salmon

[hammy]

ok,
  I have about 3-5 lbs. of salmon fillets and need to do them up right so's I don't ruin the meat......start to finish helppppp ???

By the way I did two boston butts this last weekend and oh my goodness..this smoker is unbelievable. How do I insert a photo..I would love to show my butt off...haha

[manxman]

Hi hammy, this is the definitive hot smoked salmon recipe around here IMHO:

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

[pensrock]

I will try. I have made Kummoks salmon recipe several times and everyone loves it.

Kummok suggests to leave the skin on and remove all the bones. The salmon I get has the skin off and it still comes out great.

I cut mine into about 3/4-1-inch strips. Then place into the brine for 12-14 hours.
Take out of brine, do not rinse. Place on smoker racks and into the fridge. You do not want the salmon touching anything but the rack, so it can form the pellicle. It will take 2-3 days to get slightly tacky in the fridge. In other words you want it to dry off, it will kind of look shiny. There are pics in other posts that will show what it looks like.
Put into cold smoker and start smoking. I smoke for 2 hours using Alder wood, only heat is from the smoke generator burner. Kummok suggests to stay between 100-120* F. I keep my damper 3/4 to full open.
Then increase the temp to 140* F for 2-4 hours, no smoke. Damper set at 1/2 to 3/4 open.
Then increase the temp to 170* F for 1-2 hours. Damper at 1/4 open.
You want the damper further open to allow the moisture to get out, at the higher temps there should be less moisture so I close up the damper some, never fully closed!

Kummok says to use the longer times for real thick and large pieces of salmon and the shorter temps for thinner filets.
I smoke for 2 hours @ 80-120*- 140* for 3 hours and 170* for 1-1/2 hours, but take the thinner pieces out as they get done. I do not go for an internal temp but by how it looks and feels. Maybe someone else can suggest an internal temp for you. It is not jerky you do not want it to get real firm.

Below is the brine I use.

1/2 gallon water
10oz. teriyaki sauce
1/2 cup pickling salt
1 pound dark brown sugar
1 Tbls. garlic powder
1 Tbls. cayenne powder
1 Tbls. chipotle powder

Here is the brine from Kummoks post:
1 gal water
1 qt. teryaki or soy sauce
1 cup pikling salt
2 pounds brown sugar
2 Tbls. garlic powder
2 Tbls. cayenne powder

Hope this helps.
pens

[Kummok]

Anymore, I don't smoke with skin on....personal preference. I remove everything that I don't want to eat BEFORE I brine/smoke.....let's me pop the stuff into the mouth with no cleanup!  Skin on used to be a preferred method of hold the fish together during processing/smoking, but with the smaller jerky racks and grid mesh available, it is turning out absolutely delectable in bite size pieces ready-to-eat...can we say SSRE?!?!?!  (Instead of MRE!)

[pensrock]

Anymore, I don't smoke with skin on....

Ok. I have never tried it with the skin on because the guy who gives them to me has them all cleaned except for the little pin bones. And they come out easy.

Are you catching any this year? I know they are not doing well in Lake Ontario and I thought I read a post that it was a little slow in your area. Hope it picks up, I hope to be able to try it out for myself in a year or two, make sure you save a few for me.  ;D

[Kummok]

Yup....slow, but not totally dry. Managed to get winter supply of white meat (halibut/ling) in two trips, but red meat count is still up from last year. Actually making progress on my indoor fish/smoker center so the reds are in danger of conversion (frozen to smoked). Hopefully we'll get some fresh feeder King before it gets too cold to go out (that's when the boat is actually frozen to the slip!).

[p171959]

If you want cold smoke, use 80% brine for 3 hours, hang and dry for 24, then cold smoke for 2 hours. To control teprature prop door ajar to keep below 85 degrees. :)