First Salmon Smoke

[Caribou]

Hi Guys!
Our friend has been visiting us this week and he is a new Bradley owner.  :)
Thinking that I know what I'm doing (  :D :D :D ), he wanted to learn to smoke salmon.
I have never smoked salmon before but what a great oppurtunity to try it out with a fellow Bradley Buddy!

We basically followed Kummock's method but we modified the brine a little.
For our 5 pounds of salmon we used this:

Brine
1 quart water
1 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup pickling salt
1/2 pound of brown sugar
2 TBS pickling spice

The fillets were 1" thick.
 
We marinaded this in the fridge for 8 hours turning about every two hours.

It looks nice sitting there in the pyrex pan but I ending up putting it in a 2 gallon ziploc bag when I saw how full the pan got.

After marinading, we reaching the glazing stage.  The salmon pieces were placed on smoking racks and placed in the fridge for 15 hours.
I didn't know what exactly they should look like when the pellicle was formed but now I understand  :)  They came out very glossy but not wet just sticky to the touch.

We smoked them using 2 1/2 hours of alder.

2 hours at 100F
3 hours at 140F
1 hour at 175F


They came out fantastic!  :)  We used both sockeye and coho salmon.  The sockeye's were richer because of their higher oil content but they were both delicious.
Carolyn

[Tenpoint5]

Well Done Carolyn!!! I am willing to bet you have made Kummok Proud with your rendition of his recipe!!!

[aces-n-eights]

Nicely done!  Looks great!

[ArnieM]

That looks beautiful Carolyn!  Now you're an expert  :D

The problem with all of this is the time involved; marinate, dry, smoke.  I'm impatient.  I like to buy, cook and eat.  ;D

I did Steelhead on the grill last night.  That's officially a salmon but first cousin to a rainbow trout.  The fillets are pretty thin.  There was one piece left over.  Unfortunately my wife got up before me this morning and it was gone.

This week's sale price of 6.99/lb seems pretty good.  I'll probably pick up a couple of fillets for smoking and give it a shot.

Thanks for your inspirational thread.  :-*

[KyNola]

Beautiful results Carolyn!

Arnie,
The Kroger's grocery in my neighborhood gets in whole sockeye fillets that are cryovac frozen.  I have been buying those, thawing, sprinkle on some of Treager's Salmon Shake and on to the Traeger at 225 for about 45 minutes.  No brining, no glazing, just thaw sprinkle and on to the Traeger.  They turn out great with absolutely zero effort.  At 225 the Traeger is still rolling a lot of smoke.

My wife barely lets me in the door before she is all over those Traegerized fillets.  Just another good reason to get a Traeger to compliment your Bradley.

KyNola

[OU812]

Nice job with the salmon Carolyn.

The pellicle looks perfect.

Your smoker must have ate one of the pieces, 20 to start 19 at the end.  ;D

[NePaSmoKer]

Very nice Carolyn

Welcome to the salmon club.

So There

nepas

[Quarlow]

Hit that one right out of the park girl. Good job. Wait till you put that out at a party if it lasts long enough.

[classicrockgriller]

Nice job with the salmon Carolyn.

The pellicle looks perfect.

Your smoker must have ate one of the pieces, 20 to start 19 at the end.  ;D

We know who got that one that is missing, her little girl did it. ;D ;D

Carolyn, you are a great student and learn well. Looks fantastic and I really don't like fish.

[Caribou]

Thanks guys!
I can't get anything past you all  :D
My friend and I sampled one right away, we were so excited!
It was so gratifying to make something that you pay so much money for at the the store.
I am hooked!!!

I usually give a lot home canned stuff away for Christmas gifts but I might be making some smoked salmon for gifts this year.
Has any one shipped smoked salmon?  Would I have to add cure to the marinade to ship it safely?
Carolyn

[aces-n-eights]

You won't have any problems shipping smoked salmon - we do it all the time.  I vac-pack it, freeze it and send it with a couple of the small freezer packs.  Because the salmon is cooked it really doesn't need to stay frozen as long as it is vac-sealed.  I use those flat rate boxes from the Post Office and they get from Alaska to the Lesser 48 in 2-3 days.  Haven't killed anyone yet!   :o

[muzzletim]

It looks spectacular, good job! Rhanks for sharing the pictures with us!

Tim

[ArnieM]

Beautiful results Carolyn!

Arnie,
The Kroger's grocery in my neighborhood gets in whole sockeye fillets that are cryovac frozen.  I have been buying those, thawing, sprinkle on some of Treager's Salmon Shake and on to the Traeger at 225 for about 45 minutes.  No brining, no glazing, just thaw sprinkle and on to the Traeger.  They turn out great with absolutely zero effort.  At 225 the Traeger is still rolling a lot of smoke.

My wife barely lets me in the door before she is all over those Traegerized fillets.  Just another good reason to get a Traeger to compliment your Bradley.

KyNola

Thanks for the encouragement on the Traeger Ky.  :)  If it works well at 225 on the Traeger, won't it come out the same on the Bradley at 225?  I guess I'm missing something.

[Hopefull Romantic]

Great job Carolyn and as Nepas said, welcome to the salmon club

HR

[KyNola]

Arnie,
You're absolutely correct about it working in the Bradley at 225 degrees.

KyNola