I’m a native Californian and living in Walnut Creek, California
Newb when it comes to meat processing - done some really dried out jerky on my pellet smoker. Mainly smoke meats - brisket, pork, chicken, turkey, etc. Done some goose before as well.
No favorites to speak of. I do enjoy a nice piece of jerky and smoked fish.
I use a REC TEC Smoker and have a La Caja China, NG Grill, and a Weber kettle.
Also, I have two Anova Sous Vide devices original BT and the next-gen BT/WiFi

AdamCA Mayo is a neutral tasting way to put a thin layer of oil to improve the seer. Works great on meat and fish and you can flavor it w/ seasoning as well. Sorta like people use mustard on pork when they smoke…

Joe Hell the La Caja China Box is great for roasting a split pig. I can do a 60lb net weight pig in about four hours. More expensive / larger models can accommodate bigger pigs.

I don’t use it for much else, but you can cook most anything inside it. It acts like a big oven, heated from above. Also you can grill over the charcoal briquettes with a spit or grate.

I’ve done four pigs so far. They’ve all turned out great.

Unless it says wild, all the salmon is pen raised in the ocean. The Norwegian salmon and steelhead at Costco is quite good. I’m told that Norway’s practices are cleaner than Chile. Perhaps experiment with different fish and / or a longer brine?