Salmon brine times, smoke times

[oopseadaisy]

Hi, I'm a new member with a new Bradley 4 rack and Auber PID.  I had a home built smoker before but it was very labor intensive to maintain temp, etc.  Results so far with the Bradley have been mixed as I'm just getting experience with various cuts of meat, cheese, etc.  Immediate subject is salmon since I want to learn to do fish.  Lots of good advice on here, but...   While the brine recipes I expect would vary widely, so do the brine times, pellicle forming times, and even the smoking times range from 2 hours to 12 or more.  I'm now more confused.
a. should brining be done in the refrigerator?
b. should the salmon be refrigerated during the pellicle forming process? (it's summer and I'm concerned about leaving it uncooled for too long.
c. The Auber instructions show a "stepped" time and temp chart over 4-5 hours, what do others think about this method?
Sorry to be long, but I'm eager to try out the fish, it already looks like I have to start today in order to have fish tomorrow.
Thanks so much.
T

[Kummok]

Welcome Oppseadaisy!
Salmon smoking can seem "mysterious" indeed...lots of choices/opinions on how to smoke salmon...mostly because taste is personal and how to arrive at your taste destination is a journey to Nirvana that can take many roads....resources and local climate can also add many twists to your own "formula for success".

My own tastes are reflected in the recipe I've posted at: http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=107.0  It was posted as a simple place to start, get some great "1st time" smoked salmon and launch off on your own from there. One thing I can tell you from experience is that all the experiments WILL be tasty when using good salmon to start....I've made lots of tasty mistakes!  :D

To answer your questions, based upon my own tastes:
a. Not required to brine in reefer. The intent is to keep your salmon cold will "applying" the brine. It is still considered "un-preserved" until the brining is completed so you want to prevent "breaking down" of the meat....cold temps simply stabilize the meat better. Sooooo, while not necessary to brine in reefer, you DO want to keep it cold....I use ice in the brine and brine in an ice chest....then again, I live in a marine influenced part of Alaska where outdoor temps are similar to inside your reefer.

b. See "a" above regarding keeping cool. You've cured the meat by the time you get to pellicling stage so cool is less critical but still better to stabilize breakdown process. Meat size, temps, humidity, air movement, etc are all dynamic and play distinctive roles in determining your actual brining time. Alaska is pretty ideal for all those things working together.  ;)  I'll defer to those that pellicle in hot/humid areas for further advice...best advice I can give is, at normal indoor temps, use fan and watch closely for barely tacky feel and slightly opaque look.

c. Auber simply "formalized" a normal process that many of us have used for years for ramping up smoking temps....their instructions offer a great way to bring temps up evenly rather than blasting the meat with heat right out of the chute.

In summary, salmon is forgiving and my best advice to you is to just pick a method that sounds good to you and launch.....I believe that you will be very pleasantly surprised with your results!

[RAF128]

I'm going to do some Salmon real soon.  Got a flyer in the mail yesterday and Sobey's has wild pink salmon for $1.99/lb.    Going this afternoon to get a few.

[RAF128]

I guess I should have read the flyer :-\.   Got to Sobeys and all I could find was wild pink salmon fillets @$1.49/100 grams (that works out to $6.76/lb.).    Seems the sale starts tomorrow :-[.   
On a side note.   I didn't get away empty handed.    Picked up a package, 1 ½ lb of snow crab legs and some sushi for a snack ;).

[oopseadaisy]

Thanks so much for the comprehensive response, very much appreciated.  I brined the salmon overnite and now it is in a cool corner of the barn with a fan blowing.  Hopefully it will be in the smoker this afternoon for tonite's meal.  We can't wait and I hope you're right about "tasty mistakes" because some of my mistakes have been anything but.

I'll report back after my virgin salmon experience.
thanks again.
jack