Brining and smoking salmon

[bud1955]

Thanks a lot Everyone. Now I think I know what happened. I will try it next time.

 

[bud1955]

Hmmm, which recommendations?

I going cut the salt in half with the same water, also cut the soy sauce in half. Keep the same sugar and brown sugar. (Maybe)

 

[thirdeye]

I going cut the salt in half with the same water, also cut the soy sauce in half. Keep the same sugar and brown sugar. (Maybe)

How about staggering your brine time using this new recipe? For example... Start a fish at 9AM, add another fish at 10AM, add another at 11AM. Then remove all at the same time. This might help you find the sweet spot.

 

[fineline]

When I first started smoking I used a traditional brine like most above, salt, brown sugar, white sugar etc.. a couple of years ago we went on a carnivore diet and now try to keep sugar out of the mix. I’ve switched the brine to add a can of frozen orange juice (I know it has sugar) instead of any sugar. While in the smoke I use an orange juice bast a couple of times. With removing the sugar you need to watch the salt. I buy a whole salmon at a time.

 

[Buddy55]

I am FREAKING out! I went brine, smoke some salmon two days ago and everything started well. I did about a 2 hour cold smoke (the Traeger does not do a 'good smoke' for such a short time). then when I started the Traeger, it would not start. Freaked me out. I finished cooking the salmon in the house. ( Wife does not like me in the kitchen, near HER appliances.) It turned out pretty good. I still have too much salt, cut it in half, and could not find the brown sugar. I tried real honey, not the store brand name stuff. I bought it at the farmer's market last summer. Pretty tasty stuff on home made bread. And it seemed to work with salmon too.
The controller went out on the Traeger. Called them up, they helped diagnose the problem. Said 'Yep, Controller went bad." Then they helped get a new one headed to me. They said 'No Star Trek transporter available' no matter how much I cried - seven to ten days. and it happened on Friday afternoon, So the order would be started Monday. I am crying a lot!!And it is the St. Paddy's day weekend.
I just want to cry a lot.
Keep me in your prayers that I will be able to make it through the bad time ahead.

 

[chopsaw]

seven to ten days. and it happened on Friday afternoon, So the order would be started Monday. I am crying a lot!!And it is the St. Paddy's day weekend.

That's why you need options . One goes down , roll out another .

 

[Buddy55]

That is a big 'No'. The wife is happy all the others are gone now. She does not want to start that again. I had a Bradley, a charcoal Masterbilt, A digital Masterbit and an analog Mastervbilt.The Bradley was old and the electronics were getting flakey, the digital Masterbilt burned, caught fire (just a little one). And the analog Masterbilt's burner control was on its LAST legs, bad rheostat and bad plug-in connection on the smoker end. Yes, I could have fixed them, and I had fixed them numerous times in the past. I just was just so happy to have an expensive (used) smoker, just gave up on the others.
I am on a pretty high level of oxygen, so my wife no longer allows me near the gas grill or any flames. So, it might take a while for me to be able to get (sneak) another smoker, grill into my yard.
(She did not like this one. She is a bit of a type 'A' personality.)

 

[chopsaw]

All joking aside , I have another one not shown in the group that I put a 1500 watt electric element in .
Old 22" kettle . Darn thing works really good . Be great for smoking fish .
Free kettle and a $35.00 element .

 

[Buddy55]

Yeah, that looks like a pretty good idea. I will have to think about something similar, maybe.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Why not cure in equilibrium, and jump past the to salty or not salty enough? You can control the cure with 100% repeatability

 

[Buddy55]

Why not cure in equilibrium, and jump past the to salty or not salty enough? You can control the cure with 100% repeatability

I have never heard of that "cure in equilibrium". What is that? Cuz 'Alexa' says itis what you do for balance. ?? Don't get it.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I have never heard of that "cure in equilibrium". What is that? Cuz 'Alexa' says itis what you do for balance. ?? Don't get it.

When you cure meats in equilibrium, they are never over or under salted or seasoned. They are exactly the balance you applied to them. Much more predictable and repeatable in the finished product.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Equilibrium cure is most easily achieved in dry brine, but is absolutely workable in brine curing as well.

 

[Cattoon]

All joking aside , I have another one not shown in the group that I put a 1500 watt electric element in .
Old 22" kettle . Darn thing works really good . Be great for smoking fish .
Free kettle and a $35.00 element .
View attachment 714937
View attachment 714938

That is awesome, I mentioned to a friend earlier that I wish Weber still had the 3 vents in the bottom.

 

[Buddy55]

THAT is what I am trying to find. The spot where it is not over or under salted. The question is :
How much salt or seasoning to use? And when getting there, Is there you (everyone) starts at? which is where I am at now (or was - half is still too much). I do not know if I am over thinking this or not. This bunch That was just finished, is still TOO salty to the wife. Just a bit to me. So now I am down to 1 Tbs. and 4 Tbs honey. I think I like the honey better that any or all sugar. And a little 'Slap to Mama'.
(A light to moderate dusting.)

 

[SmokinEdge]

THAT is what I am trying to find. The spot where it is not over or under salted. The question is :
How much salt or seasoning to use? And when getting there, Is there you (everyone) starts at? which is where I am at now (or was - half is still too much). I do not know if I am over thinking this or not. This bunch That was just finished, is still TOO salty to the wife. Just a bit to me. So now I am down to 1 Tbs. and 4 Tbs honey. I think I like the honey better that any or all sugar. And a little 'Slap to Mama'.
(A light to moderate dusting.)

It is easiest to equilibrium cure with the dry brine method. In this method we weigh our meat piece in grams or in pounds then convert to grams. We then weigh our salt as a percentage to the meat weight. Most folks like 1.5% salt some go lower towards 1% and still others go up towards 2%, but generally somewhere in that 1-2% salt is where most are happy. Sugar is weighed the same way as a percentage and a common place to be is half the salt percentage but some like it sweeter and match salt percentage.

So if we weigh our fish filet and let’s say it weighs 700 grams, here is what the salt and sugar calculations look like if we use 1.5% salt and 1% sugar,


700 x .015= 10.5g salt
700 x .01= 7g sugar

Mix this up and evenly apply to the filet, mostly on meat side. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate over night, rinse dry and smoke. Once you find your sweet spot for salt and sugar your fish pieces will always turn out the same, they can never over salt or under because they have exactly what you want them to have. No guess work.

 

[Buddy55]

OK. Thank you for explaining it to me. It makes a lot more sense to me now. I will try it next time I am brining and smoking. Although it might a while, with the Traeger broken. I will just have to wait until the controller gets here.
Another question is:
Does everyone only use sugar, white and/or brown? Does anyone use Honey?
Being diabetic, I try not to use sugar and think honey is and has been a better choice for me.
(My doctor seems to like it more.)

 

[SmokinEdge]

Does everyone only use sugar, white and/or brown? Does anyone use Honey?
Being diabetic, I try not to use sugar and think honey is and has been a better choice for me.
(My doctor seems to like it more.)

I personally just use white sugar but sometimes raw sugar. I’m not a huge fan of brown sugar or honey on cured meats, it’s a taste thing, although I like both for other applications.

Some here use sugar replacement in sausage and that is purely driven by preference on flavor as to which replacement is used. But no reason why a sugar replacement won’t work with cure so give it a try if that’s what you need.