# First Smoked Salmon (with qview)



## im1986 (Nov 29, 2011)

Today a friend gave me a 13# chinook salmon. It was kinda spawned out, but i figure it would be a good fish to start with on the smoker. 

So i brought it home, cut it into fillets, made a brine out of water, salt, brown sugar, and soy sauce. 

My questions are:

1. how long to brine?

2. how long to hot smoke it?

3. what temps should i hot smoke it at?  

Now for the pictures. 

Here is the whole fish.








Cut into fillets 







And into the brine







Thanks guys.


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## im1986 (Nov 29, 2011)

Well i cooked up a small slice of this salmon, and the meat on it is terrable. I have decided not use it for smoking. I think the fish was just too spawned out.

I am going to pick up some salmon from safeway tomorrow.


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## SmokinAl (Nov 30, 2011)

I do all my salmon fishing at Sam's!


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## africanmeat (Nov 30, 2011)

sorry it is a nice fish ,what did you put in the brine?


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## tjohnson (Nov 30, 2011)

Do they just get nasty after they spawn?

I suppose they are near death, and this may be why the meat is bad

TJ


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## frosty (Nov 30, 2011)

Al, you crack me up.  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





   I think I heard somewhere that obtaining Salmon after the spawn is not a good thing due to several different changes, AND the death thing CAN't be good.  Let the bears have them.


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## im1986 (Nov 30, 2011)

Yes, they get real nasty after spawn. I knew this one was real borderline. The meat turns sour and is totally un-eatable.


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## im1986 (Nov 30, 2011)

SmokinAl said:


> I do all my salmon fishing at Sam's!  :cool:



We don't have a same club up here, Walmart is the closest thing to same, however our safeway is the best for meats.


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## steamaway (Dec 1, 2011)

Would have been more fun catching him then smoking him!


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## im1986 (Dec 1, 2011)

steamaway said:


> Would have been more fun catching him then smoking him!




Yes it would of....


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## im1986 (Dec 1, 2011)

Well, here we go. Smoked Salmon Take 2. 

I bought 2 nice salmon fillets at safeway, cut them in half, and they have been in the brine for 24 hours. I got the smoker all ready, and I am going to attempt a cold smoke. 

How long should i cold smoke them? 

Here is the qview. 

Ready for the brine







Ready for the smoker







In the smoker


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## im1986 (Dec 1, 2011)

Well here is the finished salmon, 

I hot smoked it for about 2 hours at 170, then turned the heat up to 200 for the final 10 min. Tastes great, a little on the salty side. I think 24 hours in the brine is too long for my taste, next time i'm going to try 12 hours and cold smoking it.


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## rbranstner (Dec 2, 2011)

im1986 said:


> Well here is the finished salmon,
> 
> I hot smoked it for about 2 hours at 170, then turned the heat up to 200 for the final 10 min. Tastes great, a little on the salty side. I think 24 hours in the brine is too long for my taste, next time i'm going to try 12 hours and cold smoking it.


The salmon looks good from here. I am the same was as Al I do all of my salmon fishing at Sam's Club 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





. If the salmon was to salty you might want to try cutting back on the amount of salt in your brine especially since I see you have soy sauce in there as well. If you want a good brine to try or at least to look at some of the volumes of ingredients just do a quick search and you will find quite a few. Bearcarvers salmon brine is suppose to be really good if you want to search for that.


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## SmokinAl (Dec 2, 2011)

We don't use a brine, just EVOO & cajun seasoning.


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## steamaway (Dec 2, 2011)

I'm giving it my first crack at Salmon tomorrow. Think i'm going brineless.


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## owlcreeksmoker4 (Dec 2, 2011)

I'm with Al on this one as I never use brine on my fish, too delicate a meat in my opinion. just a good rub always does the job for me


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## im1986 (Dec 2, 2011)

yes I think that I am going to go brineless as well next time. 

I found a recipe that calls for a 1 hour marinade soak, seems pretty yummy. I'm going to give that a shot next time.


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