# First time Smoking Salmon



## SmokeyLee15 (Feb 20, 2021)

Did a 3/1 brown sugar, salt brine for about 7 hours. Rinsed and air dried for about 2 hours smoked until IT was 145. The bigger prices turned out great! Smaller pieces were a little dry. I love salmon so this was a great smoke, I’ll play with brines in the future and will probably pull at IT of 140.


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## cmayna (Feb 20, 2021)

Looks fantastic.   Your recipe is very similar to mine.  Yes, pull at 135ish.  Try  4/1 ratio. Good job!


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## SmokinAl (Feb 20, 2021)

I don’t brine mine, I just coat them with EVOO & Cajun seasoning. Smoke until they flake apart. Usually about 45 minutes at 225. I usually use mesquite, cause it’s such a short cook. We also do the same prep & cook on the kettle over charcoal & mesquite chunks. Only takes about 5-10 minutes. Just don’t overcook it or you will have salmon jerky.
Al


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## SmokeyLee15 (Feb 20, 2021)

Al,
 I'm going to try that and play around with a blackened seasoning .


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## thirdeye (Feb 20, 2021)

SmokeyLee15 said:


> Did a 3/1 brown sugar, salt brine for about 7 hours. Rinsed and air dried for about 2 hours smoked until IT was 145. The bigger prices turned out great! Smaller pieces were a little dry. I love salmon so this was a great smoke, I’ll play with brines in the future and will probably pull at IT of 140.


You did everything right, now it's time to fine tune your technique. I'm okay with 145° on the thicker pieces, but I pull the tail pieces sooner (and I cure the tail pieces with less time).   I know it's hard to resist, but if you let your finished salmon cool on the counter, then refrigerate overnight the fillets will always be moister and the surface will soften and make slicing without tearing easy.  I also give the finished fillets a *very light* spray of olive oil when they are still warm..., this helps with eye appeal and moistness.

The two-hour drying time is probably the minimum, I like 12 hours on a rack in the fridge.  If you buy skin-on fillets, they stay moister because of the fat on the skin.  Also for a moister product, an internal in the 138-140° will do that.  I kind of watch for the albumen, if you see a trace of that it's time to really watch the temp. For reference, here is a close-up of some skin-on salmon I smoked to maybe 142°, and it has chilled out before slicing.






I just smoked this last week, if you look close on the far right piece, the albumen has just barely risen to the surface.  My hot smoke time is about 4 hours.


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## Wurstmeister (Feb 20, 2021)

EVOO with a rub, then smoke with beech or alder  @165F until IT ~135/140F, cover with foil, serve . I use a Lahr-Jensen Little  Chief I “stole” from a hardware store of $35,, Didn’t have a box!?  it’s great for “warm smoke” : fish and small items incl vegetables, nuts, cold smoke cheese, etc.. The burner plate temp runs ~165F


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## thirdeye (Feb 20, 2021)

Wurstmeister said:


> EVOO with a rub, then smoke with beech or alder  @165F until IT ~135/140F, cover with foil, serve . I use a Lahr-Jensen Little  Chief I “stole” from a hardware store of $35,, Didn’t have a box!?  it’s great for “warm smoke” : fish and small items incl vegetables, nuts, cold smoke cheese, etc.. The burner plate temp runs ~165F


I have both a Little and Big Chief.  They are my go-to smoker for trout, steelhead and salmon.   In addition to the flavor smoked things you mentioned, I use it to double smoke ham hocks and shanks, and sometimes I'll add some flavor smoke to store bought bacon.  If it's a hot summer day, in direct sunlight I can pull a 180°, but you're right 160° is average.


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## troy kleasner (Mar 13, 2021)

SmokeyLee15 said:


> Did a 3/1 brown sugar, salt brine for about 7 hours. Rinsed and air dried for about 2 hours smoked until IT was 145. The bigger prices turned out great! Smaller pieces were a little dry. I love salmon so this was a great smoke, I’ll play with brines in the future and will probably pull at IT of 140.


What temperature were you smoking at?  I am making my first attempt smoking some salmon today.  They were from Costco, so they already had some kind of seasoning on them, but I added salt and some cajun spices.  I had them in the fridge dry brining all day yesterday and I rinsed them, dried them and put them back in the fridge to dry overnight.  I am planning on smoking at 180 until I get an IT of 140.  I am going to use a Masterbuilt with an AMNPS inside with mesquite pellets.  I am also thinking of oiling all of them before smoking and on one or two I am going to add different spices on them while leaving the others alone?  Thanks for the post and everyone who replied to it!


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