Round two for the salmon

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MrTom

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I was up at 3 am this morning getting the smoker going and getting the salmon fillets in it trying to beat the heat coming today. Not quite 6 hours of flavor making is on this fish....a great plenty based on my sampling. I need to get this cooled then sealed up while there is still some to seal up. lol

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Man that looks good! :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: I see where that "Sample" is missing from. You have much more restraint that I wold have. :lol:
 
I had a "sample". The "I don't care for smoked fish" woman had a better taste than I did.
 
It ought to be illegal to post pictures like that. Tom, your killing us.

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herschel conyers said:
It ought to be illegal to post pictures like that. Tom, your killing us.

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No kidding! :lol: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool:
 
This batch is all sealed up and in MY freezer. The first batch was the buddies and he picked it up a couple days ago. I have this much yet to do later on...October or November. I have a mess of smoked Lake Trout to eat up first.
 
That stuff looks AMAZING!! :yeah: Brings back Old Memories of Salmon and Steelhead on the Wa Coast. I caught a LOT of King Salmon (Chinook) That weighed well over 30 pounds, The Average fish was 20-25 pounds, My dad caught Several that was up in the 50 pound Range, I have an old picture somewhere of my Dad with a 55 pounder. The Kings were an AWESOME fish to Smoke, But my 2 Favorites were Steelhead, and Silvers (Coho) The silvers we’re anywhere from 5 pounds up to near 20 for the Big Hook Nose
 
New here, and have enjoyed reading your posts on food items. I get a load of salmon every year from a friend in Alaska and keep trying to fine tune the smoking process. I'm never totally happy with what I end up with. Do you (or anyone) mind sharing your thoughts on what you use for brine, brine time, smoking time & temp, or other little tips to make excellent smoked salmon? Thanks!
 
I don’t wet brine fish. I use a simple rub made using equal parts of brown sugar and Morton’s Tenderquick. I rub this into the gut side of the fillets and lay them in a plastic or glass baking dish. This goes in the fridge for at lest 24hours. Rinse the fillets with cool running water and pat dry using paper towel. Skin side down on rack and smoke to desired doneness. I vacuum seal my smoked fish as so as they are cool to room temp. I allow the fish to thaw in the sealed package in the fridge.
 
I've done it dry and with wet brine. I haven't noticed much of a difference. But I have never tried using the Tenderquick (just salt). I'm getting ready to pull a salmon from the freezer and experiment before I do a good load. Will try the Tenderquick and see what happens.
 
Biggest thing ive found is let them air dry long enough to form a slightly tacky "skin" on the meat. Then toss them in the smoker as cold as you can get it. Higher fat content yields much better smoked salmon. Good Sockeye is very fatty, Kings would be up there too but ive had smoked Steelhead that was incredible. If you see fat rendering out of the meat during smoking its getting too hot.

A slightly spicy teriyaki makes a killer brine for salmon if you want to try something different. This batch got a little too hot but were excellent for store bought fillets.
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I assume it needs to be hot enough to cook the salmon. Correct? Like 150 degrees or so?

GM54 mentions watching the fish for signs that the fat if rendering or oozing out of the meat....that's as much heat as you want on fish and maybe should back the heat level down a hair. I don't use a thermometer much but I do pay attention to what is happening to the meat. That said, salmon smoked like you see in the pictures here is not really "cooked", but rather it is dried enough to where it may act like its cooked when handled.
 
Hmmmm. Will be doing some experimenting with some different cures and smoking methods.
 
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