Kummok Smoked Salmon – my first attempt

[fishrman]

If you read my post about the smoked Lox, you'll remember that a local supermarket had salmon fillets on sale for $3.99/lb. (did I mention how GREAT the Lox turned out  ;D)  At this price, you know it is farmed, but that's about all we get here unless we are willing to pay $1X.99/lb. – if you can find it.  And since I was planning on a big batch, well, the price was right.  Ended up buying 25 lbs.  Half of that was vacuum packed and put in the freezer for later use, the other half is on its way to becoming smoked salmon.

Did all the math on prep/brine/glaze/smoking and it looks like this could be as long as a 21 hour process, so I worked backwards looking for a late afternoon finish tomorrow.  First step was to prep the fish.  Took the fillets out of the paper getting ready to scale and take out the pin bones and got a really pleasant surprise.  For the first time ever, the store-bought fillets were already scaled and the pin bones removed!  I thought the first fillet might have been a fluke and checked every one as I got to it and yup, they were all cleaned up nicely.  Wow, that was a nice find and a pretty good time-saver.  So rinsed everything off and patted dry with paper towels, then cut into 1-1.5 inch strips except for the tail sections where I left them a bit longer (up to 4"). 



From there it was back into the fridge to chill out as I mixed up the brine.  Since I was doing about 12.5 lbs., I decided to double up on the brine to make sure the pieces were able to float separated as opposed to being tightly packed.  That worked out well as there is plenty of brine, but I think a 1.5x the recipe would be adequate (note to self for future batches).   I decided to use my 5 gallon turkey brining bucket as the vessel for the process, so put all the ingredients in and stirred, stirred, stirred.  Had a bit of a problem with the garlic powder wanting to clump and that was a lesson learned.  You see, I measured it in the tablespoon and just dumped it in.  In hindsight, you know, the one that is always 20/20, I should have treated it like you would cornstarch.  Mix it in slowly with cold water until it is a paste, then add the paste.  Sooooo, had to get out my whisk and whisk the heck out of the clumps to get them to break up.  Eventually, all was smooth and good to go.  To keep this cool, I dumped about 2 quarts of ice into the brine (I had left 2 quarts of water out of the mix I made), put the 5-gallon bucket into an empty ice chest and poured the remaining ice from the 20 lb. bag all around it.  Gave it a good stir, covered the bucket in foil and the whole ice chest (since the top wouldn't close with the bucket in there) with a couple of towels and let it sit for an hour.  At that point, got the chilled cut salmon out of the fridge and added it to the brine:




Being the fatty fish that salmon is, as you can see it tends to float to the top.  That wouldn't do at all as a really even soaking was the plan.  So, took a circular cooling rack and a kitchen plate:




And put them on top.  The grill helps keep most of the salmon from pressing up against the plate, but it is clear that I need a larger circular rack for this particular bucket! 



That being said, all worked out well and the salmon is currently taking a nice cold, salty, sweet, and a little bit spicy, bath.  Will give it a couple of stirs before bed to make sure all surfaces get good exposure to the brine.

More tomorrow!

[mikecorn.1]

Will be watching! 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[hybridcx]

looking good! I may have to step away from my go too and try a wet brine again...

[JZ]

fishrman - your Lox post was great and it looks like your onto another awesome batch.

looking good! I may have to step away from my go too and try a wet brine again...

Can't go wrong with Kummoks brine and process!!!!

[fishrman]

OK, so tomorrow has arrived.  Got up with the sun and went downstairs to view the results of the overnight soaking and boy did it look good.  From there, into colanders in the sink to drain off the excess liquid for a few minutes, then on to the drying racks followed by a pat down with paper towels to get rid of any surface liquid that still remained.  Set up a nice tabletop fan to blow over them to both speed the process and to help ensure a nice solid pellicle.   Oh, and please don't tell my wife I did this over her nice tablecloth :o.






Still haven't decided on how much smoke I'm going to use.  Was originally going to go with 2 hours, but see others have used up to 5 hours with this recipe and been very happy with the results.  Will use a mix of Alder and Apple most likely.  It is blowing and a bit wet here today, so have put the snugli back on the BDS (took it off for the Lox adventure) to help keep a stable temp over the course of the smoke.

******time passes********

Ok, decided on 4 apple and 4 alder.  Pellicle is beautiful it is time to get the smokin' going:

[JZ]

Lookin good ;D

[fishrman]

Hmmm.  Set the Guru at 115F and checked on it after about an hour and the chamber temp was 130F.  Turned it down to 110F and watched the temp climb another degree.  Hmmm.  Unplugged it and let it rest for 10 seconds, plugged it back in and still maintained the 131F.  Bad probe?  Don't think so.  Looked at the indicator that tells how much current is going to the heating element and it showed zero.  I guess I shouldn't have put that snugli back on because it appears that just the smoke generator is enough to get the temp up to the 130F in today's conditions, even with the vent 3/4 open.   No biggie, here's where the art takes over from the science, right?

[Habanero Smoker]

That is a nice load of fish.

As for the Guru, and cabinet temperature, it is unlikely that the generator can bring the cabinet temperature up to 130°F; especially with a large load. The Guru can overshoot by that much. Each time you use it, it goes through an auto-tune.  When it over shoots that high, it is often due to something you are doing is a lot different then you have done in the past. Just let it run, it you turn it off and adjust the temperature, it will probably go through another auto-tune. Usually mine auto-tunes during the preheat when the cabinet is empty, and is generally accurate after that.

[fishrman]

Habs, thanks for the input on the tuning if the Guru.  It did seem odd to me that the heat from the generator could drive the chamber temp up that high, but that was the only guess I had left in the book of excuses.  Now I can add an auto-tune chapter to it ;).  When I turned it up to 140F it locked on immediately and kept it steady as a rock, same when I then reset to 175F.  Another 30 minutes and I think the thinner tail pieces will be suitable for removal and sampling.










Tick, tick, tick . . . 30 minutes later.  Nope, even the thinnest cuts still need more time.  Stay tuned.

[viper125]

Wow those look delicious! Bet your going to love them! If not im always here to help.

[fishrman]

I'm a bit lost on what is happening now.  Chamber temp got turned up to 175F at 4pm.  It is now 9:00 and IT is only in the mid-140's.  I've rotated racks multiple times and have used my Thermapen to check the IT in multiple pieces.   Temp has not been rising with any speed over the last couple of hours.  Guru chamber temp measured just below the bottom rack is holding the 175.  Turned the generator back on to see the BDS meat temp and see it is 167F, so I'm not sure why the food temp is not coming up.  Reached in and broke off a piece of a medium thickness piece and it would be perfect to put on the table, nice and juicy, but not finished from a smoking standpoint.  Well, it is not drying out, so I guess just keep it going, but sure is weird.  2 hours at 120F-130F.   3 hours at 140F.  5 hours at 175F and IT of only 145?  Weird.  Hang on.

OK, took out my Maverick and dropped down the vent just to get one more check and it shows 166F.  Scratchin' my head.  Gonna rotate once more and turn it up to 185F to try and get the upper chamber temp up to 175F. 

[hybridcx]

i have always done 80% of my smoked fish in a smoker then i finish in a cracked oven at 180... it to the point where i can tell by touching them when there done but usually 40min -1.5 hour depending on fish. i then let cool stove top till am and package then.. just my .02$

[fishrman]

OK, I'm embarassed.  Where did I get the idea I wanted an IT of 160F :o? 

After I turned the temp up to 185F the bottom rack came up in temp to 155F in about 25 minutes, pulled it and about 15 minutes later the next two stacked racks, then 10 minutes later the 3rd and finally in another 10 the top stack.  So had them all out by about 10:30.  Way longer than I thought it would take, and aiming for the higher than required  >:(  IT was a large contributor to that.  OK, water under the bridge, lesson to be learned, etc. 

Here's the finished product:




Did some sampling and although it went to a higher IT than it should have, still came out fairly moist.  It is a bit saltier than I prefer, so next time will adjust the recipe accordingly.  Right now have the fan blowing over them to cool them down so I can pack them into the fridge for overnight to firm up before the vacuum packing of the ones destined for the freezer.  The real taste test comes tomorrow when I have a clean palate and when I get to get a second opinion from SWMBO.

[Salmonsmoker]

Fishrman, when I smoke salmon I leave it covered in the fridge for 24 hrs. before vac packing and freezing. It gives the smoke and brine flavors a chance to meld and even out. It makes a big difference.

[fishrman]

Fishrman, when I smoke salmon I leave it covered in the fridge for 24 hrs. before vac packing and freezing. It gives the smoke and brine flavors a chance to meld and even out. It makes a big difference.

Good advice!  I will take heed and proceed accordingly :).