Final Smoked Salmon with recipe, instructions, and Qview

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Bear, this thread is like seven years of testimonials to your great process and recipe.  I didn’t find it until Oct of ’13 and have used it ever since winning accolades from friends and family.  I have played a bit over the years with the brine ingredients, mostly changing the soy to Teriyaki or Worcestershire, and sometimes a mix, but no matter what it always comes out great.  I just wanted to add my thanks.  My first smoked salmon was in 2010 and was so salty that it went into the trash and I didn’t try again for a couple of years.  It wasn’t until I found your process that I got an acceptable batch.  I used it today on 5 lbs of Gulf of Maine Salmon.  So again, thank you.

Also, I never noticed your signature line before; I was in Dong Tam in ‘67. Our unit, 213[sup]th[/sup] Eng. Det. built the protective shell and cement basins around the 2 large fuel tanks near the airfield among other things.  It appears that they were hit and possibly destroyed in ’69 - http://15thengineer.50megs.com/night_probe.htm
Thank You Maineac!!

I'm real glad this stuff worked good for you, and love to hear it.

Welcome Home Too!!

I got to Dong Tam after it was all built up, but I saw how they dredged the Mekong to build the 40 acres of Dong Tam, which until the 9th got there was nothing but River, Swamp & Sand.

My hooch was right near the turning basin, and not far from the airfield.

On February 23, 1969 one of those fuel tanks took a direct hit from an RPG. It was really hot, as I had to hold my helmet to the side of my face, when we drove by it (100 yards away), on our way to the perimeter on Reactionary Force duty.

Then on March 26th the VC walked Mortars & Rockets in, and set off our Main Ammo Dump---1,000,000 pounds of ammo (500 Tons) went off that night. The big stuff near the beginning (around Midnight), and the small arms ammo was going off all night long until about 7 AM. That was a wild night with 2 KIA and 56 wounded. I was on the perimeter again waiting for a ground attack, but not much happened other that the 7 hours of fireworks.

9th Div---Old Reliables....

Bear
 
So, has the recipe changed from the one in the original post?

And would you recommend this same recipe for all kinds of fish?   I don't have ready access to Salmon around here, other than a trip to the supermarket.  I plan on trying a couple different rough fish, such as Redhorse Suckers, Sheapshead and Carp.  
 
 
So, has the recipe changed from the one in the original post?

And would you recommend this same recipe for all kinds of fish?   I don't have ready access to Salmon around here, other than a trip to the supermarket.  I plan on trying a couple different rough fish, such as Redhorse Suckers, Sheapshead and Carp.  
Same as always.

And every species of fish I tried it on was Great.

However don't forget that my Smoking schedule is for the kind of treat that gets solid enough to break it & pick up strips in your fingers & eat it as a snack.

If you're going to eat it for Dinner, I would Smoke it hotter & faster to make it more like a Baked fish.(Not as solid, to be eaten with a fork)

And make sure you follow my notes on how long to brine per thickness of pieces.

Bear
 
I will follow your instructions.  I am primarily interested in traditional smoke fish but will consider the hotter/faster cooking method for "'baked" fish.

Thanks a bunch.

Bruce
 
 
I will follow your instructions.  I am primarily interested in traditional smoke fish but will consider the hotter/faster cooking method for "'baked" fish.

Thanks a bunch.

Bruce
That's Great !!!

That's the only way I do them myself. 
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Bear
 
I have a question about prepping the fish.  I plan to use freshwater Drum (Sheepshead).  My question really is, when you prepare the fish, do you skin the fillets or do you leave the skin on for smoking?  If you leave the skin on, I assume you would scale them?  Correct?

FYI:  I am expecting 1/2 - 3/4" thick fillets at the thickest part.
 
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I have a question about prepping the fish.  I plan to use freshwater Drum (Sheepshead).  My question really is, when you prepare the fish, do you skin the fillets or do you leave the skin on for smoking?  If you leave the skin on, I assume you would scale them?  Correct?

FYI:  I am expecting 1/2 - 3/4" thick fillets at the thickest part.
If they're all less than 3/4" thick, I would go with the 6 hour brining for everything.

Many guys leave the skin on Fish & Bacon. I remove it from Bacon (Bellies) because I'm not going to eat the skin, and I want the part I'm going to eat good & smoky.

I also remove the skin from all fish, with the exception of small Trout (under 12" or so), for the same reason.

Years ago, I used to eat all the Fish Skins (Scaled), but since all the warnings about the toxic things being stored in the fat & under the skin, we fillet everything except small trout, and we skin catfish too.

Bear
 
Thanks Bearcarver.  So, if you don't leave the skin on, do you have any problems with the meat falling apart after it cooks a while?  Any problems with it sticking to the grates?
 
 
Thanks Bearcarver.  So, if you don't leave the skin on, do you have any problems with the meat falling apart after it cooks a while?  Any problems with it sticking to the grates?
If you follow my Step by Step, the Fish will get to the point of being able to pick it up with your fingers without it falling apart.

As for sticking, if you get some "Grill Mats" like Amazing Smoker sells, it won't stick to that. Meanwhile a Non-stick spray will help.

Bear
 
Thanks for the advice.  I just may get out and buy a dozen crawlers and head for the river today.  Wish me luck.

My problem will be getting the wood to start smoking at such low temps and being able to dial my Weber propane grill down enough to keep the temps as low as 100 degrees to start.  But, I will do the best I can.
 
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Thanks for the advice.  I just may get out and buy a dozen crawlers and head for the river today.  Wish me luck.

My problem will be getting the wood to start smoking at such low temps and being able to dial my Weber propane grill down enough to keep the temps as low as 100 degrees to start.  But, I will do the best I can.
Luck be with you!!

As for the low Temp, if you get your Pellicle by putting the fish in front of a fan for an hour or two, you don't have to go 100° without smoke to start.

And you can also go right to 140° & hold it there until you have some good smoke time. Then resume with my smoking schedule.

My full schedule was based on using an MES which is easy to control temps.

Hope that helps.

Bear
 
Thanks a lot for this. I look forward to trying it. I have a quick question. Does the amount of brine or how long you brine change if the quantity of fish changes? So for example if I am brining 2/3 the amount of fish you mention, do I cut down to 2/3 brine? Keep the same amount but cut back time, or what? What are your thoughts about that?

Thanks in advance.
 
 
Thanks a lot for this. I look forward to trying it. I have a quick question. Does the amount of brine or how long you brine change if the quantity of fish changes? So for example if I am brining 2/3 the amount of fish you mention, do I cut down to 2/3 brine? Keep the same amount but cut back time, or what? What are your thoughts about that?

Thanks in advance.
I would keep the exact same amount of mix for any amount of fish that can be completely submerged in my brine.

If you have twice as much fish, and it won't all fit & get submerged properly, make two batches.

If you only have a small amount or like one or two fish, you could either cut everything (ingredients) in half to save a few cents, or just do the regular batch & give them some elbow room.

Go by the time in brine (Per Thickness) that I said in Post #1 regardless of the amount of Fish.

Let me know how you like the finished product !!

Bear
 
Ok, I just got done eating a sample of the finished product, and here are a couple of observations after reading some other posts....

First, you don't have to make your right index finger suffer so much! There is a free Chrome extension (called Speechnotes) that lets you talk and it writes down the sentences! Save that finger for picking up those small pieces of fish you drop!

Second, for those worried about the salmon crumbling if you take the skin off, mine didn't. I bought Coho at Costco and it was about 3/4 inch thick at the widest but I also smoked the leftover pieces of fish which were left on the skin after I peeled it away, and those didn't crumble either.

Third, I was going to add that you could use a fan on your fish but I see that you mentioned it above. For me that helped a lot as in the morning I wasn't 100% happy with the pellicle which formed (I put the fish in the refrigerator late last night) so I put the salmon in a cool room with a fan about 2 feet over it for an hour. I still started with 100 degrees on my electric smoker. Someone mentioned that their chips didn't smoke at such a low temp and I was concerned about that also. But I put the chips in at the beginning and by the time 30 minutes was up they were, in fact smoking,

Final verdict? FANTASTIC! Really really good stuff! My hat off to you, sir. As soon as I pulled it out and saw that grey film over the fish (is that the smoked pellicle?) I knew I had something. The 'only' thing I will change is that it is a little bit too salty. I am thinking that I kept it in the brine too long. I know you say 6 hours but I only had 2 pounds in it, so I might cut it back a little bit next time to 5, if I have that small amount. I served it with a real nice dill sauce (and also made a maple syrup/brown sugar concoction) and can't wait for a couple of weeks when I am having a bunch of people over for some smoked salmon! Thanks again.
 
 
Ok, I just got done eating a sample of the finished product, and here are a couple of observations after reading some other posts....

First, you don't have to make your right index finger suffer so much! There is a free Chrome extension (called Speechnotes) that lets you talk and it writes down the sentences! Save that finger for picking up those small pieces of fish you drop!

Second, for those worried about the salmon crumbling if you take the skin off, mine didn't. I bought Coho at Costco and it was about 3/4 inch thick at the widest but I also smoked the leftover pieces of fish which were left on the skin after I peeled it away, and those didn't crumble either.

Third, I was going to add that you could use a fan on your fish but I see that you mentioned it above. For me that helped a lot as in the morning I wasn't 100% happy with the pellicle which formed (I put the fish in the refrigerator late last night) so I put the salmon in a cool room with a fan about 2 feet over it for an hour. I still started with 100 degrees on my electric smoker. Someone mentioned that their chips didn't smoke at such a low temp and I was concerned about that also. But I put the chips in at the beginning and by the time 30 minutes was up they were, in fact smoking,

Final verdict? FANTASTIC! Really really good stuff! My hat off to you, sir. As soon as I pulled it out and saw that grey film over the fish (is that the smoked pellicle?) I knew I had something. The 'only' thing I will change is that it is a little bit too salty. I am thinking that I kept it in the brine too long. I know you say 6 hours but I only had 2 pounds in it, so I might cut it back a little bit next time to 5, if I have that small amount. I served it with a real nice dill sauce (and also made a maple syrup/brown sugar concoction) and can't wait for a couple of weeks when I am having a bunch of people over for some smoked salmon! Thanks again.
Thank You BW !!

I'm pleased that you enjoyed my Smoked Salmon method, and it worked good for you!!!

You're probably right that for 3/4" thick Fish, maybe 5 hours would be better. That would make the change more gradual than just saying less than 1/2" brine for 4 hours, and more than 1'2" brine for 6 hours.

As for the Grey, I never associated any color to the Pellicle. To me it's just a Dry, yet tacky surface that takes on smoke better than a wet surface.

And Thanks for the tip on "Speechnotes"---I'll have to look into that.

However my first thought is "How accurate can it be", because due to my partial hearing loss from 48 years ago, I use the Closed Caption on my TV set, and when I compare what I actually hear, to what is written in the CC, I wonder how people who are totally deaf can possibly enjoy the same movie I'm watching. Some of their CC input isn't even close to what was actually said.

Bear
 
Bearcarver:  One question.  I have some fish and am getting ready to try this out on my gasser.  I am a bit confused about the overnight   pellicle stage.  You say you put it in your extra fridge, but I am unsure if that is a real fridge or one converted for smoking?

Thanks,

Bruce
 
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