A dozen Salmon Tails

[cmayna]

The smoke Salmon section in my freezer #1 was getting a little low, so I pulled a dozen Salmon tails to smoke up.

Here ya go:

Drying after being dry brined for 7 hours.

Into the ever so reliable smoker, my MES40:

Auber PID controlled. Extra Thermoworks smoke temp gauge. My favorite mailbox mod. Burning Alder then Apple pellets.

Finished products after a 4.5 hour smoke starting at 125*, finishing at 143*

Consolidating onto just 2 racks during cooling so I can clean the others.

A little bit of pepper based on popularity demand

 

[TNJAKE]

No text required for me. I'm on my way with bagels and cream cheese. Looks amazing bud

 

[Nefarious]

I have to learn how to do that. I need my smoker mods.first though, waiting on parts

They look delicious.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Yup, that’s delicious. Very nice work.

 

[one eyed jack]

Real pretty work Craig.

Skinned or skin on?

Your a rich man. (In Salmon tails, at least).

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

Wow!

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Yes sir, Craig. Really nice...

 

[forktender]

The smoke Salmon section in my freezer #1 was getting a little low, so I pulled a dozen Salmon tails to smoke up.

Here ya go:

Drying after being dry brined for 7 hours.
View attachment 522333



Into the ever so reliable smoker, my MES40:
View attachment 522334



Auber PID controlled. Extra Thermoworks smoke temp gauge. My favorite mailbox mod. Burning Alder then Apple pellets.
View attachment 522335


Finished products after a 4.5 hour smoke starting at 125*, finishing at 143*
View attachment 522336


Consolidating onto just 2 racks during cooling so I can clean the others.
View attachment 522339

A little bit of pepper based on popularity demand
View attachment 522340

Real, fish as well, and it looks awesome, none of that farm raise bath tub garbage from the East Coast.
I save all the collars, tails and bellies just for smoking. For me, it's wild fish/seafood or nothing.
I won't go near any farmed fish/seafood with a 30' pole...YUCK!!!

 

[bauchjw]

Those look beautiful! They aren’t going to last long!

 

[JLeonard]

Man that looks good. Think I could eat that with out anything else.
Jim

 

[normanaj]

Looks great!

 

[cmayna]

Thanks everyone for the kind words. A couple of our neighbors already profited from my work yesterday, which is what I want. Making more room in the freezer for this next season's catch. Whatever I don't give away immediately will be kept for feeding our fellow fishing buddies while we go out on our local charters.

Real pretty work Craig.

Skinned or skin on?

Your a rich man. (In Salmon tails, at least).

Always skin on for our tails and filets. If I am doing Salmon nuggets, skin off of course.

I have to learn how to do that. I need my smoker mods.first though, waiting on parts

They look delicious.

Let's get er done.

Man that looks good. Think I could eat that with out anything else.
Jim

Funny, that's what I do quite often. Just peel the skin off, scrape off most of the dark meat and start chompin'

Regards
Craig

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

Nice work Craig, that looks phenomenal!

 

[thirdeye]

I looks like you have the entire procedure down pat. Do you ever raise the flag on the mailbox as a signal there is a smoke in progress?

 

[uncle eddie]

Heck ya! Love it!

FWIW - my wife likes smoked salmon so much she learned to use my MES-40.

 

[Omnivore]

Looks delicious! I really like how you group up all the tails for storage. I always smoke all the pieces together but tails, belly, and mid section all seem to have different brine and smoke times.

 

[one eyed jack]

Thanks everyone for the kind words. A couple of our neighbors already profited from my work yesterday, which is what I want. Making more room in the freezer for this next season's catch. Whatever I don't give away immediately will be kept for feeding our fellow fishing buddies while we go out on our local charters.



Always skin on for our tails and filets. If I am doing Salmon nuggets, skin off of course.



Regards
Craig

Thanks for the comeback Craig. I always leave the skin on cooking fillets of any fish. Holds in a lot of flavor and moisture, IMO.

 

[civilsmoker]

Very nice and you got a very nice set up unit there for sure!

 

[Texas Cookin']

These look awesome! Wow @ the color.

 

[mneeley490]

Care to share the brine recipe, Craig? I don't smoke salmon often, as I still haven't found a recipe I really like.