Smoked king salmon ribs....

[rogerdodger]

I am sure that others have favorite ways to make the most of their catch, catching King salmon is new for us and we really wanted to utilize all of the fish, so here is what we did:

after the filet process, which is never perfect, there was still some meat along the bones, not too much but in some places close to 1/4" thick, and on a big fish (25# in this case), it adds up. so I tried a fast brine/smoke/bbq experiment, starting at 3pm and ready by 6pm:

1 hour in low salt brine: 2qt water, 1/2cup salt, 1/2cup sugar, 1/4cup lemon juice.
dry and place on smoker racks, 15 minutes air dry
1 hour in the smoker soaking up 1 full pan of apple/alder smoke (just smoke, no real drying or cooking in the smoker)
move to BBQ, add lemon/pepper seasoning, low heat (200F) with foil pan underneath the racks to keep direct heat off the meat, fully cooked in about 15minutes.

in the BBQ picture, you can see on the left and right sides the nice meat along the backbone, the other pieces are meat along/between the skinny rib bones, the oil of the Chinook kept the meat moist and it basically slide right off the bones, like eating little tiny smokey ribs (the inner white membrane just slide off after it was cooked)...what we didn't eat for dinner with our fingers, I cleaned off the bones while still warm and added to chowder the next day and also had some at breakfast on toast/cream cheese, all this from what in many cases might get tossed out after the filets are removed, I am not sure this would work as well with smaller or fish with less natural oils, but for any Kings we catch, we plan to do this again...cheers, roger

 

[bran_man]

You're my hero. ha ha jk but that's a pretty good idea. never thought of trying to smoke the "scraps" going to have to try that sometime. description made it sound pretty tasty!

 

[C_Run]

We don't let anything go to waste. We like to smoke the collars intact where it is very oily. My wife won't eat that part but we use it in a pasta dish that usually calls for a can of tuna. It blends right in and everyone gets their omega -3's plus a great flavor. Just need to catch one myself now so I can do it.

 

[rippin fish lips]

I Eat all the meat i can from a big king. There is meat in the fins that are also really good smoked up. I love Omega 3

 

[fishinmachine]

We call it "smoking the guts" or "eating the guts". I love taking the "guts" right after I strip the fillets off, season and bbq. Goes good with cold beer and knee deep B.S. after a long day on the water. Next try the collars and the cheeks. The "guts" of big rainbows from Diamond and if your motivated enough kokanee are tasty too! After smoking like you did clean the meat off the bones with a fork and make some killer smoked salmon dip.

 

[rogerdodger]

great stuff, I love hearing how other people use up their fish, great comments...

 

[Casting Call]

Hi Roger! guess its that time of the year again "smoke'in" I have been doing fish RIBs for years now. I will leave at least 3/8" of meat on the bones just to have ribs, smoked salmon chower and salmon salad. Ever try smoked salmon bellies, jerkyed? CC

 

[JeannaJigs]

We call it "smoking the guts" or "eating the guts". I love taking the "guts" right after I strip the fillets off, season and bbq. Goes good with cold beer and knee deep B.S. after a long day on the water. Next try the collars and the cheeks. The "guts" of big rainbows from Diamond and if your motivated enough kokanee are tasty too! After smoking like you did clean the meat off the bones with a fork and make some killer smoked salmon dip.

Arent those bows at diamond full of power bait, just sounds foul lol.

Roger that's a great idea, I usually fillet it down pretty close but there's always SOME waste no matter what.

 

[rogerdodger]

todays collars and bones on the BBQ and headed for the table...

 

[Casting Call]

Back in the day(55yrs+) at an open market I was buying smoked salmon and cod collars for $1.00 lb. Had a relative from out of town try the smoked collars he loved them. When he went home, he bought 60lbs of the smoked collars to take with him. I went back a week after he left to buy myself some collars to snack on with my favorite brew. To my surprise the price went up to $3.75 lb. Go figure. Too this day I will not share any fish finds at markets that includes whole crab mark downs($2.99lb) after a holiday and all tourists have left town. LOL Tony 10%er