Morning! Here are some shots and a play-by-play of my trip down Smokey Salmon lane.
Step 1: Dry Brine (1 cp Kosther Salt, 1/2 cp each dark brown sugar and white sugar, 1.5 tbl crushed black pepper). Start with wide aluminum foil then layer plastic wrap. Place about a 1/3 of the brine on the plastic and place salmon skin side down. Then another 1/3 on the flesh side. Place second salmon flesh side down on top of the other salmon then place the remaining 1/3 on top of the 2nd salmon (skin should be up). Wrap your new salmon sandwich tightly with the plastic wrap then the aluminimum foil.
Step 2: Refrigerate and press. You'll see in my press picture that I took two rimmed baking sheets. One to hold the salmon and the other to place my 12 pack of Heineken Light (my new favorite beer!). The problem I found with using beer is that you drink it and lose the weight, so I placed a phone book under the 12 pack just in case I drank it all. Keep it pressed for 12 hours, then flip and press for another 12 hrs.
Step 3: Rinse. You'll see by my justoutadafrig pic, there's a lot of liquid. Make sure you've got a baking sheet that can hold it. Unwrap and rinse completely.
Step 4: Dry. Place on a rack and pat dry with paper towl. Let dry completely in open air-not the refrigerator. This could take 1-3 hours. I'm drying right now and plan a 2 hour drying period. The texture of the salmon is very different at this point. Almost sturdy enough to stand on it's side.
Step 5: TBC. I'll smoke these this afternoon and give as Christmas gifts tomorrow. Q-view will be coming later today.
Step 1: Dry Brine (1 cp Kosther Salt, 1/2 cp each dark brown sugar and white sugar, 1.5 tbl crushed black pepper). Start with wide aluminum foil then layer plastic wrap. Place about a 1/3 of the brine on the plastic and place salmon skin side down. Then another 1/3 on the flesh side. Place second salmon flesh side down on top of the other salmon then place the remaining 1/3 on top of the 2nd salmon (skin should be up). Wrap your new salmon sandwich tightly with the plastic wrap then the aluminimum foil.
Step 2: Refrigerate and press. You'll see in my press picture that I took two rimmed baking sheets. One to hold the salmon and the other to place my 12 pack of Heineken Light (my new favorite beer!). The problem I found with using beer is that you drink it and lose the weight, so I placed a phone book under the 12 pack just in case I drank it all. Keep it pressed for 12 hours, then flip and press for another 12 hrs.
Step 3: Rinse. You'll see by my justoutadafrig pic, there's a lot of liquid. Make sure you've got a baking sheet that can hold it. Unwrap and rinse completely.
Step 4: Dry. Place on a rack and pat dry with paper towl. Let dry completely in open air-not the refrigerator. This could take 1-3 hours. I'm drying right now and plan a 2 hour drying period. The texture of the salmon is very different at this point. Almost sturdy enough to stand on it's side.
Step 5: TBC. I'll smoke these this afternoon and give as Christmas gifts tomorrow. Q-view will be coming later today.
