I have wanted to try smoking some salmon. I have a recipe that I grilled that I want to convert. However, a cooking instructor from decades ago taught me that you always start with a classic recipe before experimenting. My experience on this forum leads me to consider any recipe from Bearcarver a classic so I have started with his recipe prior to going out on my own,
The original post is at http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/91264/final-smoked-salmon-with-recipe-instructions-and-qview if you want to see the classic by the master.
It all started with a sale on salmon. Here in the mountains, buying a salmon filet usually involves mortgaging your home and saving for a year. However, they had a sale on frozen wild pink salmon fillets so I picked up a package. Pink salmon wasn't my first choice and these were skinny straggly trimmed fillets but I can still afford to eat for the rest of the month.
Bear says to skin the fish. I had to admit to some doubt. I have cooked a lot of salmon when I lived on the coast and rarely skinned it . However, I can not give one good reason not to skin it and it does seem more likely to let more brine and smoke in.
Whenever I try a new recipe, I start small so I only made 1/2 batch of Bear's brine. I could have got away with 1/3. Bear's Brine recipe is on his post above.
As the fillets were under 1/2 inch, I left them in for four hours. Bear states give them 6 hours if they are over 1/2 inch thick. Then, I put them on rack, dabbed them with paper towel to dry and in the fridge overnight. to dry the surface.
Here they are out of the fridge. I have to admit I wondered about drying the surface. My experience with salmon is that the surface will remain somewhat damp for a long time whatever you do. Regardless, they got the drying time.
I didn't have alder pellets which is my preferred salmon smoke from grilling so I went to my second favourite, Maple. I find it has a similar mild smoke like alder. Here it is loaded in the Bradley.
Bear's recipe calls for an hour at 100 F. The Bradley only goes down to 120 F so I did the first hour without any heat applied in the Bradley. The AMNPS raised the temperature to 90 F so it was close. the rest of the smoke went like this:
After one hour at 90 F, the IT was 78. I increased the temperature to 120 F.
After 1/2 hour at 120 F the IT was 90. I increased the temperature to 140 F
After 1/2 hour at 140 F the IT was 98. I increased the temperature to 160 F
After 1/2 hour at 160 F the IT was 109. I increased the temperature to 180 F.
After 1/2 hour at 180 F the IT was 120. I increased the temperature to 200 F.
It took 1 hour and 40 minutes longer to bring the IT to 140 F.
Here is the finished product.
The verdict. Excellent. There is a nice brine flavour, a touch of sweetness and a nice texture even from these raggedy salmon fillets. This is a classic hot smoked salmon.
I learned a lot following this recipe and feel more confident about trying to convert my favourite grilled salmon to the smoker. Thanks to Bear for his sharing his experience.
Disco
The original post is at http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/91264/final-smoked-salmon-with-recipe-instructions-and-qview if you want to see the classic by the master.
It all started with a sale on salmon. Here in the mountains, buying a salmon filet usually involves mortgaging your home and saving for a year. However, they had a sale on frozen wild pink salmon fillets so I picked up a package. Pink salmon wasn't my first choice and these were skinny straggly trimmed fillets but I can still afford to eat for the rest of the month.
Bear says to skin the fish. I had to admit to some doubt. I have cooked a lot of salmon when I lived on the coast and rarely skinned it . However, I can not give one good reason not to skin it and it does seem more likely to let more brine and smoke in.
Whenever I try a new recipe, I start small so I only made 1/2 batch of Bear's brine. I could have got away with 1/3. Bear's Brine recipe is on his post above.
As the fillets were under 1/2 inch, I left them in for four hours. Bear states give them 6 hours if they are over 1/2 inch thick. Then, I put them on rack, dabbed them with paper towel to dry and in the fridge overnight. to dry the surface.
Here they are out of the fridge. I have to admit I wondered about drying the surface. My experience with salmon is that the surface will remain somewhat damp for a long time whatever you do. Regardless, they got the drying time.
I didn't have alder pellets which is my preferred salmon smoke from grilling so I went to my second favourite, Maple. I find it has a similar mild smoke like alder. Here it is loaded in the Bradley.
Bear's recipe calls for an hour at 100 F. The Bradley only goes down to 120 F so I did the first hour without any heat applied in the Bradley. The AMNPS raised the temperature to 90 F so it was close. the rest of the smoke went like this:
After one hour at 90 F, the IT was 78. I increased the temperature to 120 F.
After 1/2 hour at 120 F the IT was 90. I increased the temperature to 140 F
After 1/2 hour at 140 F the IT was 98. I increased the temperature to 160 F
After 1/2 hour at 160 F the IT was 109. I increased the temperature to 180 F.
After 1/2 hour at 180 F the IT was 120. I increased the temperature to 200 F.
It took 1 hour and 40 minutes longer to bring the IT to 140 F.
Here is the finished product.
The verdict. Excellent. There is a nice brine flavour, a touch of sweetness and a nice texture even from these raggedy salmon fillets. This is a classic hot smoked salmon.
I learned a lot following this recipe and feel more confident about trying to convert my favourite grilled salmon to the smoker. Thanks to Bear for his sharing his experience.
Disco