Thanks for the intro Danny
Hi Jo
What kind of smoked salmon are you looking to produce and what equipment do you currently have?
Smoked Salmon can mean different things to different people. Are you looking for a traditional sliced smoke salmon, a smoked salmon fillet to cook or something like Gravadlax?
I usually smoke my traditional salmon as salmon halves and then thinly slice them. You can smoke ready filleted sides of salmon though. It is important to ensure that the salmon is as fresh as possible and that it still has the skin on. You are looking to cure (preserve) the salmon using a combination of techniques 1) increasing the salt content 2) reducing the moisture content 3) using the smoke as a mild antibacterial. The important two are the salt and the moisture reduction. The smoke has more to do with flavouring.
It is prepared in 2 stages:
Firstly the salt is added and used to begin removing the moisture. This can be done in a metal tray lined with clingfilm. Simply make a 50:50 mix of salt and caster sugar and liberally coat both sides of the fish. Place it on a wire rack in the fridge for 24 hours. After 24 hours you will find that a large amount of water has collected in the bottom of the tray.
Rinse off the fish under running water to remove any remaining cure and pat dry with kitchen towel.
Secondly you need to place it in your cold smoker with plenty of air flow so that the fish takes on flavour for the smoke and continues to lose moisture. This will take a further 24 hours. By the end of the smoke the fish should have reduced in weight by about 18% due to the water loss and will have taken on a sheen.
Place in the fridge for several hours (or overnight) before slicing.
If you would like to see a step by step them you can look here
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/237224/smoking-fish-an-old-dog-can-still-learn-new-tricks
If you would like to go into more detail then please let me know.
Cheers
Wade