no clue how they taste compared to their vibrant wild relatives) I'll be picking bones and trimming for a few hours, I've got 4 or 5 fish to prep.

This is the start to a long weekend of preserving- cowboy candy, quick pickled red onions,and smoked salmon will all be done by Monday. To start- marinated mushrooms from @HungryChris Little odd color from using red pepper Italian dressing.

We have a number of cameras, none pointed at the raspberries tho. (the nearest being 60 feet up the fence to the right. but its pointed across/up the hill). The driveway camera will show the petunia culprits tho. One night last year partner woke me at 2am "Theres a moose eating the strawberries!" (I love moose, seriously LOVE them). I stumbled to the dining room to peer out the window and there was a mule deer buck... He swore up and down there was a moose while I swore that if he woke me up again, there'd be hell to pay. I went back to bed with him following me saying that he knew the difference and damn it, there was a moose. He zinged open the bedroom blinds (that face the hill with the camera) and there was the moose.

Something decided that the raspberry bushes looked like a great snack option- my first thought was one of the moose (we have an adult cow that calves every 2 years and her 2 year old that pass thru regularly). Elk (resident herd that frequents our place) and mule deer are also options. The petunias planted at the top of the driveway(literally outside the front door) were stripped of their flowers, again, too. (That's most likely the deer).

Chicken, broccoli, wild rice and creamy mushrooms.

Big salads today. Partners the same w/o tomatoes. The lump in the middle- tuna that we caught and I canned. one of these guys-caught off the WA coast.

While I do own a pretty board, it's just the two of us tonight and we ate sitting on the couch so, a cookie sheet wrapped in foil suffices. Coppa, prosciutto, salami x2, beehive cheddar, horseradish chive, and tomato basil cheddar. Smoked salmon dip. Artichokes, blue cheese green olives, baby dills, dill sauerkraut, and blackberries. Not pictured- crackers and a really nice walla walla mustard.

We use this same rice, its got a nice flavor (if one likes cilantro) and is easy to chuck into the micro at the last moment. Costco sells it by the 8(?) pack box. Its a quick go-to addition for any Mexican-ish meals for us. (Enchiladas, burrito bowls etc)

Last night teriyaki flavors with veg and shrimp (konjac noodles for me). Another night- BLOT (o=onion) and corn.

Taco salads

@Dejah your conserve is beautiful Well, partner comes home tomorrow so tonight is the last of the curry. With shrimp tonight (and last night too)

@KennethT what is the electronic thing to the left in the soil?

I have a Foley food mill for canning and have used the same for eons (helping my gran can tomatoes as a kid). Only waste seems to be the skins and seeds, are you losing more than that? Ive done tomatoes and grapes and never been unhappy with results. Are you doing in small batches? Reversing the direction to move the skins/seeds off the plate and going forward again? If you aren't put off by seeds in your finished dish, perhaps blanch and remove skin and then squeeze by hand to knock out some of the seeds? Stuff a thumb in and scoop out as much seed goo as possible? (thats how I can whole romas. My final with them is always some sort of soup or chili so a stray seed isn't the end of the world)

An uncharacteristic weekday breakfast (before 8am even). Gf Trader Joes English muffin with ham, egg, onion, and plastic white American cheese.

Partner is on a fishing trip for the week so it's curry for me! (I either have things he doesn't like- tonight's curry- or things that require little effort and may not be an actual meal, like popcorn) With squid tonight

Thanks for the reminder @mgaretz I love cold tuna pasta salad and have home-canned tuna that would be fabulous for this!