So this is my first try at smoking. Actually I tried it once in third grade. My best friend would gather all his mom's butts and smoke them and he looked really cool. I was done after the first butt, but I hope this will be different.
So I chose salmon. It seemed an easy first smoke, and it was. I used Mr. T's brine recipe. To start out I bought one fillet of farmed and one fillet of wild. I wanted to see what the difference was in taste and looks. I actually took pictures of both or them before I cut them up. They were great pictures! Problem was when I went to remove the memory card from my camera it wasn't there! It was in my computer. Would have been nice if my camera told me... "hey idiot, these are nice pictures but they aren't actually being saved anywhere". So all I have is from ziplock bags on.
Here are the bags because I know everyone wants to see these.
This is the farm salmon.
This is the wild salmon
Right off I could tell that farm salmon is much more fatty. And has thicker "flakes" than wild salmon.
Here is the farm.
Here is the wild.
Huge difference. Now how does that translate into flavor???
So I brined these exactly the same and here is what they looked like before brine.
Farmed
Wild
What I noticed is that the wild salmon is, like I said, less fat. But also the flesh is more sensitive. It seemed delicate to me and more apt to be mushy. Oh, keep in mind that this wild salmon was frozen. So maybe that added to the different texture. I have never caught one of these and maybe fresh salmon is not like the one I bought. But going on what I did buy I wasn't impressed at first on the quality of meat. But the farm salmon seemed "fake" and almost too perfect. It was like it was gussied up for a commercial. It had shine, color, and was easy to work with.
OK... so from here I brined for about 12 hours in Mr T's recipe. I am going to try many different brines from this site but Mr. T's seemed like a no-brainer for my first time.
Here is the pic of post brine.
Notice that the farm raised on the left is still more shiny than the wild salmon. Maybe due to fat content? I don't know. Oh I moved 3 farm pieces to the wild side since they were smaller and going on the top rack. They are the bottom 3 pieces. It's pretty obvious.
So off to the smoker. I had a hard time keeping temp where I wanted it. I was shooting for 200 but with the propane Master Built I was using the gas dial was so touchy it would swing 20 degrees if you breathed on it. So I need a needle valve for this.
Here is the after shots.
Wild and farm back at home with a few pieces eaten. You can still tell a big difference between farm on the left and wild on the right. Question is how do they taste???
Well the farm got cooked a bit too much. I cooked till thickest fillet was about 145. But they aren't dry at all. Ate the smallest pieces and it was fine.
My son thinks I don't have taste buds because I can handle any type of heat and salt. So I asked him to try both salmon and tell me the smoke and salt content. He tried the farm salmon first and said that is was a bit salty but still good. He tried the wild salmon and said it was much less salty and still good. So I tried one of each and had the same opinion. The farm seemed to soak up the salt more than the wild, but both were good and smokey. And as you can see I have some fat coming out of each. And I don't know why. I removed from brine and rinsed, then patted dry. Then put on smoker racks and moved my dining room table directly under ceiling fan and kept them there for 4 hours. Turning once at 2 hours. I seemed to have a good pellicle. So here is the packaged fish.
Not too much but ok for my first smoke. Also I haven't tried the thicker cuts yet. The salt and smoke taste are sure to be different in those.
So, lessons learned...
1. I need a needle valve for my gas line. Or I will go crazy trying to adjust that big dial a half millimeter at a time with 20 degree temp swings. Ridiculous how Master Built didn't account for this. But it is a cheap smoker so I can understand the cost cutting.
2. Work on pellicle time. I had fat come through on both salmon, even after 4 hours drying. So next time will still do the 4 hours under fan but will finish off over night in frige.
3. Adjust brine time down a bit for farmed salmon and keep it the same for wild. That is if I continue to use Mr. T's brine. (Side note I thought it was great tasting with both salmon, but my son likes more mild flavors so I will go with his taste buds as they are probably more in line with other people than mine are)
4. I removed the skin from all cuts because it annoyed me when I ate commercial smoked salmon before. I mean why the skin??? No one eats it. Well, I can see why they keep it on. It would have been much easier to work with and I think I damaged a lot of meat in cutting it off. A more skilled person with a good knife would do well, but for me, next time I will keep it on and remove right after smoking if I feel the need.
5. Next time I will do this on a weekend so I don't have to take my son to school the next day. Can get much more drinking in
So I chose salmon. It seemed an easy first smoke, and it was. I used Mr. T's brine recipe. To start out I bought one fillet of farmed and one fillet of wild. I wanted to see what the difference was in taste and looks. I actually took pictures of both or them before I cut them up. They were great pictures! Problem was when I went to remove the memory card from my camera it wasn't there! It was in my computer. Would have been nice if my camera told me... "hey idiot, these are nice pictures but they aren't actually being saved anywhere". So all I have is from ziplock bags on.
Here are the bags because I know everyone wants to see these.
This is the farm salmon.
This is the wild salmon
Right off I could tell that farm salmon is much more fatty. And has thicker "flakes" than wild salmon.
Here is the farm.
Here is the wild.
Huge difference. Now how does that translate into flavor???
So I brined these exactly the same and here is what they looked like before brine.
Farmed
Wild
What I noticed is that the wild salmon is, like I said, less fat. But also the flesh is more sensitive. It seemed delicate to me and more apt to be mushy. Oh, keep in mind that this wild salmon was frozen. So maybe that added to the different texture. I have never caught one of these and maybe fresh salmon is not like the one I bought. But going on what I did buy I wasn't impressed at first on the quality of meat. But the farm salmon seemed "fake" and almost too perfect. It was like it was gussied up for a commercial. It had shine, color, and was easy to work with.
OK... so from here I brined for about 12 hours in Mr T's recipe. I am going to try many different brines from this site but Mr. T's seemed like a no-brainer for my first time.
Here is the pic of post brine.
Notice that the farm raised on the left is still more shiny than the wild salmon. Maybe due to fat content? I don't know. Oh I moved 3 farm pieces to the wild side since they were smaller and going on the top rack. They are the bottom 3 pieces. It's pretty obvious.
So off to the smoker. I had a hard time keeping temp where I wanted it. I was shooting for 200 but with the propane Master Built I was using the gas dial was so touchy it would swing 20 degrees if you breathed on it. So I need a needle valve for this.
Here is the after shots.
Wild and farm back at home with a few pieces eaten. You can still tell a big difference between farm on the left and wild on the right. Question is how do they taste???
Well the farm got cooked a bit too much. I cooked till thickest fillet was about 145. But they aren't dry at all. Ate the smallest pieces and it was fine.
My son thinks I don't have taste buds because I can handle any type of heat and salt. So I asked him to try both salmon and tell me the smoke and salt content. He tried the farm salmon first and said that is was a bit salty but still good. He tried the wild salmon and said it was much less salty and still good. So I tried one of each and had the same opinion. The farm seemed to soak up the salt more than the wild, but both were good and smokey. And as you can see I have some fat coming out of each. And I don't know why. I removed from brine and rinsed, then patted dry. Then put on smoker racks and moved my dining room table directly under ceiling fan and kept them there for 4 hours. Turning once at 2 hours. I seemed to have a good pellicle. So here is the packaged fish.
Not too much but ok for my first smoke. Also I haven't tried the thicker cuts yet. The salt and smoke taste are sure to be different in those.
So, lessons learned...
1. I need a needle valve for my gas line. Or I will go crazy trying to adjust that big dial a half millimeter at a time with 20 degree temp swings. Ridiculous how Master Built didn't account for this. But it is a cheap smoker so I can understand the cost cutting.
2. Work on pellicle time. I had fat come through on both salmon, even after 4 hours drying. So next time will still do the 4 hours under fan but will finish off over night in frige.
3. Adjust brine time down a bit for farmed salmon and keep it the same for wild. That is if I continue to use Mr. T's brine. (Side note I thought it was great tasting with both salmon, but my son likes more mild flavors so I will go with his taste buds as they are probably more in line with other people than mine are)
4. I removed the skin from all cuts because it annoyed me when I ate commercial smoked salmon before. I mean why the skin??? No one eats it. Well, I can see why they keep it on. It would have been much easier to work with and I think I damaged a lot of meat in cutting it off. A more skilled person with a good knife would do well, but for me, next time I will keep it on and remove right after smoking if I feel the need.
5. Next time I will do this on a weekend so I don't have to take my son to school the next day. Can get much more drinking in
Last edited:
