My recipe/process was requested here; it is below.
First a word though. I've messed about trying to add things from spices to premade sauces to whatever for something like 20 years now, and for my salmon the best recipe/process has been the simplest: Salmon fillets, salt (lots), sugar (tiny bit), pepper, and smoke. Here it is:
Smoked Salmon Fillets
Boil a large soup pot of water, adding as much non-iodized salt as it'll take, until more just settles on the bottom. Let it cool; this takes many hours but is faster if setting it outside or in a cooler on a block of ice. Or do it the day before and let it sit; salt water doesn't go bad if covered.
Pour water only - leaving extra salt on the bottom of the pot (to use for the next batch) into a clean 5 gallon bucket; it should be almost half full.
Add one cup white sugar and stir it in. No more sugar than this or you'll kill the salt part of the cure.
Add enough salmon fillets that will fill every rack on your smoker (about 20 - 25 for me) and gush them around a bit but not rudely. Try to do fillets that are close to the same in thickness. Mine are too long to fit in my 24" Smoke Vault so I often lop 6 inches off the tail (the best part; no Y bones) and do all of those tails in one special batch. Doing this lets you smoke similar thicknesses of fillets making your product more consistent.
Soak only 30-60 minutes:
- 30 minutes is normal, for fillets 3/4 inch thick to maybe 1 inch thick
- Longer for more salty finished product (which I prefer, but many others don't so I do both kinds)
- If huge King Salmon that is really thick, strip it lengthwise into strips 1 inch wide so it gets into the meat
- My favorite is 3/4 inch thick for a 45 minute soak, but I like it salty; vary to your own taste.
Remove from soak, do not rinse, lay on racks, and wait until they're not all soppy/shiny wet-like; maybe 45 minutes. If you're in a huge hurry use a fan and its more like 15.
Dust with black pepper.
Smoke'm on apple or cherry wood with your smoker temp at 150 F max, until fillets have internal temp of 130 F. Pull fillets individually as they're done, not the whole smoker's contents at once. Towards the end you're checking and pulling fillets every 10 minutes.
Let them cool, plus some. I vacuum pack mine and freeze to use all year long; if you package them up too soon they re-hydrate and water in there is bad. So let them sit overnight out in the open then cut into the portions you want and vacuum pack, this is about 12 hours later.
That's it; simple and straightforward.
First a word though. I've messed about trying to add things from spices to premade sauces to whatever for something like 20 years now, and for my salmon the best recipe/process has been the simplest: Salmon fillets, salt (lots), sugar (tiny bit), pepper, and smoke. Here it is:
Smoked Salmon Fillets
Boil a large soup pot of water, adding as much non-iodized salt as it'll take, until more just settles on the bottom. Let it cool; this takes many hours but is faster if setting it outside or in a cooler on a block of ice. Or do it the day before and let it sit; salt water doesn't go bad if covered.
Pour water only - leaving extra salt on the bottom of the pot (to use for the next batch) into a clean 5 gallon bucket; it should be almost half full.
Add one cup white sugar and stir it in. No more sugar than this or you'll kill the salt part of the cure.
Add enough salmon fillets that will fill every rack on your smoker (about 20 - 25 for me) and gush them around a bit but not rudely. Try to do fillets that are close to the same in thickness. Mine are too long to fit in my 24" Smoke Vault so I often lop 6 inches off the tail (the best part; no Y bones) and do all of those tails in one special batch. Doing this lets you smoke similar thicknesses of fillets making your product more consistent.
Soak only 30-60 minutes:
- 30 minutes is normal, for fillets 3/4 inch thick to maybe 1 inch thick
- Longer for more salty finished product (which I prefer, but many others don't so I do both kinds)
- If huge King Salmon that is really thick, strip it lengthwise into strips 1 inch wide so it gets into the meat
- My favorite is 3/4 inch thick for a 45 minute soak, but I like it salty; vary to your own taste.
Remove from soak, do not rinse, lay on racks, and wait until they're not all soppy/shiny wet-like; maybe 45 minutes. If you're in a huge hurry use a fan and its more like 15.
Dust with black pepper.
Smoke'm on apple or cherry wood with your smoker temp at 150 F max, until fillets have internal temp of 130 F. Pull fillets individually as they're done, not the whole smoker's contents at once. Towards the end you're checking and pulling fillets every 10 minutes.
Let them cool, plus some. I vacuum pack mine and freeze to use all year long; if you package them up too soon they re-hydrate and water in there is bad. So let them sit overnight out in the open then cut into the portions you want and vacuum pack, this is about 12 hours later.
That's it; simple and straightforward.