Now that looks like proper smoked salmon.
Now that you're "done", write everything down that you did, even the little mistakes, print the pictures, cut and paste to a word document, whatever method you use for data storage, while all this is still fresh in your mind. Time, temp, how long in brine, how long in marinade, what was used for smoke (chips, chunks, pellets, sawdust, name brand of wood source ((makes a difference))) How much smoke was applied, for how long. Temp of chamber (did you do it in steps? If so, how long in each step?)
See where we're going? Even though you had a road map (Bear's Recipe), it's how you drove down that road that'll get you the repeatable results you will desire. My worst fear other than total failure is to hear "Gee, this doesn't taste as good as the last time you made it".
Don't worry about the note taking task. As you become more familiar with the skills required for repeatable smoking, your notes will become more cryptic, that is to say, briefer. The next time you plan to do some salmon, say a month or more down the road, you'll have these notes to review so you can repeat with equally satisfactory or better results. This is truly important when you're dealing with such expensive meat. I mean, it's no big shakes if you screw up a .99c/lb yardbird (chicken) (NOT that we would want to), but the lessons become more painful as the price of the meat goes up.
Now that you understand the concept and purpose of brining: time to transfer that knowledge to another meat that responds nicely to brining: Poultry. Look at all the applications: whole bird, spatchcock, legs, thighs, and on and on. OR.................
Welcome to the slippery slope.
~Dave
