Bradley Smoked Wild Alaskan Salmon

[Habanero Smoker]

I have use Kummock recipe with Atlantic salmon without skin and it works just as well. I followed the recipe, have placed them on the regular racks that came with the smoker and they held together. Remove the salmon from the racks while they are still warm. The racks are not stainless steel, they are some type of chrome plated metal, in the future you may want to consider fogmats, that can be purchased from Yard & Pool. Cedar planks will not provide any additional flavor is you plan on using the planks in the Bradley. They will not get hot enough for the planks to smoke. If you are using the planks over a grill that will work.

I generally will not smoke salmon and something else at the same time. Kummok's salmon, and your picnic and ribs require different cooking methods, and wood flavors. Loading your smoker will also increase the time it will take to recover and it will take more then 3.5 hours to finish your salmon. This may keep your picnic and BB ribs in the danger zone for too long. Although smoke has some antimicrobial properties, you may be looking at a lengthy time. In addition, cooking that low for too long my dry out your ribs.

I would cook/smoke seperately. If you cook all together, I would use 225°F - 250°F, but your salmon will have a different texture, and may fall apart.

[smokinvalley]

Thanks for the advise habanero. That's why i also listed my plans of the additional pork, to get some feedback. I appreciate the advise and I'll heed it. I also had two Pheasant breasts that i was going to smoke at the same time and i think i'll still do them as they're small and should take about the same time as the salmon to smoke. I plan on wrapping the pheasant breasts in bacon to keep them from drying out.

Cool tip on the frogmats. looks like a good web site, i can also pick up a couple bubba pucks to stop half burning some pucks.

[balboa]

Hi Everyone ;D

Just got a Bradley yesterday! After a few years of using that "other" kind lol- with great success I might add- I'm moving on up ;D
Thanks to this forum I have a little better understanding on how variating temperatures works. Got my salmon in my brine last night and looking forward to using it later today.

[devo]

Hi Everyone ;D

Just got a Bradley yesterday! After a few years of using that "other" kind lol- with great success I might add- I'm moving on up ;D
Thanks to this forum I have a little better understanding on how variating temperatures works. Got my salmon in my brine last night and looking forward to using it later today.

Hi balboa and welcome to the forum

I have used this recipe several times with great success. I think you will like the way it turns out and it's pretty hard to screw it up. Remember we like pictures so get that camera out and post away

[albertapoacher]

Welcome Balboa!

Yup you will enjoy that recipe, and as he stated dont be shy to experiment with it. I change out the water for a bottle of white wine, and it adds a nice flavour to the salmon. Some guys add JD or dark rum. Mind you be careful or you will soon be spending 60$ per brine before you know it haha.

And as Devo said, pics are great!

[ebohatch]

Ok all you experts please tell me how to keep the salmon from sticking to the racks. I just finished an 8 hr smoke and they came out great but I had to scrape them off the racks.

Also I used Kummok's brine and it seemed to be too sweet (and I have a terrible sweet tooth), any suggestions.
Thanks in advance.

[Quarlow]

You can adjust the sweetness to your taste. Just use less sugar. As for the sticking problem, well it is tricky. I spray my racks with Pam but they still stick some. I flip the racks over and just ease the skin loose from the racks with my finger nail. You can get some frog mats from Yard and Pool. They work great from what everyone says. I will get be getting some soon myself.

[mgourley]

Tried this for the first time today. With an Auber PID and OBS in ambient I could not get lower than 135 and I was not going to bother with ice or breaking out the home made cold smoke rig. Cut about an hour or so off of the mid temp smoke time and I think the finished product is fantastic.  I'll vac pac it and sample again in a few days. All apple smoke for the first hour then one puck of hickory then another 40 minutes of apple.

[Captainkirk]

Can you reuse your brine ? If s just add more salt.  How soon after your done your smoke salmon can you vac PAC for maximum flavor ?

[Habanero Smoker]

It is not safe to reuse the brine. The recipe as written will brine at least 16 pounds of salmon. If you don't need that much brine you can alway halve or quarter the recipe etc.

[Kummok]

Can you reuse your brine ? If s just add more salt.  How soon after your done your smoke salmon can you vac PAC for maximum flavor ?

Hab hit the "re-use" nail on the head, Captain Kirk.....as far as the "How soon after...." question, the sooner the better. Be certain to try it fresh outta the smoker before vac sealing so you can see if you prefer it fresh smoked or vac sealed...it's a matter of taste and both ways are great but I personally prefer the vac sealed and frozen step before indulging.....

[Hackk]

Well, first attempt at smoking fish, and it was a complete FAILURE! I decided to use Kummoks recipe so that I can have a successful middle ground to work with (If I didnt like something I can change it next time). My salmon became dried out, pasty meat bricks. I used copper river, and monkfish, about 5 pounds worth, cut to spec, marinated to spec, and temps (see below) to spec. The only thing I did was put my times directly in the center of what was suggested. Since I didnt know how oily this was compared to others, I opted for the middle ground. If it says 1-2 hours at 100*, I did it for 1 1/2 hours etc for all the times...

Well, it came out terribly. Even at the 100* step I was getting white fat, so I dont know how this could be low enough. So I lowered the heat of the next two stages down 10*.

This is before the cooking began...



after

[Habanero Smoker]

Sorry to hear that your smoke/cook did not go well.

The type of fish may have something to do with your outcome, I'm not familiar with all species of salmon. I see you have at least two temperature probe wires, but I can't see where the probes are actually placed. To me it appears that at least one in monitoring the IT and the other the cabinet temperature. If one or more are monitoring the cabinet temperature, the placement of the probe looks too close to the fish. Place the probe below the bottom rack. If you have to place the probe on the rack with the fish or meat make sure the tip of the probe is at least 3 inches from the meat.

If the probe is too close to the fish it will register a lower temperature then the actual cabinet temperature. The lowering of the temperature close to the surface of the meat is due to moisture evaporation from the fish while it is cooking. For large cuts of meat this could mean a difference of up to 40°F at the beginning of the cook time, of course for salmon the difference will be much less.

[Hackk]

you know Habanero, you may have just hit the nail on the head! That makes perfect sense as to why the heat was too great. That didnt even register in my head. Thank you, and Im glad I posted a picture

[century]

You da man Kummok.
My first attempt turned out amazing !

Dried and ready for the smoker.



All done.