Color of smoked salmon

[mutts]

Just did some hot smoked salmon in my BS.Color was somewhat grey.... not the golden brown I get in my old chief.
Same brine, ran the 2 side by side and still got the color difference.

I imagine that I am doing something wrong. Taste is fine... just a grey color.
Any ideas???
Thx
Mutts

[Habanero Smoker]

Mutts,
You will need to post more information so that other can give you help. What is the recipe in the brine? What temperature did you smoke at? Are you using the temperature gauge on the door, or do you have a digital thermometer?

[oguard]

Mutts,what kind of salmon are u using and like Habanero said need more info.
Mike

[mutts]

Sorry for not giving the details.....
I used the Bradley hot smoked recipe.I used brown sugar in the brine . Finished at 175 degrees.
I am  using the thermometer that came with the smoker.

My concern is it kinda looks like soot on the filet.
It is farmed Atlantic salmon.

Thx for the responses.
Mutts

[Habanero Smoker]

I have never used that recipe. I've smoked farm raised salmon, and it never turned grey on me. With the experience on this board, I'm sure someone will understand what happened.

[Kummok]

Mutts:

Don't know why the same meat would be different colors between the Bradley and the Little Chief, all other things being the same. I suspect the batch of meat[?] Maybe the fake color injection didn't take in that one batch....[}:)] Well, it IS possible that the artificial coloring might be the culprit in this one batch....take a look at this thread for clues... http://www.bradleysmoker.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=883  It has some discussion about artificial coloring in some farmed salmon.

Has this happened with other batches of salmon? The only grey I've seen on smoked salmon is the "boogers" that form when you cook too fast or high, but the meat still looks right even with the boogers. Here's how the color looks when I pull it outta my Bradleys, although I no longer cut it this way, nor do sprinkle the parsley that appears in this old photo of Silver (Coho) salmon.....about the same color as Atlantic farmed. King smokes a little darker and Red is even a little darker than King.

Hopefully JJC will weigh-in on this for you, since he smokes plastic, er make that farmed salmon...Dang! There I go again [;)][}:)]



Kummok @ Homer, AK USA

[nsxbill]

My last batch of Salmon...courtesty of Costco, came out the same color as yours Kummock.  I bet it didn't taste as good as yours, but it did come out red/pink.  It was my second smoke of salmon, and pre BBQGuru times.  I brined it, washed it off well after 24 hours in the refrigerator.  I dried it outside the refrigerator for an hour with air blowing over the fish and then in for a very slow smoke, me hovering over it to monitor the temp at the door as I gradually moved up in temp.  No boogers.  Nice feel and flavor.

Bill

<i>There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.</i>

[Habanero Smoker]

Kummok,
The article I read stated that all farm raised are gray fleshed and are feed a red dye that is contained in the pellets of food. The different farms can choose the shade of red they want the salmon to take on.

It could be the dye, maybe the BS was smoking at a higher temp. which could have caused the reation.[?][?] The door thermometer on the BS can be inaccurate. That is the only variable I can think of.

[Chez Bubba]

Hey Kummok,

Nice product placement!!!![:D][:D][:D][8D]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Kummok</i>
<br />...since he smokes plastic, er make that farmed salmon...Kummok @ Homer, AK USA<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">Ha, ha, ha![}:)][;)][:D][:D]

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?

[bsolomon]

My first thoughts on this would pertain to the use of the built-in door thermometer.  They have been known to be inaccurate, but even if it is accurate, the placement of that thermometer relative to the fish could be the problem.  Specifically, the built-in thermometer is in the front of the cabinet and relatively high up.  If the fish was on a lower rack, and it wasn't rotated, it would be possible that the fish spent a lot of time at 200+ degrees nearest to the heater.  While I would expect the finished product to be drier than usual, and possibly have the "boogers" that Kummock referred to, I don't understand why any of this would effect the color of the meat.

Since you mentioned "soot" on the fillet, my next question would be how much smoke did you apply?  Most people seem to like 2-3 hours of smoke (hot or cold smoked).  However, hot smoked cooks longer than that 4-8 hours depending on method - did you apply smoke the entire time?  

If the smoking time vs. cooking time appears correct, and you are still getting what appears to be soot, the next item to check would be your vent setting.  If the vent is closed and does not allow the condensation out of the cabinet, it may be forming on the fish and allowing the smoke to make a soot coating that you normally don't get.  I think somewhere aroung 1/2 to 3/4 open would work well for this.

Finally, if everything else looks OK, the last item to consider would be the smoke generator burner.  Have you had this soot problem with anything else you have smoked?  If so, perhaps the burner is too hot and the bisquettes are actually burning in place rather than just smoldering.  A small fire on the burner might do odd things to the product, not to mention being a safety hazzard.

[Kummok]

<i>Originally posted by Chez Bubba</i>
<br />Hey Kummok,

Nice product placement!!!![:D][:D][:D][8D]

Ya caught me CB.....so far, no one has caught the other cheap plug at http://www.bradleysmoker.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1072  [:D][}:)][;)][;)]

Kummok @ Homer, AK USA

[Cold Smoke]

Mutts, I've made a number of batches using that "plastic farm raised" Atlantic salmon always using the world famous Kummok recipe and have yet to get that greyish colour you speak of. Maybe I've just been lucky so far. Perhaps HS and Bsolomon are onto something...Mine end up looking a lot like Kummok's picture- without the moss. Jus' funnin' with you K-[;)][:D] I've stopped using the parsley visual enhancer thing too- looks like there are boogers on the fish after thawing out a batch.

BTW Kummok- just so you know, I have tried to customize a few different versions of your recipe and have recently been told by some of my closest food critics to stop mucking with the original (Kummok's) version and mass produce it- still the best!!

Cold Smoke

[Oldman]

It is a good thing I like mullet and not wild salmon for smoking... Let's see, wild salmon is a dine short of $20 bucks a pound here. All the while if I get 10 pounds or more I pay a whole whopping 99 cent per pound for mullet! If I get off of my lazy butt and grab my cast net it cost me a little sun tan oil.

http://rminor.com

[tsquared]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">have recently been told by some of <b>my closest food critics </b>to stop mucking with the original (Kummok's) version <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
I live with one of those too! She told me the same thing! These damn Alaskans provide such good recipes it doesn't leave a guy any room to play around with them!
Tom

[Kummok]

[:I]You guys are too kind! But <b><font color="red"><font size="3">DO</font id="size3"></font id="red"></b> keep muckin' around with it. I'm still holding out for someone (HabaneroSmoker?) to develop that great tasting HOT version[:p][:p]  Sprinkling cracked pepper during the drying process is OK, but it "don't mean a thing if it ain't got that ZIIIIING"[:D]

35 years of extinguishing smoking stuff and now I'm wondering WHY!
Kummok @ Homer, AK USA