# smoked salmon II



## chrish (Jun 6, 2007)

got my fish today and there in the brine capped off with some bagged ice and now the 48 hr wait.


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## jdmc0 (Jun 7, 2007)

Must be the weekend for smoked salmon.  I got a rick of cherry on monday and wife got a slab of salmon.  After work tonight will apply a little rub.  Friday morning going to fire up the smoker.  Will probably throw on some potatoes and corn on the cob to make the meal. Also will be doing a couple chickens and porkchops to seal up and freeze.  Be my first use of cherry so looking forward to tasting the results


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## chrish (Jun 7, 2007)

must be i see more then a few on other forums also smokin salmon.

I'm not smoking these for a meal,   when im done ill cut it into 2-3 oz chunks and vacume pak it all,   and come 4th of july at my family campout we can sit around and drink beer and snak on smoked salmon


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## shellbellc (Jun 7, 2007)

try Dutch's Maple Glaze on the salmon...It's excellent.  I also have done light dousing of teriyaki and the smother with pineapple preserves...excellente'


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## chrish (Jun 7, 2007)

is this for whole salmon like for what im doing?  the skin will be left on,  or for cut and grilled fish?

ive got some added maple to the brine.


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## chrish (Jun 9, 2007)

ok the fish went in at 5:30 this afternoon and heres a few picts 
if anyone is even interested in this











as of now its been in for 3 1/2 hours


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## wvsmokeman (Jun 9, 2007)

Looking very good Chrish!


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## chrish (Jun 9, 2007)

I'm on my 3rd pot of wood and the 6 th hr of smoking so im going to close it up and get the meat to 160 as a goal in meat temp,   i already know its going to be good  i can just tell,    a good cold smoke with fish is the best,  in an hour ill post more picts of the finished salmon.


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## chrish (Jun 9, 2007)

the smoeker temp avrage was 150-175 with the door propped open  but that didnt matter to me as to the amount of smoke there is,


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## chrish (Jun 9, 2007)

i thought these were posted last night sorry


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## deejaydebi (Jun 9, 2007)

Oooooooooooooo that looks so good!


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## chrish (Jun 9, 2007)

and it is good too
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





    the 48 hr brinning really brings out the flavor and adds alittle saltyness to it.

heres one of 3 plates after breaking it up






next is to freeze it and then vacume pack it.


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## shellbellc (Jun 11, 2007)

Looks great!
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





   Question about leaving the skin on...Since you break it up when you're done anyway, have you thought about skinning it before you start?  You would get more smoke penetration and you do a rub or glaze on it.  The maple glaze I referred to before was for a salmon whole filet, not "steak" style.   We love smoked salmon.  I saw in this weeks flier they have the copper river wild salmon on sale...might have to swing by, the filets don't take that long to smoke up!


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## navionjim (Jun 12, 2007)

Man I can't resist, I've been smoking salmon for years, your's looks great. Some time back I came up with a different method than straight hard smoking. 

Using the standard Lhur Jensen recipe for Great Salmon Brine, I cut the fish into steaks and brine for 12-24 hours, this is followed by a fairly cold smoke for a short 6 hours. All over alder wood. Then I clean off all the skin and bones including the brown meat on the lateral line. This is the most time consuming part too. Pack the fish in 1/2 pint jars and can at 10 psi for 110 minutes. It stores forever and you can't beat it!

Seven years ago a couple of friends and I decided to do a very large batch and we flew up to Dutch Harbor where we bought 600 pounds of Alaskan Reds. 88 cents a pound and frozen solid. We freighted it back to PDX for an airline rate at 12 cents a pound and put it in a friends walk in freezer. 

We processed 50 pounds a week for 12 weeks running and will never do that again. It almost cost us all our friendship due to the intensive labor involved. Taught me to always be careful what you wish for.


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## chrish (Jun 12, 2007)

I leave the skin on to protect the meat and to keep the meat from drying out,  this meat you can squeeze the juice out of it with your fingers so thats why i have to freeze it before i vacume pack it or the machine will suck the juice right out of it.
all the meat ends up with a light smoke flavor alittle salty sweetness to it from the brine but the smoke gets through the skin and the skin is abit bitter from the smoke buildup on it.

when i get out fishing here ill have to try some glazes with the skin off to see how it comes out.  

i ended up with over 20 packages 





man i wouldent want to do 600 pounds of fish  unless i was selling it.  good price tho jim.


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## deejaydebi (Jun 12, 2007)

Good God 600 lbs of fish? I wouldn't eat that much in a lifetime, but then Salmon around here goes for $10 to $16 a pound.


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## chrish (Jul 4, 2007)

well i needed more for the family campout so i smoked 2 more salmon today,   this came out better then the last batch but i tweeked the brine and the wood alittle,  good thing i keep notes.







added more maple and a spice i realy like
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





   plus it brined for 2 1/2 days.
then then i wanted to do something different so on the first smoke box i put in 4 chunks of mesquite the rest was hickory,  the 2nd fill of the smoke box hickory/peach  50/50 to sweeten things up abit,  and it payied off.


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