Smoke the salmon and then can it...how long do you smoke, brine?

[Patsplace]

Howdy folks,
I'm going to can up a few fillets of Spring salmon that I have and would like to know how long to smoke it for and do you brine the salmon as usual? Love the Kummoks Brine!!

An Indian guy was telling me that he does his this way and puts a big spoonful of Peanut Oil in the jar before he cans it. Says it makes a great spread in the bottom of the jar.

Pat

[Patsplace]

Was figuring on 12 hrs. in the Kummok Brine, dry to glaze (12-24 hrs. with a fan blowing on it) then 2 hrs. of Alder smoke at 110 degrees F and then into the cans with a table spoonful of Peanut Oil.

Pat

[Smokeville]

My caution on that is your final temperature won't be high enough to kill bacteria. I think it needs to go past 145F. Plus, there is a possibility of botulism in canning (and Vac sealing) unless you heat the can sufficiently to kill the spores. That takes, I think, 225F. Admittedly, this possibility is extremely small. I'd be more concerned with bacteria.

Sorry to post bad news. This comes from having too many conversations with health boards.

Rich

[Slamdunk]

Just curious as to why you are canning it.

Smoked salmon freezes very well and if you put it in freezer bags will last a long time.

[Patsplace]

Pressure canning produces a different product than the smoked product and I'm really curious to try the Peanut oil thing in canned smoked salmon. I've got lots of canned sockeye but wanted to try this version with Spring Salmon.

I will be canning it at 15 lbs. of pressure for 100 minutes which will kill anything that might be living in the smoked product.

Will let you know how it works out. I'm going to do 2 hrs. of Alder at 110 degrees and then into the jars and into the pressure canner.

Pat

[Smokeville]

That sounds good!

I'd love to know how you do it (canning is a mystery to me), and also an idea of what the taste is like when you open the can.

Thanks, Rich

[Smokeville]

The only other thing that comes to mind is that 2hrs of alder is quite light. Does canning intensify the smoke? I usually smoke for at least 4-6 hours.

Lately, I've been trying a number of different woods. I've always used Alder, but also Maple (great!) and recently tried Oak. Very nice. All 3 are different but all are very good.

Regards, Rich

[Patsplace]

Thanks for that Rich,
I think that I'll up the time to 3 hrs. at 110 degrees and then into the pressure canner.

I've been canning salmon for a very long time and about 20 years ago I switched from glass jar canning to canning in tin cans. Cans don't break and when you blow the pressure off they go into ice water and stop cooking right now.  I thought that I'd do these in the glass jars as I want to be able to see the smokey salmon and the blend of Spring oil and Peanut oil in the bottom of the jars. I've always found salmon to look really nice in a glass jar and some of the few times I've seen the smoked and canned stuff it looked outstanding. I'll post some pictures when they're done.

Canning is pretty straight forward. Gut, scale, head, tail and fin the fish. Cut into pieces that fit the canning jars or tin cans (I have s wooden block with slots. I shove the fish in until it comes up against the end and cut the fish using the slots as a knife guide and then I have uniform pieces for the tin cans.

Once they're in the cans or jars, they go into a Pressure Canner (boiling water won't do the trick, it's got to be hotter than 212.) Pressure allows for 235 degrees for 100 minutes and with tin, they go into the ice water. With glass, they have to cool gradually or the glass breaks. Safest way to deal with canning is to pressure can everything as 212 is a nice warm bath for the critters that can kill you and they're in most everything and just need a moist, low oxygen or partial vacuum place to breed like mad..

For the glass jars I took one filet off of about a 35 lb. Spring salmon that I had vacuum packed, split it down the length of the fillet (4" thick at the thickest) and then cut the pieces steak like at 5/8 to 3/4" (still really cold and cut like sushi), then into the Kummok Brine and now they're on the Jerkey Racks in the OBS with a fan blowing on them. Will turn the smoker on early tomorrow morning and have them canned by the afternoon.

Right up there with buying a Harley last year, is buying a Bradley this year and what made it was this site. Darn is it ever nice to have access to all of the info. that's on here. Died and gone to heaven I have!!!
 

[Kummok]

Don't know how you are with spices, Pat but don't be afraid to put some in with the salmon before sealing...I've had some great stuff with jalapenos and some with sesame oil...seems like throwing in some good greek olives might kick it up a bit too...hmmmmm, chili?!?!?

[aces-n-eights]

Hey Pat, sounds like you got a good plan going.  I, also, have canned a lot of sockeye - not as much as you, but quite a bit over the past few years.  I've never tried canning smoked salmon, but what i've heard, and read about, is that if you can 100% smoked salmon, the flavor becomes too intense.  I don't really know how that works, but the smoke is too strong. The recommended solution is to add approx 25% smoked to each can of raw salmon.  The smoked portion will flavor the rest of the fish.

Again, i have not experimented with this personally, but it may be worth a try to do a couple of cans/jars with different ratios of smoked to raw.

I'm really looking forward to your results - especially the peanut oil addition.

[Smokeville]

If you are at 235F you are quite safe.

Experimentation is fun. Try to keep a record so you know what works and what doesn't. That is advice I don't follow but really wish I did!

[Patsplace]

Here's what they look like, haven't opened one yet.http://s962.photobucket.com/albums/ae107/Patsplace_photos/?action=view&current=IMG_0026.jpg

[Patsplace]

Opened my first jar of salmon that had been smoked and had peanut oil added prior to the canning procedure. It's great!!! Exactly what I had hoped to achieve. Smoked and canned salmon. Cool!!!!!

[Patsplace]

Rich asked that I post a step by step of the route to this gourmet delight. Here it is:

For the glass jars I took one filet off of about a 30 lb. Spring (King in American) salmon that I had vacuum packed, split it down the length of the fillet (4" thick at the thickest) and then cut the pieces steak like at 5/8 to 3/4" (still really cold and cut like sushi), then into the Kummok Brine (that I made using Hys Teriyaki sauce in a half recipe with full garlic and cayenne) and now on to the Jerkey Racks in the OBS with a fan blowing on them for about 12-14 hrs. 

I smoked them for 2 hrs. and 40 minutes at 100 degrees using Alder. I'm not sure that finishing them at a hour at 140 wouldn't be a good thing as they were difficult to handle after the smoking. They were not cooked and they were not raw and as a result were crumbly.

I put them in salmon canning jars, filling them quite full and then added a table spoon of Peanut Oil, Planters to be specific. They were canned in a pressure canner for 100 minutes at 15 lbs. of pressure, allowed to cool to reduce the pressure and then set on a wood cutting board. Apparently setting them on a cold surface could crack the glass. I tightened the rings at this point and they have all sealed.

It's the best canned salmon that I have ever eaten and I've been canning salmon for 40 years. Thanks Kummok and Bradley!!!

Pat

[OU812]

Sounds good.

Did you add any liquid to the jars other than 1 Tbl peanut oil?