Big Salmon Weekend

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cmayna

Master of the Pit
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Jun 23, 2012
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SF Bay Area, CA
This weekend I decided to continue to clear some space in the uncooked section of our two freezers, by turning some Salmon that belongs to our fishing buddy into Jerky (1st six pics) on Saturday and then yesterday, turned some of our own Salmon filets and tails into nice big chunks and strips (last six pics).


Jerky - Sliced up a big filet into small jerky strips.

At 5 am (yawn!) mixed the fish into my basic dry brine of a 4/1 ratio of dark brown sugar / non iodized salt. Very simple.....like me. Brined for 3 hours.

Rinsed and on the racks for a 2 hour drying session.

Into the MES40 with Alder pellets sitting in a AMNPS over in the mod mailbox. Worked like a champ! Smoked for two hours and then transferred to the dehydrator for another 4 hours.

Finished product. I'll retain a small bag worth but the majority goes to one of our fishing buddies, Norman.



Saturday afternoon, I started to prepare some tails and filets and felt this next session would be way too boring if I just smoke them as is. Besides, we already have plenty of smoked tails and filets. So out came the knife, slicing the tails into strips and cutting the filets into big nuggets (chunks) leaving the skin on most pieces. Actually at the last minute I cut some of the big chunks pictured below into smaller pieces. A little easier for the wife and other fishing ladies to digest. :-) Much easier to share while out on the boat.

Into the same brine mix as note above. Brined for 6 hours.

Stirring the mix 2-3 times during the 6 hour stint.

Smoked them for approx. 4 hours starting at 128 for 1 hour, bumped to 140 for another hour, bumped to 150 for another hour and then to 160 until an IT of 140 was met.

Finish product cooling down on the racks. While still warm, I lightly brushed them with diluted honey and lightly sprinkled with coarse pepper.


And yes, I'm keeping all of this batch. Belch!
 
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Al,

Thanks for the kindness.  Yes it was a very productive weekend.  Wish I had done the large chunks and tail strips long ago.  Think they'll be a big hit on the boats.
 
C, that  is some awesome looking fish, nice job! 
points.gif
 
BAM!   Simple and excellent. It is so-ooo tempting to Alter perfection. Yours is perfect, dude. I should try ALDER wood chips. Applewood is great and I am not messing with your method or recipe. Thank-you thank-you for your PICS. It makes it much easier to explain it to my Wannabe Smokers.  Your excellent description here is my BIBLE.   Locomotiveman Tom  
 
Question for you about the big chunks. How do you keep them after their done. In the fridge, frozen, vac sealed and at room temp? Granted, as good as they look in sure they don't last long.
 
Question for you about the big chunks. How do you keep them after their done. In the fridge, frozen, vac sealed and at room temp? Granted, as good as they look in sure they don't last long.
Fridge in a ziplok for immediate consumption within a couple days.

Fridge over night, then vacuum seal for a week + storage before consumption.

Fridge over night, then vacuum seal and then freeze for weeks or months of storage.

I have lots of smoked salmon filets, chunks, jerky, etc in the freezer destined for future consumption.
 
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Sorry for the late reply but no cure is used.


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