SAlmon - When is it done

[DADAKOTA]

DO you look for a certain IT when smoking salmon?  If not, how do you know when it is done?

[Habanero Smoker]

It depends on what texture I want, and what brine I am using. For Kummok's recipe I go by firmness, and how it flakes. If I am planning to serve salmon for the main entree, I use a different brine or no brine at all, and bring the internal temperature to 140°F, or sometimes I will continue until the salmon flakes easily with a fork.

[OU812]

What Hab said.  ;D

How did your salmon turn out?

[DADAKOTA]

I wasn't thrilled with it.  Tastes good, but not real moist.  I left it in way too long.  It was welded to the frog mats so when I tried to take the pieces of the mat the hide stayed glued to the mat and most pieces broke up.  I'll be doing things a little different next time.  Kind of a pain to play with the low temps/time with no PID.

[Kummok]

Dadakota and I have been corresponding via PM. Anyone reading this thread would miss that exchange so I'll post condensed advice herein.

Pellicle (drying) stage with fans overnight is good....same thing for one hour, not so much and causes the "gluing-to-mat-syndrome" GTMS?!?

Smoking for no more than 4 hours is good....same thing for 8 hours, not so much and causes "cottonmouth-salmon-syndrome" CSS?!?

I've made these mistakes (and worse!) but the salmon has always been very forgiving and the result was always at least "tasty" even when dry-to-crispy....following the basic recipe/method outlined in the http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=107.0 posting will give you a good place to start and then evolve to your own tastes from there. That posting was the result of what I'd call 'The Catastrophic Theory of Reform' AND the help/advice of research and good friends. Trust me....mistakes WILL be made, but with salmon, the result is still good....