What Are You Preserving, and How Are You Doing It? (2016–)

[YvetteMT]

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.

[FauxPas]

On 8/5/2024 at 1:41 PM, Shelby said:

Yes!  That's Nirvana.  I used to grow Silver Queen, and while it's really good, Nirvana is now my favorite and I only plant that.   The kernels are bigger and juicer and sweeter.

 

The largest of our local farmstands is operated by the Sieffert family. They grow several varieties of corn each year to extend the harvest times. I think Bolt was one of the earliest and not sure what they have today but here is one of their mid-season ones:  🙂

 

 

 

[YvetteMT]

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.

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

@YvetteMT

To be honest I'm surprised that this sort of practice still goes on. Introducing non native fish species to an area, usually with 'the best of intentions', usually has unforeseen consequences and very few of them good.

Examples I can think of offhand are the deliberate  introduction of small mouth bass to northern Ontario lakes and pushing out the native lake and brook trout, the deliberate introduction of lake trout in Yellowstone and many cases of the accidental or plain stupid ones such as sea lampreys into the Great Lakes, Asian carp seemingly everywhere, snakefish, rock bass......

Just my opinion.

Do you cold or hot smoke your salmon? 

 

[YvetteMT]

@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.  

[YvetteMT]

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)

Edited August 25 by YvetteMT
Extra stuff (log)

[TicTac]

Love it!

 

How do you store the salmon once done?

 

 

[YvetteMT]

Just now, TicTac said:

Love it!

 

How do you store the salmon once done?

 

 

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.

[TicTac]

3 minutes ago, YvetteMT said:

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.

Gotta get me a vac pack machine at some point....that and a sous vide - cannot believe I still have not fell down that rabbit hole!

 

Have you ever tried slicing thin and drying out to make jerky?

 

Great haul, all caught yourself!?

 

 

[YvetteMT]

18 minutes ago, TicTac said:

 

Have you ever tried slicing thin and drying out to make jerky?

 

Great haul, all caught yourself!?

 

 

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. 

[TicTac]

5 minutes ago, YvetteMT said:

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. 

Amazing.

 

We would get along well!  My 11 year old son spent most of our week at the cottage on the end of the dock, caught about a dozen small mouth.  Beat his old man, that's for sure!

[YvetteMT]

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.

[YvetteMT]

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. 

[lemniscate]

I wonder if an overnight dry cure (salt/sugar/other flavors)  would tighten up that soft textured salmon.   The smoke and see if it improves.  Or keep it as a gravlox style.

Edited August 30 by lemniscate (log)

[chromedome]

Not as inspiring as what's immediately upthread, but before heading down to NS for this month's trip I managed to crank out a dozen pints of dill pickles. I got the timing right, this year, and my dill and cucumbers are both in "overdrive" mode at the same time. They're just run of the mill quick dills using white vinegar, but I did lay my hands on some "pickle pipes" for my mason jars at off-season clearance pricing, so when I get home I'll probably make at least a few pints of lacto-fermented dills for my own satisfaction.

I also have a glass fermentation crock my GF bought me as a surprise gift. I don't have it in front of me right now (because I'm out of province) but IIRC it holds about 4 litres/1 gallon. I'll probably do a small batch of kraut in that one.

[jbates]

On 8/25/2024 at 7:10 AM, TicTac said:

Gotta get me a vac pack machine at some point....that and a sous vide - cannot believe I still have not fell down that rabbit hole!

I don't use my vac chamber as often as I should but every time I do I'm very happy that I forked out for it. I got the VP215 on special at my local restaurant supply place, very nicely made machine. Perhaps you have an upcoming birthday/anniversary/"I got to have it!" day?

 

(Pro tip: the little filling bottle for the machine oil doesn't have a great seal; use a Nalgene squirty bottle instead and pour any excess back into the main bottle).

[jbates]

13 hours ago, chromedome said:

I'll probably do a small batch of kraut in that one.

I have to do one myself. Last year's effort was super tasty (I used the purple cabbage).