My salmon smoking process has changed nearly 100% since I started in 2010. I won’t explain the whole evolution but rather where I am now and why. Maybe parts will appeal to others, they will experiment and find something even better, but if we don’t share we don’t learn.
I use a modified Bradley black original with 2 heating elements (1000 watts). I use a toolbox smoker with (4) 6 inch pellet smoking tubes providing smoke because I want a very smoke-heavy environment. I start with a wet brine for 6 hours, an overnight in the fridge for the pellicle, then I smoke at 145 degrees for 3-3.5 hr which is what the tubes are good for. At that time I vacuum seal the salmon and drop it into a sous vide at 136 degrees for 2 hours. I remove the salmon and freeze it (already sealed).
Most of my salmon smoking in past years has been done with a ramping of temperature with the thought that it reduced the excretion of albumin. Then I saw some salmon smoked at a straight 170 start to finish which had less albumin than any of my smokes. Another problem all salmon smokers face is the finish temps of salmon with varying thicknesses. The tails and thinner pieces always finish first so you are always checking temps.
Well, sous vide fixes both these issues. All the salmon finishes at the same temp so the tail will taste like the rest of it in a presentation fillet. My experience is that anything over 140 internal in the smoker just dried it out. My salmon now is always moist and yummy, everywhere.
I am still working on the brine. For most of my years I did the Teriyaki, soy, Worcestershire, bay leaves, cayenne, onion powder, garlic powder, blah blah blah thing. My last 2 smokes were just straight up salt, sugar, and water and I thought it tasted more like salmon. So I’m not done here. I also think that stuff might interfere with the pellicle.
I also plan to test smoking at temps higher than 145, like 150 to 165. These are some of the things that keeps smoking interesting.
If you experiment with salmon let us know your results.
I use a modified Bradley black original with 2 heating elements (1000 watts). I use a toolbox smoker with (4) 6 inch pellet smoking tubes providing smoke because I want a very smoke-heavy environment. I start with a wet brine for 6 hours, an overnight in the fridge for the pellicle, then I smoke at 145 degrees for 3-3.5 hr which is what the tubes are good for. At that time I vacuum seal the salmon and drop it into a sous vide at 136 degrees for 2 hours. I remove the salmon and freeze it (already sealed).
Most of my salmon smoking in past years has been done with a ramping of temperature with the thought that it reduced the excretion of albumin. Then I saw some salmon smoked at a straight 170 start to finish which had less albumin than any of my smokes. Another problem all salmon smokers face is the finish temps of salmon with varying thicknesses. The tails and thinner pieces always finish first so you are always checking temps.
Well, sous vide fixes both these issues. All the salmon finishes at the same temp so the tail will taste like the rest of it in a presentation fillet. My experience is that anything over 140 internal in the smoker just dried it out. My salmon now is always moist and yummy, everywhere.
I am still working on the brine. For most of my years I did the Teriyaki, soy, Worcestershire, bay leaves, cayenne, onion powder, garlic powder, blah blah blah thing. My last 2 smokes were just straight up salt, sugar, and water and I thought it tasted more like salmon. So I’m not done here. I also think that stuff might interfere with the pellicle.
I also plan to test smoking at temps higher than 145, like 150 to 165. These are some of the things that keeps smoking interesting.
If you experiment with salmon let us know your results.
