# Smoked Salmon



## bryce (Apr 25, 2015)

Well, I picked up an new Little Chief last week and about 4 lbs. of wild salmon today. I'm going to fire up the LC tomorrow AM and get the salmon in there as soon as it's dried off and formed a pellicle.

I modified a brine developed by Mr. T.

Here is it in the brine until tomorrow morning.













salmon saturday 1.jpg



__ bryce
__ Apr 25, 2015






See you tomorrow!


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## dukeburger (Apr 25, 2015)

Guess I'll be watching my first fish smoke!


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## WaterinHoleBrew (Apr 25, 2015)

I'm in....

:popcorn

Not done a wet brine before, I do a dry brine....  What temp ya gonna smoke at ?


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## cmayna (Apr 25, 2015)

Bryce, Looking forward to watching your step by step.   Have fun.


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## twoalpha (Apr 25, 2015)

Will be watching for the results. Salmon is on my to do list.


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## bryce (Apr 25, 2015)

Went to the gym so got a bit of a late start. Here it is, freshly out of the brine, patted dry and now waiting for the pellicle to form.













salmon saturday 2.jpg



__ bryce
__ Apr 25, 2015






Not sure what temp I'm smoking at. Best guess is somewhere between 150 and 160 without the box over it. Lot's of unknown with the Little Chief. I'll just be patient and let it do it's thing.


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## bryce (Apr 25, 2015)

Loaded and ready for smoke. I need to get one of those mats to prevent the food from falling through the wide grates on this smoker. 50% apple and 50% alder.













salmon saturday 3.jpg



__ bryce
__ Apr 25, 2015


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## dirtsailor2003 (Apr 25, 2015)

Off to a tasty start!


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## bryce (Apr 25, 2015)

Smoking away













salmon saturday 4.jpg



__ bryce
__ Apr 25, 2015


















salmon saturday 5.jpg



__ bryce
__ Apr 25, 2015






151. So far I've seen it spike up to 160.


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## bryce (Apr 25, 2015)

2 hrs in.













salmon saturday 6.jpg



__ bryce
__ Apr 25, 2015


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## dukeburger (Apr 25, 2015)

Nice looking salmon!

Be careful when you peek, my Big Chief can sometimes take an hour to recover the heat loss


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## bryce (Apr 25, 2015)

You bet. These smokers are super sensative.I wrapped a couple blankets around it to get the heat up some more. Want 200.


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## WaterinHoleBrew (Apr 25, 2015)

Not trying to tell ya how to do your smoke, but if ya get the temp too high the salmon will "bleed" a white pasty looking liquid !  I learned that the hard way so just a friendly heads up !


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## bryce (Apr 25, 2015)

Thank you. I noticed that bleed today. I've never really avoided it before. Yeah I don't like it much. Not too pretty. I'm still only at 175 smoker temp with the towels wrapped around it 3 hrs in.


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## mr t 59874 (Apr 25, 2015)

There are several things that will contribute to what you are calling the bleed.  First, not allowing enough time for a good pellicle to form,  not handling the fish carefully allowing it to break or pull apart, and too much heat for too long.  Smoke at 200° and start backing the heat down when the thickest piece reaches 140° for the 30-minute rest at 145°.  It should have reached 140° within 45 - 60 minutes.

Tom


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## bryce (Apr 25, 2015)

Thanks Tom. I'm sure I didn't let it sit long enough... Maybe 45 minutes. Anyhow I don't have much leakage.

4.5 hours in. Salmon at 110 thickest part


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## WaterinHoleBrew (Apr 25, 2015)

It'll still be tasty Bryce, it took me a few tries to get it down....


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## mr t 59874 (Apr 25, 2015)

OK, let's not worry about anything this first go, you are learning and that's what counts.  

When forming a good pellicle, I will put it on racks and air dry with a fan for approx two hours, without a fan, four hours.

You are doing great.

Tom


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## WaterinHoleBrew (Apr 25, 2015)

Bryce, I should have not said anything....  If your working with Tom your in good hands, I didn't mean to overstep & say anything....  Good luck with your smoke, it'll be great !   Thumbs Up


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## mr t 59874 (Apr 25, 2015)

WaterinHoleBrew said:


> Bryce, I should have not said anything.... If your working with Tom your in good hands, I didn't mean to overstep & say anything.... Good luck with your smoke, it'll be great !


Hey, WHB, enough of that.  If I weren't doing beef ribs, you would be taking care of him.  Your input is always welcome.

T


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## dirtsailor2003 (Apr 25, 2015)

Bryce nice first smoke with that chief. You won't be able to lower the heat until you swap out that burner. Honestly I like to ramp the heat up when I smoke fish. Starting around 130. Then each hour increase 10 degrees until the fish hits 145, or the smoker hits 180. Then I leave it there until the fish hits 145.


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## bryce (Apr 25, 2015)

Thanks guys. Things are still going well. Fish still smoking but I snagged  little piece (some of the ends are very done) and decided I don't really like Sockeye. It has almost a citrusy taste to it. I'm just a king/steelhead guy.


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## WaterinHoleBrew (Apr 25, 2015)

Mr T 59874 said:


> WaterinHoleBrew said:
> 
> 
> > Bryce, I should have not said anything.... If your working with Tom your in good hands, I didn't mean to overstep
> ...



Thanks Tom, appreciate that !


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## mr t 59874 (Apr 25, 2015)

dirtsailor2003 said:


> Honestly I like to ramp the heat up when I smoke fish. Starting around 130. Then each hour increase 10 degrees until the fish hits 145, or the smoker hits 180. Then I leave it there until the fish hits 145.


You will find that using different times and temps will depend on the desired finished product.  Some prefer a moist end product while others lean toward a drier jerky type or anything in between.  You will find you're own and go with it.

T


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## bryce (Apr 25, 2015)

Went and snagged another couple of pieces. Mr. T's brine is great and imparts a good flavor for salmon. Combined with Alder it worked out really well.

Thanks for hooking me up with the recipe Mr. T!

Bryce


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## mr t 59874 (Apr 25, 2015)

Bryce said:


> Went and snagged another couple of pieces. Mr. T's brine is great and imparts a good flavor for salmon. Combined with Alder it worked out really well.
> 
> Thanks for hooking me up with the recipe Mr. T!
> 
> Bryce


You are welcome.  You will find the brine and procedure will work very well with the King salmon, my favorite also.

T


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## daveomak (Apr 25, 2015)

Bryce, afternoon.......    Next batch, think about leaving the skin on....  most of the fat, the good stuff, is between the skin and the meat....    

Did you use lemon or some other citrus in the brine ?????    I've eaten a lot of sockeye and citrus is one taste I haven't noticed.....  

Dave


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## bryce (Apr 25, 2015)

Thanks Dave. No, no lemon or citrus at all. Kind of stumping my wife and I. We just figured it was the salmon but now I'm wondering if it the wood I've been using either the brand or apple. The brine was money as I even tasted it prior to brining the fish a couple different times.

What wood do you use?

Bryce


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## daveomak (Apr 25, 2015)

Alder only on salmon....    Maybe the smoker needed breaking in....   smoke it for a day or so to get it cruddy black inside..... racks too...  spray them with Pam so the fish don't stick..

Was your dish soap a lemon scented soap ????    PSSSS.....   I NEVER wash or clean a smoker....  not even the racks....    Just heat it up to kill all the "bugs" and call it good.....


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## mr t 59874 (Apr 25, 2015)

DaveOmak said:


> Alder only on salmon.... Maybe the smoker needed breaking in.... smoke it for a day or so to get it cruddy black inside..... racks too... spray them with Pam so the fish don't stick..


Couldn't agree more Dave.  Hell, I had to grab my sunglasses to read his cheese thread.  
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






   Who has more fun than smokers?  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





He'll be teaching us before long at this rate.

T


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## dirtsailor2003 (Apr 25, 2015)

Alder is my favorite for salmon too. 













image.jpg



__ dirtsailor2003
__ Apr 25, 2015






It's what we use for the fire line at the Depoe Bay Salmon Bake.


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## bryce (Apr 25, 2015)

Mr T 59874 said:


> Couldn't agree more Dave.  Hell, I had to grab my sunglasses to read his cheese thread.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


LOLOLOL!!! sunglasses...
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





  It is pretty shiny huh.

It got a little dirty today though!


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## bryce (Apr 25, 2015)

dirtsailor2003 said:


> Alder is my favorite for salmon too.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's bad to the bone man. The original way of cooking salmon.


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## mr t 59874 (Apr 25, 2015)

dirtsailor2003 said:


> Alder is my favorite for salmon too.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Perfect DS, wonder if I could talk my wife into putting that on the deck?

T


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## cmayna (Apr 25, 2015)

Bryce said:


> You bet. These smokers are super sensative.I wrapped a couple blankets around it to get the heat up some more. Want 200.


Want 200?   No you don't, not for fish.  Yes when it comes to filet's,  keep the skin on.


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## bryce (Apr 26, 2015)

I'll have to try skin on. The mud line in some fish always bugged me so I went no skin most of the time.

Bryce


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## cmayna (Apr 26, 2015)

Here I preach with skin, yet today I'm doing a bunch of Salmon nuggets without skin.   It's all in size of the pieces to me but also if it's finger food such as jerky and nuggets you don't want to be picking off the small pieces of skin when trying to woof down multiple pieces of such yumminess.   For wood, I start out with Alder and then finish with apple.


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## daveomak (Apr 26, 2015)

Bryce said:


> I'll have to try skin on. The mud line in some fish always bugged me so I went no skin most of the time.
> 
> Bryce




That  "mud line" is natural fats...  depends what the fish eats that gives it flavor...   In salmon, it is omega fatty acids which are heart healthy...  I find the salmon from Oregon have a much finer flavor than those from Washington, Puget Sound..    I think it's due to Oregon salmon eating squid and sardines...    If you have never had troll caught Oregon King salmon, you are missing something special...


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## cmayna (Apr 26, 2015)

Personally, I think we west coasters should meet somewhere along the mid Oregon coast (Depoe Bay)  for a Salmon session and compare our smoking notes.  Better yet, bring our smokers or smoked products.


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## mr t 59874 (Apr 26, 2015)

cmayna said:


> Want 200?   No you don't, not for fish.


 Clarifying my procedure.  When smoke cooking salmon, the salmon is placed in a cold smoker (Cookshack 066) set at 200°.  The 200° temperature setting ensures the wood begins to smoke as the smoker begins to warm.  I really can't say that the internal smoker temp ever reaches 200° before the fish internal temp reaches 140°, usually within 45 minutes.  At this time, the smoker automatically goes to a 140° hold temperature.  At this time, the carryover temp will take the fish to 145° for the desired 30-minute rest.

Hope this clarifies my procedure.  I did add the clarification to the thread.  Mr T's "Smoked Salmon From Go to Show" w/Q-View

Tom


Bryce said:


> I'll have to try skin on. The mud line in some fish always bugged me so I went no skin most of the time.
> 
> Bryce


Yes, leave the skin on.  By doing so, it helps to keep the flesh from breaking.  The skin can easily be removed after the cook, if desired.

Tom


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## bryce (Apr 26, 2015)

cmayna said:


> Personally, I think we west coasters should meet somewhere along the mid Oregon coast (Depoe Bay)  for a Salmon session and compare our smoking notes.  Better yet, bring our smokers or smoked products.



Now you're talking.


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## bryce (Apr 26, 2015)

DaveOmak said:


> That  "mud line" is natural fats...  depends what the fish eats that gives it flavor...   In salmon, it is omega fatty acids which are heart healthy...  I find the salmon from Oregon have a much finer flavor than those from Washington, Puget Sound..    I think it's due to Oregon salmon eating squid and sardines...    If you have never had troll caught Oregon King salmon, you are missing something special...



Wow good to know. Thank you Dave. I've never had troll caught Oregon king salmon.


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