Tough Salmon

[tskeeter]

Been trying to figure out how to hot smoke a good salmon.  I'm happy with the flavor, but not satisfied with the texture.  The surface of the fish is kind of tough, so it doesn't flake easily.  Once you get through the surface, the fish is moist and tender.  I'm looking for suggestions to improve the salmon.

Here's what I did. 

Applied a salt/sugar rub to the fish for 24 hours.  Refrigerated.
Quick dunk or two in sink full of water to remove excess salt.
Wrap filet in paper towels and newspaper and hold in refrigerator over night.
Dry for one hour in fridge until surface becomes tacky.
Dry for one hour in smoker at 100 degrees.
Apply smoke for two hours at 125 degrees.
Increase temp to 150 degrees for one hour.
Increase temp to 175 degrees.
Hold temp until internal temp of fish reached 140 degrees.  About five hours.
Total about nine hours in smoker.

Even though I have done the two 500 watt heating element mod to my six rack, I had trouble getting the temp up to 175 because the wind really came up.  I expect that this extended the cooking phase of my smoke by more than an hour.

[Geoff_S]

Hi there. I do mine a bit different.

I freeze the salmon for 48 hours, then allow to defrost.
In a brine & sugar solution for 48 hours.
Rinse.
Smoker at 160c (whatever that is in fahrenheit) for about 30/45 mins.

So, it only gets a light smoke, but is really moist.

[Quarlow]

Just my two cents. I use the dry brine also but I like to put the mixture on the night before say around 7 or 8 pm and then I smoke in the morning. We never use to dry for the pellicle because I never heard of it till I got the Bradley and joined the forum so we basicly would rinse the filets, pat dry with Paper towel and then into the smoker. after an hour or two we would add a good sprinkle of straight brown sugar. This is personal taste as we like the sweetness to counter the salty. The first time I tried forming a pellicle I may have gone to long at 3 hours with as we found the surface tough too. Great inside but too thick on the surface. I am not sold on the pellicle forming yet but will try again. This all said, my next batch will be done with Kummoks recipe of wet brine.

[OldHoss]

When you say, "The surface of the fish is kind of tough".  Do you want no crust or bark on your smoked salmon?  Do you want it tender on the outside?  Also - Are you leaving the skin on one side or not?

Just off the top of my head I'd say if you wanted less of a finish on the surface then you gotta go with less time in the smoker, less overall smoke and a internal temp of 135f not 140f.  If you finish at a relatively high temp then the product will continue to cook after you take it out.

[tskeeter]

Oldhoss, what I'm trying for is a smoked fillet that you can flake with a fork.  No significant crust or bark.  What I got was a tender, tasty interior, but you had to kind of tear through the surface.  You couldn't get a nice sized piece of meat by flaking it with a fork.  You had to break through the surface, then you could break off a piece of fish.  It was a bit like eating Italian bread.  Tender interior, rather tough, chewy crust.

I did leave the skin on the fillets while smoking.  Removed just before serving.

[OldHoss]

Keep this in mind - I have made Indian Candy 6 times and normal smoked salmon 4 times.  I think the process of smoking salmon produces a crust.  Also the more you cure it the more crust you get.  With that in mind I would keep the brine and cure time to minimum, say 2 hours for the brine and 1 to 2 hours for the cure.  I would not wrap it at all and do it at room temp not the fridge.  When you smoke it do that below 95f.  Use the heat from the hot plate smoking the bisquet only.  Give a short smoke with a strong wood flavour....say pecan for 1 to 2 hours.  Then hit it with 170-180f to finish....smoking the whole time as well.  Leave the skin on and cook skin side down the whole time.  Go to an internal temp of 135f....and use a thermometer on a cord as the fish will finish very fast....it will go from 120 to 135f in a matter of 15 to 20 minutes so watch it.  I myself prefer the crust or bark so I smoke the salmon for 4 or 5 hours easy and get to that high temp of 170-180f gradually.  I figure what you should do is the opposite of what I do.

[KyNola]

Been trying to figure out how to hot smoke a good salmon.

The answer has been right in front of you all along.

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=107.0

[Quarlow]

Try not drying the fish at all. As I said all we use to do was rinse, pat dry and smoke. It never had a tough surface unless we smoked to long.

[viper125]

Just as every thing. Low and slow. No need for high temps to cook out juices and toughen.

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[pmmpete]

None of the fish I've smoked ended up tough on the outside.  I've certainly over-dried fish while smoking it, but it ended up dry all the way through, and wasn't any tougher on the outside.  But I've always used a liquid brine.  I've never used dry salt.  Try using a liquid brine; your surface toughness problem may go away.  The problem may be that when you use dry salt, the salt may not diffuse well throughout the fish, and may stay concentrated on the surface of the fish.

The main reason to dry the surface of fish (i.e. form a pellicle) before smoking it is because wet fish doesn't absorb smoke as well as dry fish. The same is true of sausages.  In my experience, the formation of a pellicle on fish doesn't make the outside of the fish any tougher.

[Quarlow]

Ok ,well I thought the pellicle was to help keep the fat (boogers) from happening.

[viper125]

Well I would say too hot to fast and long.Cooked the out side hard. Or gave it bark your choice. I like to keep it low and slow as I said and no problem.