# Smoked salmon off to its forever home



## Omnivore (Sep 13, 2019)

I've got a standing agreement with a  fishing guide that he gives me a bunch of salmon, I smoke half of it for him, and I keep the other half for myself. Both parties are A-ok with the arrangement!

So every month or so I smoke a big haul of salmon. It's been fun that I have lots of material to work with as I tweak the recipe now and then. This time around for one of the pieces I was keeping for myself, I threw some chopped cowboy candy on at the last minute. It was good, and looked ok, but didn't stick well or dry out as much as I'd hoped. Great flavor combo, but no need to really smoke them on each other.

I did my standard dry brine of one part salt, 3 parts brown sugar. Brushed with maple, alder smoke for a few hours at 140. I learn from Bear's recipe that letting the smoked pieces sit over night and then wiping off excess moisture with a paper towel really helps with the end product. Always picking up new tricks on this forum!


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## chilerelleno (Sep 13, 2019)

Yum!
It isn't hard to imagine the smell and taste.


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## tallbm (Sep 13, 2019)

Omnivore said:


> I've got a standing agreement with a  fishing guide that he gives me a bunch of salmon, I smoke half of it for him, and I keep the other half for myself. Both parties are A-ok with the arrangement!
> 
> So every month or so I smoke a big haul of salmon. It's been fun that I have lots of material to work with as I tweak the recipe now and then. This time around for one of the pieces I was keeping for myself, I threw some chopped cowboy candy on at the last minute. It was good, and looked ok, but didn't stick well or dry out as much as I'd hoped. Great flavor combo, but no need to really smoke them on each other.
> 
> ...



Nice work!  I'm jealous of your arrangement.
Any plans to do cold smoked Salmon Lox???  That is completely additional option you can add to your arsenal there :)


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## smokerjim (Sep 13, 2019)

looks tasty, that's about the only way I like salmon is smoked, tried it fresh a few times but just don't like it. what a great arrangement you have


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## marriedman (Sep 14, 2019)

Omnivore said:


> I did my standard dry brine of one part salt, 3 parts brown sugar. Brushed with maple, alder smoke for a few hours at 140. I learn from Bear's recipe that letting the smoked pieces sit over night and then wiping off excess moisture with a paper towel really helps with the end product. Always picking up new tricks on this forum!
> View attachment 405611
> View attachment 405612



OK, first off - incredible arrangement you have with that fella! Very envious of you in that regard. 

I am new to the forum so I don't know your brine routine, but I am interested! My wife brought home a salmon filet tonight and told me she wants it smoked tomorrow. Honestly, I've only smoked salmon once before and it was just OK. I think I only rubbed my salt and brown sugar on it 30 minutes prior to smoking. How long do you dry brine? Also, what type of maple syrup do you use? I like Grade B personally, but I don't know how well it takes to smoke.

Thanks!


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## cmayna (Sep 15, 2019)

Funny,
This is what I use to do (smoke for our deck hands, skippers, etc) and keep half.  But now since the wife and I fish so much, we barely have enough room in our freezers for our own fish let alone others.   BTW, nice looking pieces.

marriedman, the size of the pieces determine how long to brine (at least in my kitchen, it does).  If large fillets or nice size pieces, 6-7 hours maybe?


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## Omnivore (Sep 15, 2019)

marriedman said:


> OK, first off - incredible arrangement you have with that fella! Very envious of you in that regard.
> 
> I am new to the forum so I don't know your brine routine, but I am interested! My wife brought home a salmon filet tonight and told me she wants it smoked tomorrow. Honestly, I've only smoked salmon once before and it was just OK. I think I only rubbed my salt and brown sugar on it 30 minutes prior to smoking. How long do you dry brine? Also, what type of maple syrup do you use? I like Grade B personally, but I don't know how well it takes to smoke.
> 
> Thanks!


Hello! I'm sorry I'm just now responding to this. I do a variation of Hank Shaw's (honest-food.net) recipe for salmon candy. Instead of 1:1 salt to sugar, I go for 1:3. I also don't smoke it to salmon candy hardness but his recipe is really awesome regardless. I tend to chunk my fish up into 1.5 inch strips instead of bigger fillets so I usually cure them for 2-3 hours. Once cured, the fish should feel firm, but not rock hard - it should still feel like the inside has a little squish to it (at least the way I make it). I wish I had a better way of explaining that but once you get it cured once, you'll know what to look for. I use the grade B maple from Costco and brush some on about an hour into smoking and then sometimes again in another hour. I think next time I'm going to boil down the maple a bit so it's thicker and doesn't bead off as easily. I hope this info helps! Let us know how your next round of smoked salmon turns out!


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## Omnivore (Sep 15, 2019)

chilerelleno said:


> Yum!
> It isn't hard to imagine the smell and taste.


Thanks Chile! It's hard not to just eat all the bellies right off the smoker



tallbm said:


> Nice work!  I'm jealous of your arrangement.
> Any plans to do cold smoked Salmon Lox???  That is completely additional option you can add to your arsenal there :)


Thank you! I have't done lox but it's on my list. I've been wanting to try homemade bagels so maybe I'll just go all in.



smokerjim said:


> looks tasty, that's about the only way I like salmon is smoked, tried it fresh a few times but just don't like it. what a great arrangement you have


Try flaking up some smoked salmon into fried rice, it's once of my favorite ways to eat it!



cmayna said:


> Funny,
> This is what I use to do (smoke for our deck hands, skippers, etc) and keep half.  But now since the wife and I fish so much, we barely have enough room in our freezers for our own fish let alone others.   BTW, nice looking pieces.
> 
> marriedman, the size of the pieces determine how long to brine (at least in my kitchen, it does).  If large fillets or nice size pieces, 6-7 hours maybe?


Thanks! It looks like you guys have had a good season! I wish I could get out there more often.


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## marriedman (Sep 15, 2019)

Omnivore said:


> Hello! I'm sorry I'm just now responding to this.


No problem at all! Thanks for replying at all.



Omnivore said:


> I tend to chunk my fish up into 1.5 inch strips instead of bigger fillets so I usually cure them for 2-3 hours.



Oh, that short of a cure? I thought it would take overnight or longer. 



Omnivore said:


> Once cured, the fish should feel firm, but not rock hard - it should still feel like the inside has a little squish to it (at least the way I make it). I wish I had a better way of explaining that but once you get it cured once, you'll know what to look for.


Yeah, this is one of those things that I am sure I am going to enjoy practicing!


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## smokerjim (Sep 15, 2019)

Omnivore said:


> Try flaking up some smoked salmon into fried rice, it's once of my favorite ways to eat it!


sounds good, it's been a while since i've got salmon to smoke, we used go fishing up lake Ontario quite a bit, but it's been a few years since i've been up there. but if I get some i'll have to try that.


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## cmayna (Sep 16, 2019)

Sometime try cold smoked lox.   I bring it on our fishing trips to serve with cream cheese and bagels or crackers.


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## tallbm (Sep 16, 2019)

cmayna said:


> Sometime try cold smoked lox.   I bring it on our fishing trips to serve with cream cheese and bagels or crackers.



You know I have only smoked my salmon as lox.  I have never done hot smoked salmon.  I'm not opposed to hot smoked salmon but man the lox is soooooooooo good.  I have an issue.  Being in TX I can only cold smoke in like Jan-Feb when it is actually cold enough to keep the smoker under 70F lol.  I guess I could do overnight smokes earlier in our so called winter BUT it's only a 4 hour smoke and I'm too lazy to smoke between 1-5am lol. 

I may just have to do a hot salmon smoke but they usually get grilled within 2 hour of me buying any... and my grilled salmon is gooooooood! :)


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## uncle eddie (Sep 16, 2019)

Wow!  Like!  I would love to have an arrangement like you have.  Your salmon looks great too.


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## CZN (Sep 18, 2019)

Omnivore said:


> I learn from Bear's recipe that letting the smoked pieces sit over night and then wiping off excess moisture with a paper towel really helps with the end product. Always picking up new tricks on this forum!
> View attachment 405611
> View attachment 405612



Looks great! May I ask whet wiping the excess moisture does? Do you leave the fish on the racks in the fridge, or throw them all in a big container then wipe them off prior to vacuum sealing?  Cheers!


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