Smoked, Peppered Salmon: Fish To Fight Over (Monk Original Recipe)

After searching for a good smoked salmon recipe, I finally gave up and made my own. 

So I love salmon. Especially the smoked variety. I've tried a lot of amazing smoked fish in my life, but I was always looking for a combination of flavors that never really seemed to do it for me. Finally, after getting bored of trying other's recipes I decided to just make my own recipe with my favorite simple brine. So let's dive in and make some fish

What you're gonna need

• Salmon fillets 2-5lbs
• a big bowl of water
• 2 1/2 cups kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• Apple Pellets

For the seasoning

Note: this will be relatively spicy depending on your tolerance, also it will need to be doubled or tripled if you're making a lot like I do in the tutorial. For this I tripled it and made 2 whole wild caught Coho Salmon which I filleted myself (which is why they're ugly, I've got no clue what I'm doing when it comes to cutting up fish)

• 2tbsp black pepper
• 1tsp brown sugar
• 1tbsp crushed red pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder

Step One: The Brine

Mix the water, 2 1/2 cups kosher salt, 1 1/2 cups brown sugar in a bowl. Mix it until all the sugar and salt dissolve. This will only take a couple minutes of stirring. Doesn't need to be perfect. Then cut the salmon into 3 inch strips, add it to the bowl, and refrigerate for 3-4 hours.

Step Two: Mix The Seasoning In A Ziplock Bag

Step Three: Smoking The Flavor In

For this, we use Apple pellets. Turn the grill to smoke, put the fish on it, skin down, and generously coat the top of the fish with the seasoning. Then close the lid and let her smoke for an hour

Step Four: Turn It Up And Take It Off

This step isn't exactly challenging... turn it up to 180° and let it go another hour then take it off

Step Five: Refrigerate... Or Throw Self Control Out The Window And Eat It Hot

Personally, I prefer it cold. However, it does taste excellent hot. I could eat this stuff all day. It's like candy. I advise letting it cool to reduce the condensation produces then stick it into a gallon sized ziplock bag or some air tight Tupperware. 

Final Thoughts:

I've had a few people tell me this recipe has too much pepper, and others tell me it's the best smoked salmon they've had in their life. It really depends on personal preference. I was shooting for a very specific taste when I created this and I think that I hit it right on the head. If you prefer a less peppery/spicy recipe, I would advise dropping the pepper to half and maintaining the same quantities for the other ingredients. 

Something else; you may read this and say "Hey, he's cooking it at 180°... that isn't smoking. When you smoke something, you don't cook it." Well that would be correct and incorrect. There's two types of smoking, cold and hot. Cold smoking is what you do for things like beef jerky. I will never advise anyone try this with fish at home. There are commercial facilities designed for it with very stringent codes that they need to adhere to. You have very high risk of food poisoning if you try cold smoking fish at home. That's why we do it at 180°. It's fully cooked, but it's also smoked... and trust me, it's absolutely delicious. 

#HardwoodsOnly

All About That Baste: An Introductory Guide to Sauces, Brines, Seasonings, and Marinades PART 1 - SAUCE

So you're just wanting to throw something together, but you don't really know what goes well with what meat or really what you're doing outside of the TV room? This guide will try to explain the basics of brines, marinades, sauces, and seasonings.

So Easy A Caveman Can Do It: Barbecue Sauce Done Right

One Sauce to Rule Them All...

In the barbecue world there's some controversy over BBQ sauce. Some say it's cheaters masking poorly made food, others say it's what makes a barbecued meal great. Some say it's only good if you make it yourself, others say that they like the taste of Bullseye (hint, they're wrong).

Barbecue sauce is great for a number of simple things. Burgers can be good with it, but remember to grill up some mushrooms and onions to go with it. It's practically a requirement for ribs. It actually goes really well on hot dogs too. You can't make pulled pork without it, and it can compliment any number of meats if you've got the right sauce for the job.

I'll be frank, I'm biased in my opinions of barbecue sauce. I've been trying sauces from various places most of my life, I've dabbled in making it myself, and after years of searching, I finally came across the holy grail of all barbecue sauces in the summer of 2014.

OMG Barbecue is a company based out of Portland, OR. It was started by two local residents and produces, what I believe to be, the best tasting barbecue sauce man can make. I've tasted literally over a hundred different barbecue sauces, and OMG Habanero Honey Pineapple is by leaps and bounds the number one sauce on my list. Hell, it's so good that out of those hundred, it probably takes the top twenty spots. I absolutely hate the flavor of mustard. Can't stand it. Their sauces are so good that I actually like the flavor of their mustard line. It tastes so good I use it as a dipping sauce... for bread... but I rant a little much. Let's get into what makes it so amazing.

They don't water it down.
Ever notice how the cheap sauces you buy at the grocery store will just start spilling out of the bottle the moment you turn it upside down? It's because they're watered down to improve profits. Making you think you're buying more when really it's half water seems a bit like a scam to me. Good sauces will be thick. 

You can get it spicy, and it doesn't just taste like liquid smoke added to tomato sauce
As I said earlier, I'm pretty picky about my BBQ Sauce. If it doesn't have a flavor that goes beyond just some fake smoke flavoring and tomato sauce, my mouth is bored before I'm done swallowing. Barbecue sauce is usually meant to be used on food that is helped by having a lot of added flavor, you need your sauce to have some kick.

Lastly, It's different.
Say you have a bunch of friends over for burgers and you've got Bullseye or some junk like that out. It's boring. Nobody is going to be asking where you got it, most people will probably ignore that it's even there and just use ketchup since that's all it really is. If you want to impress people, get something they don't see every day. You won't regret it and they'll thank you for it.

Convinced to try it. Check out their website here.

#HardwoodsOnly

Where To Use Which Sauces

• Burgers: for burgers you can really use any of them. Spicy sauces for those who like spicy, mild for those who don't like spice, or mustard if you prefer that. 
• Ribs: In general I'd recommend a sweet sauce for ribs. Honey pineapple would be at the top of the list, powerful pepper following it. However, I've made delicious ribs with the habanero line as well. It all really boils down to preference. I love spicy, but most people prefer sweet when it comes to ribs. 
• Chicken: Chicken can be made about a million different ways, so with this there really is no standard. Hot, sweet, even mustard sauces are all excellent for chicken. If you're doing a whole chicken though, I advise seasoning, not bbq sauce. 
• Pork: This is one of the few meats in which the mustard sauce is arguably the best option. Habanero honey mustard or regular. It brings out a lot of flavor and compliments pork better than it does other meats. 
• Red Meat: Apart from burgers, I'd say don't waste your barbecue sauce on red meat. NEVER put it on a high quality cut like a steak. Red meat usually needs to be prepared a certain way for the best flavor, and BBQ sauce isn't often it. 

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Lazy Hot Wings (Monk BBQ Original Recipe)

Hey readers. This is a recipe for hot wings that I made one day when I was too lazy to actually follow a recipe. It turned out tasting fantastic and has been a favorite at parties and hangouts ever since. So let's delve in.

What you're gonna need

• Chicken Wings (2-10 lbs, however many you want really)
• Siracha hot sauce
• Tapatio hot sauce
• A Stick of Butter
• lemon juice
• olive oil
• garlic powder
• Mesquite or Hickory pellets or wood #HardwoodsOnly

First things first, notice the lack of measurements up there? Just refer to the name if you wanna know why, measure to taste.

Step 1: Heat the grill to 300°  and throw the wings on (frozen or thawed doesn't matter)

Step 2: Melt the butter in the microwave (I'll laugh if it explodes on you), then add other ingredients in a bowl

Step 4: Achieve maximum laziness, dump it into a squeezable bottle

Step 5: Once the wings are mostly done cooking, drizzle sauce on them, but don't use it all

Step 6: Let them cook for 5-10 minutes till the sauce changes appearance a little and add them to a baking dish, then lather them in the remaining sauce and let them cook another 10-20 minutes depending on how done they are (the reason we do this is because so much of the sauce falls off when removing them from the grill, this way they're thoroughly covered for every bite)

Final step. Eat the wings. Share if threatened (or for bragging rights), otherwise retreat to man cave for private consumption

#HardwoodsOnly