That said...
In case you missed it, it started here... eat a dick Rudyard Kipling... should have been here for a spring salmon season. 15 lbs (spring fish, aka "springers") are smaller than their fall (chinook, aka "kings" to barbarians) counterparts, but much higher in fat/omega-3's, and extremely rich in flavor. That thing formerly known as "a living fish" made for a huge feast after we brought it home from the river, another small one, and a nice chunk of fillet left.
So, since by saturday (2 days), it was no longer FRESH, and considered borderline inedible at that point (despite what Mikey or Costco says), into the brine it went. About a cup of kosher salt, mabe a cup of (dried up old) brown sugar, some regular granulated sugar, a TBSP(?) of soy sauce, and a good dash of naga jolakia sauce (look it up if you're not familiar... don't take much) in about a gallon of water.
48 hours later, it was time (in my mind). Some advocate 24 hours in brine, I (we) find 48-72+ seems to help, just have to keep it cool (I didn't have room in the fridge, I used a cooler and refreshed some ice-packs about twice a day).
Looked about like this:
Due to circumstance, my ECB is not at my house. Will a lack of upright smoker deter me? Dinsdale, the slow-cook freak?
Oh, HELL NO!
Plan B -- my neighbor decided I really needed his little-used ECB grill. All the usual "fit-and-finish" we've come to expect from Brinkmann, but in charcoal grill form. Made an amazing whole chicken with it for its maiden (to me) voyage.
Kinda like this:
Since it is, like most of the Western USA, just fuckall hot here (humidity too, which is very rare here in a heat wave), I was paranoid about overdoing the fire, so I started small (too small, but close). 4 briquettes and a thumb-sized chunk of dry cherry (because I have cherry, and it works great for just about anything you care to cook with it).
Obviously, I want the fire all the way on the side opposite of the smokestack. Since the box was over 90 degrees to start with, I figured it wasn't going to take much to get it to the desired 160-170 range (much easier to control when it's not iron-ore-smelting-hot outside).
Once it got over 140, I figured WTF... game on. It's evening, and I'm starting to clip a buzz... don't want to be up all night smoking fish (actually, I'm cool with it, since it's hot, and I'll be up late, but not sure my neighbors enjoy my intoxicated outdoor cooking antics too late).
Alrighty... drunken updates to follow.
