Bradley Smoked Wild Alaskan Salmon

[rveal23]

Thanx tskeeter

[brucep]

I have used your recipe and have found the salmon to be bitter. I think this is because I am allowing it to smoke too long but am not sure about this. Do you shut the smoke down after awhile and only use heat?

[Quarlow]

brucep do you have your vent open. You need the smoke to flow thru real well. I open mine wide and smoke the whole time but you can cut off the smoke at any point you feel and then see how it comes out.

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi brucep;

Welcome to the forum.

Smoke taste is subjective. I use 1:40 - 2:00 hours of smoke; and generally will use maple or apple on salmon.

Bitterness can also be caused by the surface being too moist during the smoke application; allowing too much smoke to penetrate and adhere. Make sure you air dry the fish, until the surface is tacky.

[mahto]

thanks gotta try this bummer its store bought here in So Cal

[pondee]

I would wrap in plastic wrap first then into the zip lock. If you are storing more then 30 days, I would add a layer of aluminum foil over the plastic wrap before placing in it the freezer.

And the best way of reheating/warming up/reserving is. please?

[Kummok]

Depends...if you want to eat soon, let it sit on the counter for about an hour...if you want it later in the day, let it sit in the reefer in the morning and it's ready by afternoon. I don't recommend "heating" or "warming" but that's just my own personal taste.  Also, these suggestions assume the sizes I make, not a whole filleted slab (1/2 of a salmon)...simply put, thicker takes longer and, in that case, I would thaw overnight in reefer.

For those that don't own a vac sealer, it's highly recommended for longer storage. However, for shorter storage times, e.g. a month, try the 'poorman's Foodsaver' and get the Ziplocks with the little hand vac pump....OR, just put your salmon in a Ziplock, seal all but the last inch and suck the air down with lung power....I've do the latter method many times while out and away from electricity....

[adklassen]

Hey guys kinda new to smoking, followed kummok's salmon recipe and it turned out great. Had a bit of trouble keeping the temp down to 100-120 but I just picked up a smoke generator extension from Costco and am going to see how that works out. Its supposed to let the smoke cool before it gets to the smoker. Going to smoke 15 lbs of salmon Saturday.....

[pikeman_95]

Well guys my grand daughter is coming for Thanksgiving and her and our favorite dish is Kummok's  recipe. We did four slabs.
Here is the fish just out of the brine.



Now on the frog mats with a little pam on them to keep things from sticking. They just slide off.



after one hour of very low heat and 3 fans running in the smoker we have a nice pellicle and ready for the smoke.



Now we roll the smoke for about 4 hours while slowly heating up the smoker. If you give it enough dry time before it gets too hot then you have fewer boogers.
when I say roll the smoke my smoke generator can put out when I ask it to.



Now after reaching full temp for about 1 hour it comes out to cool on the counter.





All I can say is this is the best of all recipe I have ever had for salmon. Now to crumble a few chunks of this on the top of a Cesar salad and you have a great meal. Thanks again Kummok
Kirby

[Saber 4]

Great looking salmon.

[iceman]

Fantastic looking salmon! Good job!

[STLstyle]

That looks awesome!  I new to try that one even though I don't know what "boogers" means. Doesn't seem I would want any though... ;)

[iceman]

That looks awesome!  I new to try that one even though I don't know what "boogers" means. Doesn't seem I would want any though... ;)

I think by "boogers" pike man means the white fat curds that form on the fish if you heat it up to fast.
They also refer to it as "atomic waste".  ;D

[tyweb69]

I just tried smoking salmon for the first time this weekend (newbie only my 6th smoke) and I have to say it was a pretty good effort.  I did not use Kummok's brine due to timing restraints but definitely plan to next time.  However I did smoke using his technique.  I had 2.3 lb fillet w/ skin that I cut into 1"+ wide pcs.  I used a brine of water, canning salt, brown sugar and soy.  I brined for 3 hours then rinse, pat dry and apply a rub of course pepper, brown sugar and (very little) garlic powder and let dry in the fridge for 12-14 hours (don't exactly remember how long).  The salmon was tacky to the touch when it was go time.  I put in the OBS (w/ auber) for a total of 7 hours using 3 hrs of alder (started smoking at 0 hr).  I cooked as follows per hour:
100
110
140
140
148
148
175
IT was 145 when I took it out.  Honestly I was very pleased with the outcome.  Dry on the outside but still moist on the inside.  It was a little salty but not too bad and a lot of you have said that is normal.
I have a couple of questions that have come up from reading this post. 
1) For the cooking temperature Kummok's recipe says 1-2 hours or 2-4 hours for this or that.  At what point do you turn it up?  at a certain IT? 
2) kind of related to 1.  I have read that some of you cook it in about 4 hours, how so?  Not that I care how long it takes but is 4-5 hours better than 7-8?
3) What should the IT be when you take it out?  I did 145 but I was reading where others said 160+ and also for a certain amount of time.  Can anyone elaborate on that?
As always thank you in advance for any advise you might be able to give. 

[Kummok]

Camai from Alaska, Tyweb69!
Congrats! Sounds like a tasty outcome was achieved...encouraging for your first time outta the chute, isn't it! The "little salty" likely comes from using the salt AND soy...you might try using a little less of each if you are using both, but it is indeed a matter of personal taste.

Recognizing that everyone's taste is unique, I'll attempt to answer your questions:
1- I use a timer if I'm going to be distracted by other projects while smoking, other wise I use the times as guidelines to slowly increase the temp setting, spread out over 3.5-4 hours so I get a gradual rise to finish temp (now my taste prefers 165°F)
2- Less time generally equals moister, more tender meat...as mentioned above, I'm down to 3.5-4 hours total time now. 7-8 hours would render my fish pretty hard/dry
3- I don't use IT for my salmon but the 160+ is for bacteria control. A friend of mine hardly ever gets past 140s with his and it hasn't killed him yet....we are in a blessed situation though, to get fresh salmon, treat it right, and smoke it right away..might have an advantage there.

A note about my answers: In other pics on this thread, I've included those that show the size of cuts to which I've "evolved"...they are bite size, hence no place to take an IT. This size is more flavorful for my own tastes and easier for packaging, eating, and gifting but it's considerably more labor intensive and not for everyone. Also, salmon is VERY forgiving so, unless you are smoking commercially where detailed routine records are a must, use the recipe/smoke schedule as a guideline, launch from there, experiment and take notes so that you can more easily reproduce what really works for you/friends/family as you arrive at your own epic smoked salmon taste/texture explosion!