Help with black pepper salmon (served cold)

[berettafan]

Hello all, FNG here. Am a week or two into ownership of a GMG Davy Crockett and have been loving it. Thus far have done baby backs, st louis style, boneless turkey breast, chicken wings and possibly the best yet baked salmon with asparagus (450 deg). The salmon was fantastic but obviously not smoked salmon.

What i'd like to make now is hot smoked salmon that you would serve cold. Black pepper style as shown here. I saw a recent thread on smoke salmon but what i saw looked more like baked. Any help on getting something like this out of my smoker?

The baked salmon i did was from a 'tindins' recipe i found online. rub was brown sugar, etc. and was absolutely out of this world good BUT i'm really after the above pic. Had this a few years back served cold and it was soooo good. I'm lost on any curing on marinade that would be appropriate for it. seems a wet marinade with sugar isn't the flavor i'd be looking for.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[bluewhisper]

I'd suggest you rub it with salt, onion powder and black (or red) pepper. Let that rest for an hour or two. Smoke it a bit on the hot side but keep a close eye on it, don't let it scorch. You should be able to get what you're after.

 

[dirtsailor2003]

I would do a dry brine on the fish. 4:1 Sugar to salt ratio. Use brown sugar and kosher salt. Place brine in a non-metallic non-reactive container. Lay fish on brine. Cover with more brine. Place in fridge for 6-8 hours. Remove from brine, rinse. place on drying rack and season with whatever you want. For pepper salmon I use white pepper, garlic, and cracked black pepper. A light dusting of each. Air dry the fish until the surface is tacky. Usually 2-4 hours.

You will want to run your smoker at a pit temp of no more than 170°-180°. If you can go lower I'd recommend going with at step method. For the first hour run the smoker around 120° (or however low you can go) then up the temp 10° degrees every hour (not to exceed `70°-180°) until the internal temp of the fish is 145°.

Alder is a good choice for salmon.

 

[berettafan]

Excellent guys thank you. Found your 4:1 brine earlier and already have the fish set up with it.

Looks like I’ll be cooking late tonight!

 

[disco]

We make this all the time. It is great hot or served as a cold dish.

http://smokingmeatforums.com/index.php?threads/peppered-salmon-for-canadian-thanksgiving.150684/

 

[berettafan]

View media item 553322View media item 553323View media item 553324View media item 553325Well I was up till about 1am with this last night. gonna pay for that today.

got a little impatient and finished at 220 for total smoke time of about 3hrs. started at about 150. The pinker salmon (no claims of what type from either place) was better right off the grill. the red colored was almost bitter. next morning the story was different. the pink fish ate like baked salmon stored in the fridge with a bit of a crust on the top. couldn't slice it without it falling apart. the red fish which was thinner and seemed overcooked last night was much better.