Hello from Scotland

[SamSpaniel]

I have graduated over a couple of years from a small box smoker to a Bradley digital 6 rack smoker.

I mainly hot smoke salmon but with the Bradley I am struggling to stop white 'stuff' oozing out the salmon fillets.

I brine the fish for a couple of hours in a 4:1 salt sugar mix with added juniper, peppercorns and a bay leave.

I then let the fish dry in a fan oven (with no heat) for 3-4 hours.

I set the Bradley to the lowest oven temperature it will go to (55c or 120f) for 2-3 hours by which time the fish is nicely cooked and still moist but the white ooze takes from the appearance.

Any advice about using the Bradley and tips will be very much appreciated this side of the pond

Cheers
Alastair

[tskeeter]

Welcome to the forums, Alastair.

Have you had this issue with other types of smokers?  The reason I ask is that the process you are using sounds on target.  The only thing that I can think of to try is to let your salmon dry longer before you smoke it.  When I asked a similar question, seems like the fish smoking experts told me about eight hours in the fridge uncovered would reduce the white ooz (fondly referred to here as "boogers").

While a person can always blot the boogers away while they are quite liquid, what I took from the advice of the experts is that boogers are mostly the result of  two conditions.  Not letting the surface of the fish dry well enough.  Or too high a temperature, especially early in the smoke.  Or a combination of the two.

If letting the surface of the fish dry longer doesn't resolve the issue, I wonder if using sort of a cold smoke approach for a couple of hours would work?  This would reduce the temperature in the smoker.  Either use a cold smoking attachment to remove some of the heat from the smoke generator from the cabinet (you can easily make your own cold smoke attachment), or simply crack the door of the smoker to allow cool air to be drawn into the cabinet.

[waycoolcat]

Hello Alastair and welcome to the forum! I've done several hot smokes and even hotter grilling of salmon and to one degree or the other I get the white splotches. I've even brined, as you said you did, and thats supposed to help.

I have also purchased the Bradley Cold Smoke Adapter and cold smoked salmon without any white splotches. So, IMHO, I think cold smoking is the best way to avoid it. However, you get two different products in texture; cold smoking is smooth and silky and hot smoking is flakey.

[beefmann]

welcome aboard

[NorthShoreMN]

Welcome from N E Minnesota.  What part of your beautiful Country are you from?

[SamSpaniel]

Thanks for the help

I think the answer is in the drying..... Latest batch was in fridge overnight before smoking and while there was still a little ooze it was nowhere near as bad.

I suppose the other issue may be the quality of the fish...... Supermarket as opposed to from a fishmonger.......

To whoever asked..... I am in Edinburgh

[pensrock]

Yep it needs to dry for a while. I normally let mine dry over night till it is dry and slightly tacky to the touch. Welcome from Pa.  :)