Salmon jerky first try questions

[fjp110]

I am cashing in my cabelas gift cards and credit card points tonight and buying an open country 1000watt stacking tray dehydrator. 
My plan is:
take some salmon fillets, freeze it for a few hours
remove the skin
cut it short ways (the opposite of the way you would fillet it)
sit it over night in a commercial liquid brine
dry it off and allow it to get that ''skin'' everyone talks about
then smoke it in the OBS low heat cherry or apple wood
then dehydrate it for hours and hours
lastly enjoy!

my questions are how long to smoke? what temp is right?  then lastly  how do I keep it from sticking to the plastic dehydrator trays?

[JZ]

I can't help with the first set of questions.

Use a vegetable spray on the racks before you put the fish on them. Some of the fish will still stick though but it will make it a lot better.

I am sure others will be along to help shortly and be sure to let us know how it works out.

Enjoy your new dehydrator.

[fjp110]

thank you for the help you could give.  the dehydrator came with a sheet of some kind for sticky things,  I am going to try that and see if it makes it better. 

[JZ]

The wife and I did some Salmon candy about 8 to 10 years ago. We cut the salmon the same way you are talking about and marinated the strips in a simple brine that consisted of brown sugar, soya sauce and liquid smoke. Then we put it into our dehydrator which has no temp control and the stuff turned out great. I think we only marinated the fish for about an hr - they were only about 1/4" thick and then placed them on the oiled racks. We just checked them every once in a while and pulled them when they looked and tasted right. It was a long time ago; but I am sure the drying process was done in less than 12 hrs; could have been 8 hrs. Like I said it was a long time ago - but I know it was not a long process.

I wish we could find that marinade recipe. It was super - I blame the wife and guess who she blames.

Hope that helps a little.

If it is fish you caught and have lots more, it is not a big deal. Experiment. However if you have to buy salmon it is a different story and you should probably try small batches until you find a recipe you are happy with.