Is the house on fire?

[SeaRay]

My poor wife had a misstep Saturday night in our garage and fractured her ankle. She is in a hard cast now hoping it will heal without surgery. I have been sticking close to the house because she needs help getting around, so with time on my hands I decided to smoke some salmon I brought back from my Oregon trip in September.

So, first thing was to brine them 4 hours in Joe's secret brine.


Then let them sit 8 hours until the pellicle forms.



Now they are ready for the smoker and here is where it got interesting. It was going down in the teens here last night so, of course, I decided to put the smoker in the garage. I was afraid it would be too cold for the Little Chief Smoker to work well. I started the smoker and let it prep for about 30 minutes, by now it was 11PM and the wife had gone to bed. When I opened the door to take the salmon to the garage, I was surprised at how much smoke the smoker had produced. Out in the open it is not very noticeable, but in a closed garage, there was enough to share with the kitchen. So after I shut the door and got everything going, I went back in the house, hoping the smoke had not made it's way past the kitchen. I guess you can tell from the title, that was not the case.


But all's well that ends well, and by morning the smoke smell was gone, except in the garage, and the salmon had cured nicely. We have a Smoked Salmon Quiche recipe that we really like which is why I was doing this in the first place.
With 3 more weeks before she possibly can get a walking cast, there is no telling the trouble I can get into.
Actually now the garage has an outdoorsy woodsy smell and I kind of like it. Wife has not been out there so the jury is still out on how that will go.

[ibmack]

Don't like your odds when the wifey decides to venture into the garage and you get to explain the smell, hehehe.

[Cane Pole]

Looks good. My salmon comes from a can. So does my tuna.

Only time our house smells like woods is when spray the toilet room with scented spray. Brenda says it smells like I just pooped a Christmas tree.

[Alboy79]

I woulda told my wife, "I don't smell anything". Then played it off that the pills the doc gave her were screwing with her ability to smell.

The salmon looks good by the way.

[Lowellhturner]

Will pray even harder for the Mrs., Cane Pole...btw that salmon DOES look tasty, sir.

[Tracker123]

Looks good Ray!

[DRPEPPER]

I hate to be the party pooper. But, I was worried about carbon monoxide while reading the above. Looks good. I hope the Mrs does not read this post for your sake. And, I have done worse in my lifetime. DP

[STUMP HUNTER]

You been busy!! Everything looks great and a lot of it Hope the wife gets better soon.

[crappielimits]

Being a firefighter, all I can say is you were very lucky! The fore mentioned carbon monoxide and obvious fire hazard. Smoke is super heated gases and unturned particles. It could have caused that garage to flashover.

Salmon does look nice! Be careful and don't drop an unthawed turkey in hot grease tomorrow!

[SeaRay]

Guys I hear your concerns about the fire hazard but I am somewhat skeptical. This is a very low wattage electric smoker that had a pan of chips no larger than a handful. I had the garage door open about 2 feet during the first hour or two while the smoker started up, then I closed it to a foot for the rest of the evening. After the initial smoke period this was no more than having a crock pot burner on high at best. I'm having trouble believing it posed a hazard or I would never have done it. I won't do it again because the garage smelled like smoke for 3 or 4 days. I am going to build a cover for the smoker to help hold the heat in and then I can leave it outside.
I take safety pretty seriously and I remember the fellow who started his wife's car for it to warm up and left it running. She died from carbon monoxide poisoning while sleeping in the house. Don't won't to start a debate, I am not doing it again, but this was not an open fire that consumed oxygen or posed a fire hazard. Like I said, the small heating element in the cooker is nowhere near as hot a an electric stove top, it barely gets to 140 degrees in the smoker, so I think I may have misled some of you with how I described it.