Newbie to Smoked Salmon

[speedway73]

Hey All....I need a good recipe for hot smoked Salmon. I'll be using my Brinkmann vertical box smoker and 2.6 Lbs of Salmon.

How long of a smoke...what temp...right out of the package or brine....rub ??

Thanks guys!!!

Roger Sibilsky
Dahlonega,GA.

 

[curious aardvark]

check out dutch's maple glaze.
Best looking salmon recipe I've read to date :-)

 

[erain]

hea speedway, here is a brine been in the family for decades.

Grandpas fish brine

10 qts water
2 3/4 cups pickling salt
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tbls garlic salt

mix all ingreds in water till dissolved, put fish in a crock, or glass bowl and make enough brine to cover fish. large fish soak 24 to 48 hours. small pieces 12 to 24 hours. rinse well with fresh water and dry with towel. place on racks with fan blowing on it and allow pellicle to form. 2-3 hours.
i like to rub a little brown sugar on meat side of fish. i generally do fillets,halves with spine on oneside, or chunks butterflied. smoke until thickest parts just begin to flake and all will be done.

here is a link to some lake trout i smoked using above method
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=14290

here also is a recipie for rum smoked salmon on the weber A+++++++
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=18161

and here is a link with pics of step by step of rum smoked salmon
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=18948

good luck, expieriment with brine times and seasonings to your likings!!!

 

[speedway73]

Thanks guys. I will give it a try.

erain: How long of a smoke @ what temp...give or take ?? Any preference on chip flavor?? All have right now is hickory....apple seems to be the general consensous for salmon

 

[erain]

apple or alder works best in my opinion. i smoke at lower temps til color seems good to me and then turn up a lil to get the flaking described. as soon as it flakes in thick part its is good to go. and the other recipie in the weber i have done this now maybe a dozen or so times and you can almost set your watch by how long it takes. that 20minute mark seems magic, this is more a smoke cooked than smoked recipie.

 

[bbally]

Here is a picture and write up I did not doing salmon a while back.

http://forums.chef2chef.net/chef-blog/?p=388308

 

[speedway73]

Salmon fillets ready for the smoker.

 

[cowgirl]

Lookin good Speedway! Good luck with your smoke.

 

[speedway73]

Hey All....my first hot smoked Salmon. Turned out great...I think. Smoked for 2.5 hrs.,300* temp, 50/50 mix of Cowboy Lump and Kingsford, Hickory/Mesquite wood chips added for the 1st hour, 2nd hour just heat, last 1/2 hr I wrapped 1 in foil w/a stick of butter added and a healthy dose of lemon juice. Foil wrapped was very moist..a bit too much for me but the wife loved it! I prefer a bit drier fish. Anyway...all in all..I think this smoke turned out alright. Always room for improvement.

Erain: I used your Gramps' recipe for brine. Very nice. I had to modify it as I didn't have any pickling salt and sustituted Kosher Salt in it's place. I'm no fancy cook but it did make the salmon a bit too salty. My mistake.

 

[cowgirl]

Speedway, it looks excellent! Thanks for letting me know about the butter/foil wrap. I think I will give your method a try.

 

[erain]

glad to see gramp's recipie enjoyed !!! i think you will find out that trial and error is a great tool, keep a log noting especially good smokes and especially bad ones so as to either continue on the good smoke route and avoid the bad smoke. i wish i would have mentioned that i smoke at aprox 180 deg til it has the color i like, this is one thing you can figger out how you like it best, and then i get smoker hotter up to 250ish deg til just starts to flake. i am not sure about the difference between kosher and pickling salt as far as saltiness but this is another are where personal taste should dictate how long you leave in brine-back to that trial and error thing... great lookin fish!!! gramps would be proud.