[Kevin Andrew Murphy]

Roy,

The Californian in me is aghast. Cooked avocados? It's not done, for the simple reason that it doesn't taste good.

You can have avocados with sugar as a dessert Brazilian-style, made into guacamole, put into a number of dishes (I had mine folded into an omelet this morning) but in any cooked dish, the avocado is put in in such a way to protect it from cooking. I know a very good salmon, cream cheese and jack cheese sandwich that's broiled with the cooked salmon/cream cheese mixture protecting the alfalfa sprouts and avocado underneath, so the top is warm and the center is cool, and the jack is nicely broiled on top, but that's not going to happen with slow smoking.

The nice green sauce you probably had was likely a tomatillo sauce, which is cooked, but then had pureed avocados added as a finishing touch.

[Robert J. Clawson]

What is jack cheese? On a recent fishing trip to New Mexico it was hard to avoid it. I was thinking of imitating it with a fly pattern.

Bob

[Roy Hamilton]

Kevin,

I wish you'd said something earlier because my avocado and sausage stuffed salmon is almost done.

[Roy Hamilton]

[Kevin Andrew Murphy]

Roy--

Well, I have to admit, the pictures look beautiful. Please tell us how the stuffing ended up tasting.

Bob--

Jack cheese, also known as Monterey Jack, is a white cheese common all along the west coast. It's slightly soft and very mild in flavor, and is used for enchiladas, California burgers (a bacon cheeseburger with avocado and this particular cheese, served on sourdough), and various other dishes.

Is it not found on the east coast, or does it have another name there?

You can also get cojack, which is a white and yellow speckled cheese which is half jack, half colby, and is good for nachos, and various jacks with hot peppers or dill already mixed in.

[Michael Cantor]

Roy - Looks good - and elegantly tied! (At least on the top - if the bottom is a maze of gnarly knots, you're in my class, if it's one long piece of string with elegant butcher's loops you're out of my class.)

I have an electric heat element smoker, which uses chunks of well soaked hickory or mesquite to generate the smoke, but don't play with it all that often. What did you use on this? And do you dry smoke, or do you have a pan of water in there for moisture?

[This message has been edited by Michael Cantor (edited September 07, 2008).]

[Roy Hamilton]

It really was good and everyone enjoyed it although I know it was overdone. I've learned to accept that fact of life rather than deal with the complaints, "it's raw!" And the microwave aftermath. C'est la vie. I didn't use too much avocado and it seemed okay to me anyway.

I use a large aluminum prep pan which I love. Each loop was tied individually. I'm not that good and had to keep the handling to a minimum to maintain the stuffing. I use a Traeger pellet dry smoker. The convenience and versatility is awesome! You should taste the brisket, butts and ribs I've done!

[FOsen]

Okay, you redeemed yourself with that beautiful brisket - but, really, what David said about the salmon - maybe a dusting of fresh dill when it comes underdone off the grill, tent it a few minutes, and serve with a dill, caper, sour cream sauce you made the night before.

Frank

[John Beaton]

I'm in the highlands of Scotland and have been fly-fishing for salmon with some success. As for cooking, I've been using a very simple method: poaching. (And I mean the cooking variety.) But any reasonable method works well with good fish.

That's what matters most--the quality of the fish. Here is what I look for.

Wild fish taste much better than farmed ones.

Freshly-caught fish are better eating than previously frozen ones or fish that have been improperly handled and stored.

Small to medium fish are better than large ones (especially with chinook).

Fish that are silver are much better than those that have begun to colour up for spawning.

In Scotland there is no choice of species--the salmon are all Atlantics, which are excellent. In Canada, we can choose from five types, which vary considerably in eating quality. My preferences, in descending order, are: coho, sockeye, chinook, pink, and chum.

John

[Roy Hamilton]

Brisket and ribs are my true favourites, Frank. John, I envy you the fishing. Years ago my wife's aunt used to visit from Nova Scotia. She would often bring a large piece of Atlantic Salmon fresh from the pier. She and my mother in law would poach it and serve it with a white sauce with hard boiled eggs. The fragrance and delicacy were unforgettable.