# salt for brine?



## twistertail (Dec 29, 2009)

Can I use regular table salt for brine?  I'm at work and have my smoker and going to smoke a salmon fillet tomorrow.  I want to brine it over night and the only salt I have is regular table salt.  I've got sugar and some garlic powder to use also.


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## hounds51 (Dec 29, 2009)

*DO NOT USE IDIONIZED SALT!!!!!!!!  You can use non Idionized salt, but the Iodine in the salt will change the flovor for the worst in your fish. you might want to consider using some cure also in your brime.*


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## twistertail (Dec 29, 2009)

Ok, thanks.  Like I said I'm at work with limited resourses so would I be better to not brine at all and just season with some salt, pepper and garlic powder tomorrow before I put it in the smoker?


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## sumosmoke (Dec 29, 2009)

If you're at work and can't make a proper brine, your seasonings sound like they'll be fine. Good luck!


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## tasunkawitko (Dec 29, 2009)

any non-iodized salt will be fine, if you have access to some. i use canning, kosher or sea salt, depending on my mood or what i am going for.

i would recommend some sort of salt in the brine due to its ability to kill/retard the growth of any microorganisms that might be present. even if you only have access to some sort of salty product such as soy sauce, that would be better than none at all.


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## scubadoo97 (Dec 29, 2009)

A *15.8*% brine is made with *1.568* lbs of salt to one gallon of H2O.  This is the amount of salt that will float an egg.

It's easy to see that if you wanted an *8*% brine you would use ~  *0.8* lbs or roughly 13 oz of salt per gal and so on.


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## travcoman45 (Dec 30, 2009)

Only salt I use fer smokin is kosher salt.  Other salts can be used but ya gotta remember, kosher salt measures out different then table salt due ta the crystal size.

Don't use regular table salt if its been iodized cause it can give ya a metal taste.

If ya got no salt, I'd skip it cause ya ain't brinin, takes salt in the water to transfer the flavour deep inta the meat.  Ya be better off ta season it an give it a hotter faster cook in my opinion.  Now my opinion an 50 cents get ya a cup a joe at jeff's diner!
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






  Fish bein thinner an such ya should have no problem gettin some smoke flavour in there an gettin it cooked up in a decent amount a time.

Good luck.


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## richoso1 (Dec 30, 2009)

What he said... solid advise.


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## twistertail (Dec 30, 2009)

Thanks a lot guys.  I put the salmon smoke off till tomorrow and brought in my kosher salt from home and will brine today.  Luckily a guy brought in a deer back strap to smoke today
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





  How long should I brine the salmon?  I was thinking of putting it in the brine this morning and then the smoker tomorrow morning but dont want to over brine.


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## scubadoo97 (Dec 30, 2009)

This is why measuring salt by weight and not volume is a better idea.  Even between kosher salts Diamond and Mortons are different in crystal size and weight per cup.  It's also easier to target a brine concentration using the formula I posted above.   Sure it's easy to say I use a cup of salt/gal and that works for me.  But we may want to brine other things that require different brine concentrations.  Making pickles may require a different concentration for instance.  If a recipe calls for 10% brine solution or 5% brine you want to have some way to quickly figure that out.


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## travcoman45 (Dec 30, 2009)

Most everbody has a mesurin cup, but not all folks have a scale, Yes it's better ta do it by weight as with anythin ya cook, but not everone's gonna do it that way, thus the point about measurin different salts.

Lots a ways folks cook, the more of em we cover the better.

If ya asked my grandma (rest her sole) she would tell ya ta use a cup a this er a cup a that an it ain't a 1 cup measure, it's the old coffee cup she had in the pantry fer measurin.  Just how some folk do it.


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## scubadoo97 (Dec 30, 2009)

I don't usually measure anything when cooking.  Baking is another story.  One reason I don't bake.


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