i totally screwed up and thought i was supposed to leave the salmon in the brine for 3 days, but it was just 12 hours. it's been in there for about 48 hours. is it going to be totally messed up? i'm going to take it out right now and soak it in water.
panicked too soon. i think all is ok. i pan fried up a little piece, and it was more salty than usual for sure, but not too bad. will update after i smoke it tomorrow.
I was just going to suggest pan frying a piece. Also to cut down on the salt taste, if you coat the salmon with maple syrup, or honey after the pellicle forms or after you apply the smoke, the sweetness will further mask the salt taste when it is eaten.
I'll second what Habs says....the combination of too much salt and too much sweetness makes for too much Nirvana.....kinda like too many boats/guns/motorcycles/planes/ATVs/etc.....a good place to be!
I agree with Hab's. I often will spread brown sugar on the fish once the smoke is done. Then it will melt and absorb in and you get some real nice sweetness to go with the salt. I have also taken maple syrup and boiled in down till it is fairly thick and spread that on. And if it is salty, Well you know what that means, MORE BEER to wash it down. :D :D :D
I've only done salmon a couple times and despite being a little too salty (my opinion) just about everybody that tried said they liked the salty-ness. Good luck
I'm sure it'll come out good HCAO. Let us know.
I did some king salmon for dinner last night, 1.35 pounds. It was raining so no smoking. I used this recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/eating-well/honey-soy-broiled-salmon-recipe/index.html
I left the skin on. I'm sure it can (and likely will) be adapted for some smoke prior to broiling. It was absolutely great (my opinion).
It's in the OBS right now! Had to wait a while for the pellicle to form. I brushed it with some maple before putting it in. Can't wait...smells great! Will update later today.
Don't be afraid to brush somemore syrup on in awhile.
Promised some pics, so here goes. it turned out GREAT! You almost can't mess this stuff up. It's actually steelhead, not salmon. Looks very similar though, but it's a little fattier than the atlantic farmed salmon.
(http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee10/hvcao/steelhead.jpg)
As long as you don't dry it right out, someone will always eat it. If you make it too salty someone will eat it. If you make it too dry it ends up like sawdust and no one will eat it. Nice job on your first salmon smoke HCAO.
Looks good, I would eat it. :D
Keep at it, it only gets better.
Ross
Looks WAAAAY better than the steelhead I used to catch on the Klamath (couldn't eat that stuff....tasted like duck poop :P )