Dry Cured Smoked Salmon

[mr_whipple]

Shout out to thirdeye as his page HERE is the reason I did this. Been wet brining salmon for ever, so I had to try the dry cure.

Apparently I didn't take a picture of the fish before or after laying it on top of the cure. Probably a little too much of the "Chef's Helper" after work that day.

So here we go with the salt/sugar cure. I made it according to the recipe with the exception of using powdered ginger as I have no cracked. Put it in the saran wrap at about 1900 Thursday night.

Friday morning before leaving for work (yes... the clock is correct. I'm an early riser) washed off the cure. Oh wow did it turn into quite the syrupy goodness, and put a beautiful color on the fish. It sat in the cure for almost exactly 8 hours. Tossed it on a rack in the fridge for the day while I was at work.

Came home and gave it it a nice grind of this stuff. It's the only thing that goes in my pepper grinder

Action shot from the pellet pooper. Running Lo Smoke (160F) with a mix of alder and cherry. I used to just do my wet brined salmon at 225 til done, but since the new controller actually works and will hold the lower temp I'm trying this out. Ran it up to Hi Smoke (220) for the last half hour or so to get up to temp

Pulled at 140ish throughout the fish and tented for a while. Very little albumen doing this at a lower temp.

Didn't taste test yet. It's heading to a get together this afternoon. I'll follow up later. Thanks for looking.

 

[Cajun Smokes]

Makes want to buy a slab to smoke myself. Always wet brined because it was simple and hard to mess up but lately have been more comfortable with dry rubs. Turned out nice looking. Will be interested to know how the texture has changed.

 

[cmayna]

El Yumo. Congrats

 

[TNJAKE]

Man that looks delicious!

 

[thirdeye]

That looks great, something I need to try sometime . The last photo says it all, your heat management must have worked perfectly.

Seeing the jar of peppercorns reminded me of something that's not in my article.... At Christmas I'll sometimes take red and green peppercorns and soak them in hot water for an hour to soften them up. Then add to the fillet before smoking. With the fish kind of sticky, they hang on pretty good. More of a decoration kind of thing but they do stay semi soft and can be smashed into cream cheese.

 

[pushok2018]

Looks fantastic! Let us know how was the taste.... (I am sure it was great!).

 

[bauchjw]

Looks perfect! Man I want some now!

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

Looks really tasty, love me some smoked salmon!

 

[mr_whipple]

Well, I didn't get a cut shot from the side, but it turned out great. Inside was very moist and tender, flavor was perfect. It came right off the skin with zero effort. I found the texture to be a bit softer than my other smoked salmon adventures, but I also cooked this at a lower temp. The outside was slightly tougher, in a good way as I think it dried out a little but kept the insides full of fat and moisture. The cherry alder mix stood out also. Not overpowering but it let you know it was there. I normally go straight alder pellets with salmon, but I've been mixing cherry in with a lot of things lately.

Did a standard capers / cream cheese / red onion platter. It was some of the cheapest farm raised atlantic salmon at the store and still turned out good, so this is happening again and again. I'm sold on the dry vs wet cure. If you haven't tried this before I can't recommend it enough. Next time I'm doing two fillets. Again, thanks for looking!

 

[forktender]

That looks really good...man, I sure wish you guys could get wild Salmon back there, it tastes 10X better than the farm raised stuff.

 

[mr_whipple]

That looks really good...man, I sure wish you guys could get wild Salmon back there, it tastes 10X better than the farm raised stuff.

Yep... living here has a few pluses, but good salmon isn't one of them. It's available at Costco but time constraints kept me from stopping there this week. I wanted to have this for yesterday so had to work with it. That said, I'm a fish eating mofo, but salmon is probably my least favorite fish except when smoked. I can't remember the last time I cooked it any other way.

 

[Cajun Smokes]

Well, I didn't get a cut shot from the side, but it turned out great. Inside was very moist and tender, flavor was perfect. It came right off the skin with zero effort. I found the texture to be a bit softer than my other smoked salmon adventures, but I also cooked this at a lower temp. The outside was slightly tougher, in a good way as I think it dried out a little but kept the insides full of fat and moisture. The cherry alder mix stood out also. Not overpowering but it let you know it was there. I normally go straight alder pellets with salmon, but I've been mixing cherry in with a lot of things lately.

Did a standard capers / cream cheese / red onion platter. It was some of the cheapest farm raised atlantic salmon at the store and still turned out good, so this is happening again and again. I'm sold on the dry vs wet cure. If you haven't tried this before I can't recommend it enough. Next time I'm doing two fillets. Again, thanks for looking!

View attachment 522368

Growing up in the south, salmon wasn't a big part of our life but I have come to enjoy it when I have it. Looking at what you have in the pic, is it better served on crackers vs being plated as a meal?

 

[mr_whipple]

Thats how I like it. I don't smoke it to eat as an entree. On occasion I will mix it with a touch of mayo and make a killer sandwich on rye toast topped with some pickled jalapenos, but for the most part it's eaten as an appetizer.

 

[SmokinAl]

Fine looking salmon there my friend!
Nicely done!
Al

 

[Cajun Smokes]

Thats how I like it. I don't smoke it to eat as an entree. On occasion I will mix it with a touch of mayo and make a killer sandwich on rye toast topped with some pickled jalapenos, but for the most part it's eaten as an appetizer.

Sounds like my next way to try salmon. Thanks Mr

 

[Bearcarver]

Looks Mighty Tasty!!
Nice Job, Me W. !!
Like.

Bear

 

[thirdeye]

Well, I didn't get a cut shot from the side, but it turned out great. Inside was very moist and tender, flavor was perfect. It came right off the skin with zero effort. I found the texture to be a bit softer than my other smoked salmon adventures, but I also cooked this at a lower temp. The outside was slightly tougher, in a good way as I think it dried out a little but kept the insides full of fat and moisture. The cherry alder mix stood out also. Not overpowering but it let you know it was there. I normally go straight alder pellets with salmon, but I've been mixing cherry in with a lot of things lately.

It looks like it turned out well. I forgot to mention, you can do Ahi tuna the same way.

The texture is dependent on the type (I'm guessing Atlantic farm raised?) and that final internal temperature. You could try 2° or so higher and see if that makes a difference. When you build that good pellicle during the refrigerated rest, then use warm/hot smoke it takes some time for the pellicle to re-soften. An increase in the post-smoke rest will allow that to happen to some degree, and it will tighten the internal texture a little bit. I've been lucky to have a regular source for Steelhead at my Sam's club for a few years, so I buy that whenever possible. It's now my new favorite (other than local trout) because the thickness is very consistent and the fat content is near perfect for smoking. I jokingly call the store Lake Sam's for that reason. I'm with you on the cherry. I think it actually give smoked fish a bit of color.

One thing to think about is the brown sugar. Dark brown sugar deepens the flavor over light brown sugar. I usually make at least a double batch of the dry cure and store it in the freezer, I can tell a subtle difference when using dark brown.

That looks really good...man, I sure wish you guys could get wild Salmon back there, it tastes 10X better than the farm raised stuff.

I can get fresh wild caught salmon a few times a season, but it can sometimes be $20/lb. I do buy it, but mainly for grilling. The Steehead I mentioned above is around $7, so that's a big trade off since I give about half away.

For wild caught, Chinook is possibly my favorite and it's high in omega-3 fat content. Sockeye only has 1/3 of the fat as Chinook, and don't get me wrong.... it's good smoked, but to me it's better grilled. When I have smoked it I pull it a bit sooner.... but I love the color!

I only get Silver when friends go on fishing trips, so that is $100/pound. But I trade them other goodies so that works out.

 

[pushok2018]

Looks nice and tasty to me. Very well done!

 

[thirdeye]

And going one step further than the "Lake Sam's" wisecrack from above.... Mrs ~t~ just returned from there with some Steelhead fillets.

 

[forktender]

It looks like it turned out well. I forgot to mention, you can do Ahi tuna the same way.

The texture is dependent on the type (I'm guessing Atlantic farm raised?) and that final internal temperature. You could try 2° or so higher and see if that makes a difference. When you build that good pellicle during the refrigerated rest, then use warm/hot smoke it takes some time for the pellicle to re-soften. An increase in the post-smoke rest will allow that to happen to some degree, and it will tighten the internal texture a little bit. I've been lucky to have a regular source for Steelhead at my Sam's club for a few years, so I buy that whenever possible. It's now my new favorite (other than local trout) because the thickness is very consistent and the fat content is near perfect for smoking. I jokingly call the store Lake Sam's for that reason. I'm with you on the cherry. I think it actually give smoked fish a bit of color.

One thing to think about is the brown sugar. Dark brown sugar deepens the flavor over light brown sugar. I usually make at least a double batch of the dry cure and store it in the freezer, I can tell a subtle difference when using dark brown.


I can get fresh wild caught salmon a few times a season, but it can sometimes be $20/lb. I do buy it, but mainly for grilling. The Steehead I mentioned above is around $7, so that's a big trade off since I give about half away.

For wild caught, Chinook is possibly my favorite and it's high in omega-3 fat content. Sockeye only has 1/3 of the fat as Chinook, and don't get me wrong.... it's good smoked, but to me it's better grilled. When I have smoked it I pull it a bit sooner.... but I love the color!
View attachment 522380
I only get Silver when friends go on fishing trips, so that is $100/pound. But I trade them other goodies so that works out.

I'd hate to figure the price per pound that I pay for my self caught King Salmon, it would have to be in the $1000 range, between boat, bait, fuel and gear.