Salmon, first try

[fowldarr]

looking good so far....

 

[bluewhisper]

Salmon is so variable, anywhere from barely poached to dry jerky. One thing is for sure, once you learn a method you like, you'll never again pay big money for someone else to smoke it for you.

 

[fowldarr]

Well, here is what I did (and I think it turned out great).

First, I went fishing, between my wife and I we caught our limit of Salmon, two each. (It was a blast, got some crab while we were out and about as well)

I brined the salmon for 36 hours, salt, white and brown sugar, pepper, garlic, lemon, orange, and whatever else I threw in there.

Let it air dry (with a fan on it) for four hours to develop the Pellicle.

Put it on the smoker at 150*, for the first hour with some apple wood, glazed it with some honey and bumped the temp up to a little north of 175, watched the IT closely, glazed it one more time, and pulled it between 130 and 140 IT (There were a lot of pieces there so I had some variation in temps).

Turned out great.

 

[bluewhisper]

I've never sweetened salmon. Somehow that never clicked with me.

While we're at it, though

 

[fowldarr]

Mine turned out pretty good the way I did it. Not too sweet, but just enough. The sweet really complimented the smoke flavor. I'm at work right now, so I'll have to watch the video later.

 

[banderson7474]

You weren't worried about leaving it out for 4hrs? That would drive me bonkers. I have a hard time leaving chicken out for over 30 mins.

 

[fowldarr]

It drove me crazy.

Every recipe I had said it was necessary, it’s protected by the 36 hour salt brine as a sort of cure.

 

[banderson7474]

ahh okay I didn't know about the cure but yea still. My wife will leave chicken out and it skeeves me out. She really tries to get it to room temp. After an hour....I won't touch it. haha

 

[gmc2003]

We like salmon around here, and yours looks mighty good. I usually leave sit in uncovered in the fridge to from the pellicle

Point for sure
Chris

 

[fowldarr]

Just realized I never posted a ‘done’ pic