No need to season. After removing it from the brine, give it a quick rinse, pat dry, place on racks and air dry (preferably with a fan) to form pellicle. Try it without any extra seasoning the first time. You may not want to season at all afterwards.
I want to try your method out, it looks great. I have a question though, should I season the salmon before or after the pellicle is formed? Do you have any suggestions of what I could season the salmon with before I smoke it?
Thanks
Glad you enjoyed. Curious as to what kind of salmon you used? Have you had a chance to try it cold?
Smoked salmon for the first time following this guide and it is fantastic stuff. Really was pretty easy to do and it turned out great.
Thanks for all the help and the guide Mr. T!
This will work perfectly for you.
Question. I'm looking for a salmon recipe that will be served cold. Texture I'm looking for is the flacky dryer meat that is put on crackers with a spread for an appetizer? Is this that kind of recipe? Very new to smoking fish and want to give it a try. Thanks.
When using a manufactured cure of any kind, use, as recommended by the manufacturer as the % salinity, is a known. Use caution when using recipes that do not reveal the % salinity even though they may be popular. I have tested some that do not meet minimum standards for cured fish. I would further recommend purchasing a salometer for your wet brines. They can be purchased for under $15 and then all the guess work is eliminated.Mr. T I was wanting to do some fish with a maple wet cure i purchased from Waltons. I currently brine all my fish with a recipe from this site. I am just seeking your thoughts
I always package & freeze like size pieces for the freezer until I get enough for smoking. Small whole fish separated according to size. Large fish I fillet freeze tail sections together, separate belly sections for another pack & finally the larger loin sections together. I 1st wrap in saran wrap & then vacuum pack in a larger vacuum bag. Then when I get another fish I can cut the seal on the bag if necessary & and the new pieces wrap in saran & reseal & freeze. Just add new dates to the bag. This way brine & smoke times are the same for all pieces. You don't need to remove thinner pieces from brine or open smoker to remove. Fish caught & frozen this way within a month or 2 of each other have no noticeable flavor or texture diff. that I or family can discern.
My impressions - The fish had good flavor. Although the thinner pieces were just way too salty for my liking. The first piece I tried was very thin, and i thought the batch was going to be ruined. However, the thicker pieces were much better. I was quite surprised by the saltiness because I brine turkey, lamb and chicken all the time but those are larger thicker pieces of meat. Next time I will need to find a thicker fillet of salmon or adjust the salt level to my preference. The cherry and pecan smoke imparted a nice flavor and I really enjoyed it. The maple glazed pieces almost gave the fish a sweet/sour effect. Both glazed and unglazed were worth it and I would not hesitate to point anyone to this recipe.
My pleasure, glad you enjoyed.Just did this this weekend...spot on those who tried it loved it. Some cold beers along with this salmon were a big hit on Friday. Thanks for sharing your awesome recipe, will be making more soon.