273 pcs of Salmon Nuggilicious

[cmayna]

OK.....pulled 6+ pounds of King Salmon which we caught last year, out for some Nugget making. Brined the nuggets in a 1/4 ratio of non iodized salt over dark brown sugar with lots of fresh garlic, for 4 hours.



Process from right to left.




And while I'm processing nuggets, I'm watch fishing programs on TV.



Salmon on the bottom is sliced from two Salmon tail pieces,,,,,,turning into Salmon sticks.


Air drying for 2+ hours. Wait! 6 racks for a 5 rack smoker? see below :-)


First hour at 130* Second hour at 150* Third hour at 170* + until a IT of 140 is met


Modified smoker by replacing the stock non adjustable 450 watt element with an adjustable 1100 watt unit. Also note the AMNTS on the right with a steel plate separating it from the hot element.




Note the 3rd rack down. I needed to smoke 6 trays but in a 5 tray smoker. Didn't want to pull out another smoker just for this So I pulled out a rack from my propane smoker which developed into the ability to add a rack between the existing trays.






And here is a recent pic to whom all of this it is owed to..... since she brings home most of our fish. Love you girl!

image.jpg

• cmayna
• Apr 27, 2015

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[pc farmer]

Love the thread.

That extra rack looks like its meant to be there.

Wish my wife brought me fish home.

 

[sota d]

That's a whole lot of delicious looking salmon! Making my mouth water!

 Thanks for posting, David.

 

[bryce]

Wow, that looks so good I don't even know what to say.

2 hour dry - that's the ticket!

Nicely done, love the nugget idea.

Bryce

 

[cmayna]

Thanks all. It was a fun day to say the least. As soon as the winds die down, we're going out to catch more Salmon. At least now I have some Salmon treats to share with our fishing buddies.




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[welshrarebit]

Great smoke and thread!!! I don't think I would have been able to count that high...

Points!

 

[twoalpha]

Fantastic looking smoke. Thanks for the post

 

[gary s]

Fantastic !!!    Looks perfect   You do have my address so you can send me some ?  

        

Gary

 

[ravenclan]

THAT LOOKS GREAT !!!!

 

[cmayna]

Tonight decided to vacuum seal most of the nuggets. Here's the tub full of them...

Look at the leftover juice from the nuggets. This is my favorite part of this process. It is so delicious.....belch! And the wife asks why my breath always smell so fishy....

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[cmayna]

Oops.....forgot the vacuumed finished product. Kept a couple bowls full set aside for immediate consumption and neighbor give away.

Also here's the results from a weight point of view:

Started out with 6.6# of Salmon raw with skin on
5.3# raw, skinned & cubed
3.4# smoked finished product

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[driedstick]

Great job,, looks flipping awesome

A full smoker is a happy smoker,,,,yours looks very full & happy

DS

 

[chef willie]

great thread....whadda woman.....beautiful looking finished product.....kudos.....Willie

 

[woodcutter]

Someday I would like to fly to CA just to taste one of your nuggets.

 

[foamheart]

You did package 'em like that so it makes shipping to friends easier?

You do still have my adddress right?

Looks great man. 

 

[mr t 59874]

Very nice looking fish.  Kudos to both of you.

What is your estimate of the 1/4 mixture per pound of fish?  Do I detect some ground pepper along with the garlic in there also?

Thanks much.

Tom

 

[cmayna]

Thanks all for the kind comments.  Wife and I are going fishing again this weekend so that god I made enough to feed the skipper, deck hand and a chosen few fellow fishing people.

Tom,

Not 100 % sure of your question but I can say that with 5.3# of skinned Salmon,  I used about 6 cups of brown sugar and 1.5 cups of salt.  Lots of garlic and oh yes coarse pepper which is applied last 30 minutes of the drying time.  It was not in the brine.  Just garlic.  As you see in one of my original pics,  I use the green bowl to mix the salmon and brine together. Then over to the final brine container.   Think doing this mixing helps reduce the amount of brine needed.

 

[mr t 59874]

Tom,

Not 100 % sure of your question but I can say that with 5.3# of skinned Salmon,  I used about 6 cups of brown sugar and 1.5 cups of salt.  Lots of garlic and oh yes coarse pepper which is applied last 30 minutes of the drying time.  It was not in the brine.  Just garlic.

Thanks, you got it.  Now I can compute the ratio of salt and sugar to the weight of fish.

Tom

 

[leah elisheva]

This is all just so very incredible!! Cheers! - Leah

 

[driedstick]

Craig, great thread again, I am getting ready to head to Seattle in two weeks, I was planning on taking some coolers and going to the local fishing boats at Ballard Bridge, I would really love to do the nuggets any suggestions on type of fish and I know you catch all yours but if you were to go to the store what price should I be looking at???

Thanks

DS