Hi all,
Going to do some atlantic salmon this weekend but if I am going to hot smoke and then eat the salmon righ away that night, do I need to brine it with the salt/brn sugar solution for 14 hrs? Or can I just put it in, hot smoke and eat? Also, would love to know how to use maple syurp with the salmon if anyone has does this. Thanks.
Jason.
You don't have to brine when hot smoking salmon, but it has a tendency to become dry if you do not brine.
Jason, I asked this same question a while back. The first salmon I did was Kummock's recipe with the brine, but I only used about 1/4 of the brown sugar that was called for in the brine because I did not want any sweet taste at all. Because of that, or either I didn't rinse the brine off long enough, my salmon was way too salty. I was told by those who know that the brine is more for taste and moistness, and not for preservation. The last 2 batches I did were slightly dry rubbed with salt, pepper, and lemon pepper and then basted while cooking a few times with a butter, onion powder, and garlic powder baste. Moist and delicious, and my preferrred way to do a small batch of salmon that will be eaten in 24-36 hours. According to my notes, I cooked @ 120 for 1-1/2 hours, then raised temp to 160 until done, with 2 hours of smoke.
If you have some time to brine or marinate overnight, here's a good Asian style recipe I love to use for salmon:
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=5848.0 (http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=5848.0)
-Brian