# First time at smoking fish?



## countrydirt (Aug 8, 2022)

I'm a returning newbie to smoking food.  My best friend spent most of the summer in Alaska and has a freezer full of salmon.   She threatened/offered to bring a bunch over for me to smoke.   I don't have the first clue of where or how to start.  I've only done brisket and pork and a few birds many years ago, but have an offset inexpensive smoker.  Advice? Tips? Primers?  

Don't want to disappoint my friend.  She lived in Alaska for many years and loves smoked fish.


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## PolishDeli (Aug 9, 2022)

First decide if you want to cold smoke it or hot smoke it.



 SmokinAl
  has an excellent smoked lox recipe.

Also, here's a link with some good info on smoking salmon:





						Smoked Salmon
					

Salmon is a large fat fish which produces most delicious smoked fillets. There are many salmon species and they are all suitable for smoking.




					www.meatsandsausages.com
				



These recipes don't include any Cure#1 though. I prefer to use cure when smoking fish added safety and flavor.


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## RME (Aug 29, 2022)

Hi,

I am a new member and I'm generally at best low average with my smoking. But I did work offshore in Alaska for over 10 years in the seafood industry and have cooked a lot of salmon, halibut, and spot prawns. As I used to get a lot of it comped. And sorry Alaska but think Atlantic cod is better than Pacific Cod. 

So general tips that have worked out for me.

King is my favorite to smoke. They are bigger with thicker fillets and the highest in fat content. Reds second. But also note pinks and chums good when processed directly after catching. Faroe Island is the only farmed salmon I like and I don't tell any of my friends still working in Alaska that I sometimes buy it. But here in the wilds of upstate New York it's about half as much as wild salmon.

The best way to defrost a frozen filet is to let it sit in your refrigerator until defrosted. Which might take 2 days.

To extent you have whole frozen fish (in the round is industry term that describes that) or head and gut, use carcass to make stock. 

Do remove pin bones. A tweezer made for this purpose tends to leave less of a divot in the salmon than using needle nose pliers. Chef Knives To Go has a cheap pair of tweezers for maybe 12 or 15.

A really thick fillet brines more evenly if you remove the skin first. There are a great many YouTube videos about how to do this, but it's pretty simple. All you need is a flat cutting surface and a really sharp fillet knife. Fun fact. The Japanese who are super big on seafood have a special knife, called a deba, only beveled on one side and used exclusively for skinning and breaking down fish.

If you remove the skin first you can roast it in the oven until a bit crispy and use it in assorted Japanese Korean Chinese etc. seafood dishes.

For hot smoking a wet brine works better than a dry brine. Brine for 18 to 24 hours then a full 8 hour day uncovered in refrigerator. Which dries the surface forms a barrier and helps avoid white stuff.

Hot smoking is best at a relatively cool temperature. I do it at 200F but some people say 150F is better. Although I might worry about it food safety cooking it at that low temperature.

You absolutely want to avoid the white stuff. Albumin. Any salmon I've ever had where that stuff was squeezed out was porked. Meaning dry. It's avoided by wet brine followed by drying out in refrigerator, useing relatively low temperature to cook, and glazes.

Which is also why my favorite way to cook salmon is in a low oven (250F) skin side up on a bed of butter slices until it gets to about 120 to 125F. You can tell it's done when the skin peels off easily. That's good with some fresh herb oil made with a blender and garlic mashed potatoes.  And if I have paid 38 a pound for a fresh King fillet I know the low oven technique has a very low possibility of my screwing it up.

And while digressing into cooking versus smoking would suggest almost all fish and shellfish benefit from an hour or two in a 5 percent brine before cooking.

My favorite salmon brines and glazes use maple syrup.

For cold smoking it's safer to use a pink salt cure. Having said that, it's mainly winter here in upstate New York. If the outside temperature is below freezing then I can keep the cold smoking chamber temperature below freezing. 

For winter cold smoking I just pour some pellet smoker pellets into a pan and use a propane torch to light some of them so they burn like a fuse. And then put that smoking pan along with the fillets inside a smoker and let it go for 2 hours or so.

I hope that was helpful.


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## cmayna (Aug 30, 2022)

Countrydirt,
Sorry for the late reply.  Do you have an electric smoker available?  I smoke a tremendous amount of Salmon since the wife and I do a lot of fishun'.   Since I smoke at 125-145F, electric is the way to go.

The size of the pieces will determine how long you brine.  My go to brine is a simple 4 to 1 ratio of dark brown sugar over non iodized salt.

For large pieces such as filets, I will brine for 7-8 hours, rinse and room dry for 2 hours.  Then into the smoker we go, starting at 125* and graduate to 145ish.  Smoke time for filets average around 4 hours.  I start with Alder and end with Apple.

Cheers


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## RME (Aug 30, 2022)

Smoking that low should be great for salmon. 200F is about as low as I can get my wood/charcoal smoker to.  Do you have any issues with bacteria at those temperatures, or does the brine solve that?


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## cmayna (Aug 30, 2022)

Never have had any bacteria issues.


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## zwiller (Aug 30, 2022)

Just passing along a comment I've seen mentioned more than a few times: Fish funks up smokers.  I would suggest picking up disposable trays or maybe go as far to suggest getting a used cheap electric like MES on FB Marketplace and dedicate it.  Also, I bet Pops low salt brine would work well on salmon.  It's a great entry point into curing.


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## RME (Aug 30, 2022)

cmayna said:


> Never have had any bacteria issues.


Thanks and upon reflection that makes sense. Both the salt and sugar cure and the smoke would stop bacteria. And I now recall Native smokehouses where the fish was butterflied on stakes around a fire. That temperature would be pretty low. Will try your method next time.


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## countrydirt (Sep 8, 2022)

Thank you all for the good insights.  I don't have an electric smoker.  I know I could always grill it.  I haven't really had much luck keeping the charcoal smoker at or around 200 - generally it runs more in the 250 and up range.


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