Salmon Brine

[Scotty Dog]

My first stab at smoked salmon.  To start with I started with a very small batch of salmon.  When making my brine I used 25% of my water to heat and dissolve the sugar and salt.  The following twist to the famous brine for three pounds of salmon is the following:  4 cups hot water on low heat.  Stir in 1/2 cup kosher salt, 1.5 cups dark brown sugar, 1 Tbsp garlic powder, 2 Tbsp cayenne pepper, and one bottle of SV Very Teriyaki.  I mixed this on low heat until completely dissolved. I switched out the cooking pot to a chilled stainless pot and added 8 cups of ice.  The brine was ice cold and I added the fish for 12 hours.  I pulled the fish and have them drying under a low fan for 24 hours.  I did not rinse the fish from the brine.  I added some cracked pepper to several pieces and waiting for the air to do its magic.  Used the spare room for drying the fish at a cool temp of 50 deg.  The house smells great with a sweet smell of pineapple and spice.  Did I miss anything?  Looking forward to the smoke on Tuesday.  Very small batch but better safe than sorry.

[Keymaster]

Ummm, looks killer good to me !!! I would of threw that pepper through the back side of the fan for even distribution ;)

[Rainmaker]

LOL, I just had an imagine of throwing a handful of pepper into the back of a fan

[Scotty Dog]

I just Vac Sealed the fish tonight after a day in zip bags in the fridge.  Looks good and taste good.  This will be for some small Christmas gifts.  Do I keep it in the refrigerator till Sunday or in the freezer for the next two days and pull it?  My guess is refrigerator and tell recipient to freeze if they choose to do so. I don't think a freeze thaw and freeze would be good for it.