Smoking Salmon Final Temp

[orion39]

Reviewing some of the recipes for smoking salmon is is stated such as "Increase to 175°F for 1-2 hours to finish" and another is "Increase temp to 175 degree until IT reaches 140 degrees".  It is my opinion then that once the internal temp reaches 140 degrees the smoking is finished.  That first statement leaves out what finish means and yet there are many recipes stated as such.  Any opinions on this?

[viper125]

Thats because finish means different things to different people. I like mine done but not overly done. My one buddy thinks its not done till dry and tough. My other buddy thinks a jerky texture is best. I never use s thermometer on fish. Fish is done when the translutive meat turns white and flakes easily with a fork. Most people always over cook.

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[viper125]

By the way i never go over 150° just go longer. To hot and you get the boogers. Start slow and keep slow and low.

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[muebe]

Like Viper I go by the look when it comes to fish. The more you smoke Salmon the more you will learn what look and texture best suits you.

Most of these recipes posted here with cooking times are more of a guide then gospel. Thickness of fish, ambient temps, ect. have an effect of course.

With Salmon and other fish it is important to progress the temps up slowly so you don't fat-out the fish. Go too hot too quickly and you risk overcooking the fish.

[tskeeter]

Viper, since you finish at a lower temp than many folks to prevent boogers, does the surface of the fish turn out a bit on the tough side?  I've been playing with a dry brine process that results in the surface being tougher than I would like.  I'm debating whether the toughness is the result of a long cook time (about four hours - high wind was causing me fits with getting the temp of the cabinet up) or if my pre-smoking process is removing too much moisture from the surface of the fish.

What I'm shooting for is to be able to flake the fish with a fork without having to "break" through a jerky like surface layer. 

[viper125]

Mine came out great. No boggers at all. I only smoked till it flaked also. 1/2 or more gone first night. Rest went next day or so. Need to make at least a whole smoker full. 12 racks next time.

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[viper125]

Also i slice my thick walleye or steelhead in 1/2 so there 3/8-1/2 inch thick. Lot less smoking time and fish cooks more even. If you do you also can shorten the brine time.

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[Miller Time]

I have played around with my fish tonnes over the years, i find "low and slow" is the best.  I rarely "finish" my fish as this tends to create "boogers".  The best recipe i have found is, Alder pucks, start fish with just the smoker onfor the first two hours.  I then turn on my heater element at about 40-60 degrees celsius, unless the element is keeping my smoker at those lower temps.  i find just have the smoker on during the summer will keep the temp around 40-60 anyways.  I have found this is just about the perfect temp for the whole smoking time.  after 4-5 hours i turn off the smoker, and adjust the temperature setting so it maintains 70 degrees celsius and let that run for 1-2 hours depending on ambient temperature and desired doneness.  My fish is light and flakie with no hard outter layer but still not to moist.  I find any longer than 4-5 hours of smoke is too much and makes the fish taste bitter.  Also to the fellow who found his fish had a tough outer layer, I read you post on the other page and noticed your drying times seemed pretty long.  I wouldn't dry it out in the refridgerator and maybe less time in the smoker. I use a dry brine as well and I don't find the outter layer tough

[pmmpete]

Some food preservation experts recommend that you bring all smoked fish to an internal temperature of 160 degrees for half an hour in order to kill the bacteria which can cause food poisoning.  See, for example, Smoking Fish at Home - Safely, by K.S. Hilderbrand, Pacific Northwest Extension Publication #238, which is available at http://cru.cahe.wse.edu/cepublications/pnw238/pnw238.pdf , and Smoking Fish at Home, by Chuck Crapo, University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service FNH-00325, which is available at http://www.uaf.edu/files/ces/publications-db/catalog/hec/FNH-00325.pdf . These PDF documents may take a minute to download; click on the screen if nothing seems to be happening.

These food preservation experts say that producing safe smoked fish requires three things: (a) salting or brining the fish long enough to ensure that adequate salt is present in the smoked fish, (b) heating the fish to a 160 degree internal temperature for at least 30 minutes, and (c) refrigerating and/or freezing the fish after it has been smoked.  Because fish of different thicknesses, different oiliness, and with and without skin will absorb salt at different rates, you can't determine whether a piece of fish has adequate salt content to preserve it without chemical analysis.  As a result, the only way to ensure that your smoked fish is safe is by bringing the fish to an internal temperature which is high enough to kill the bacteria which cause botulism and other food poisoning, and by refrigerating the fish after it is smoked.  Unless the fillets being smoked are quite thin, the air temperature in your smoker will need to be higher than 160 degrees to produce an internal temperature of 160 degrees in the fish in a reasonable amount of time.  If your smoker can't produce high enough air temperatures to produce an internal temperature of 160 degrees in your fish, they say you should finish the fish off in an oven after smoking it.

Some trial and error is required to learn how to produce fish which has what you regard as the perfect degree of dryness and a nice flaky texture, without developing "curds" from getting the fish too hot before it has dried out sufficiently, but while reaching a 160 degree internal temperature for at least half an hour during the smoking process. This typically involves beginning the smoking process at a moderate smoker temperature such as 120-130 degrees, and then as the fish starts getting as dry as you like, increasing the smoker temperature to a level which will get the fish up to a 160 degree internal temperature for half an hour before the fish gets too dry.  You'll need to try various combinations of time and temperature.  I have a lousy memory, so I keep notes about what I did and how it turned out.  You can quickly figure out a good procedure for a particular kind and size of fish, but may need a quite different procedure for a different kind of fish.  For example, large and thick lake trout fillets, which aren't particularly oily, require a considerably different times and temperatures than Kokanee salmon fillets, which are little thin oily fillets.

With respect to sausages and other ground beef and pork, in order to kill the microbes which can cause food poisoning, the US Department of Agriculture and the Food Safety and Inspection Service recommend that they be cooked until they reach any of the following combinations of internal temperature and time periods:

160 degrees - 1 second
155 degrees - 23 seconds
150 degrees - 72 seconds
145 degrees - 4 minutes
140 degrees - 12 minutes
135 degrees - 37 minutes
130 degrees - 121 minutes

I haven't seen a similar chart for fish, but the same principles may apply to fish.  Thus, an internal temperature of 140 degrees may be sufficient to kill bacteria in fish if you hold that temperature for at least 12 minutes.  However, not all meat is the same.  For example, the USDA and FSIS recommend a one-second temperature of 165 degrees for chicken.  As a result, it may really be necessary to get fish to 160 degrees for half an hour, as the food preservation guys recommend.

[viper125]

Well meat of any sort follows no rules to when it gets done. Thus the saying its not done till it's done. Once the meat hits 140 its done. But some times a guy follows all the steps and its still not to 140. So the raise the temp to finish.  Fish is done at 140 or when it first turns white and flakes. dont matter if the smokers at 225 or 145. The meats done at 140,