# Sockeye H'ors Drawers for Christmas Eve...



## daveomak (Dec 21, 2014)

Soooo, the sockeye was filleted, the pin bones pulled, cut into "pick me up and eat me" sized chunks, weighed, the correct amount of my salmon mix with cure #1 added, per weight, zip bagged and in the beer fridge for 2 days....  Had to wait for the rain to quit and humidity to lower a bit.....

Got the fish rinsed and dried... on wire racks and on top of the pellet stove with a fan blowing on it....   took about an hour or two for the pellicle to form.....   smoker was warmed up and ready.....
In goes the fish....   in goes the slice/cookie of Alder my buddies bring me from the coast....  they actually bring me long logs and I cut the slices....    It takes 2 cookies and about 6 hours till the fish is done....  IT about 138....    It is moist and just the right amount of smoke....   I'm guessing this old smoker has done around 5,000#'s of fish over the 28-30 years... 

...Click on pics to enlarge....

... Drying........                                  ...pellicle formed......                                           ...perfect pellicle......













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Pellicle Formed.JPG



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.... in the smoker.....   done.....  done...... and done and plated.....












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...The Alder cookie.....   The modified Totem Smoker.....  It needed a bigger burner to combat the cold temps here in Eastern Washington...












Alder Cookie.JPG



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....And IMNSHO.... (in my not so humble opinion).....  The best smoker ever designed and built to smoke fish....












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## pc farmer (Dec 21, 2014)

Man that looks great.


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## mr t 59874 (Dec 21, 2014)

Looking mighty good, Dave.

Tom


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## daveomak (Dec 21, 2014)

It came out pretty nice....  and good....


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## one eyed jack (Dec 21, 2014)

Sure looks like a winner to me Dave.  The plate of bite size pieces looks at least as good as a plate of Christmas cookies.  (And as hard to keep your fingers off of).


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## cmayna (Dec 23, 2014)

Dave,

Are there vents on the top of your smoker somewhere?


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## daveomak (Dec 23, 2014)

cmayna said:


> Dave,
> Are there vents on the top of your smoker somewhere?



The entire door leaks....    top, sides and bottom...   There is pretty good air flow considering the size of the smoker....


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## goliath (Dec 23, 2014)

your my HERO .......
well at least one of them ....  LOL
used to use an electric chainsaw with veg oil in it to cut pucks off our huge cherry tree years ago when i lived down south...
you seem a bit stingy with the recipe Dave !!!!
 

Goliath


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## Bearcarver (Dec 23, 2014)

Looks Beautiful, Dave!!!
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Mighty Tasty!!
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





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Bear


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## mbogo (Dec 24, 2014)

That there is mouth candy-   B E U tiful....     Alder cookie, love it!


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## roller (Dec 24, 2014)

Looks great Dave..mine did not last 3 days...


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## daveomak (Dec 24, 2014)

GOLIATH said:


> your my HERO .......
> 
> well at least one of them ....  LOL
> 
> ...



50:50... W:W... salt:sugar + spices + cure #1
I use 2% salt and 2% sugar which is 4% of the mix on the fish....  at 200 Ppm nitrite max allowable per FDA, that's 3.2 grams cure #1 per 1000 grams of fish...  so, 4% or 40 grams of mix per 1000 grams of fish needs 3.2 grams of cure per 40 grams of mix.... 

So the recipe is 500 grams salt + 500 grams of sugar + spices + 80 grams of cure #1....  then add the mix at 4% of the fish weight....  at room temp, moisture will be sucked out of the fish and dissolve the mix...  that's OK...  then it will be re adsorbed into the meat..  into a zip bag for a couple days (if the fish is 1/2" or less)... turning a couple times a day...   add water to the bag and gently rinse...  remove and rinse and dry...  form the pellicle and smoke at 80 ish while raising the smoker temp, slowly, to 150 ish....  in several hours, the fish will reach 135-140 ish ....  hold there for awhile and it's done....  If you see oils start to ooze from the meat, turn the smoker temp down 5 deg or so....  fat out is worse on fish, than it is on sausages... 




Bearcarver said:


> Looks Beautiful, Dave!!!Thumbs Up
> 
> Mighty Tasty!!:drool -------------------:points:
> 
> ...



Thanks Bear.....




Mbogo said:


> That there is mouth candy-   B E U tiful....     Alder cookie, love it!



Thanks Mbogo



Roller said:


> Looks great Dave..mine did not last 3 days...



I was told, under no uncertain terms.......   Keep you hands off the fish....   It's for Christmas Eve.....   by, you guessed it....   SWMBO....  Bride...


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## leah elisheva (Dec 24, 2014)

Sounds delicious! Merry Christmas! Cheers! - Leah


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## dirtsailor2003 (Dec 24, 2014)

Nice load of salmon Dave! Sure wish I still had my Big Chief Smoker. I really need a dedicated fish smoker. I don't care what everyone says the fish smell, especially I'd you smoke tuna lingers in the smoker. After my fish trifecta smoke I had to clean the darn GOSM twice, then do three 6 hour smokes to get the fish smell out! Ughhh!


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## daveomak (Dec 24, 2014)

Hey Dirt....   You got that right......     By the way....  I'm eating the smoked sockeye as I type.....  DARN stuff is more awesome today....   WOWZERS.....  













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## disco (Dec 24, 2014)

Dave, that is an amazing looking dish. I just love smoked salmon and wish I could afford to make it more often. Terrific job sir.

Disco


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## daveomak (Dec 24, 2014)

Disco said:


> Dave, that is an amazing looking dish. I just love smoked salmon and wish I could afford to make it more often. Terrific job sir.
> 
> Disco




Thank you Disco.... 
I wish my old skipper lived closer and dropped off sockeye more often....   Bride and I were just discussing that...  more sockeye, more often....   repeat....  repeat....


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## dirtsailor2003 (Dec 24, 2014)

DaveOmak said:


> Hey Dirt....   You got that right......     By the way....  I'm eating the smoked sockeye as I type.....  DARN stuff is more awesome today....   WOWZERS.....
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Yeah I've always liked smoked fish better a day or two later. I will say though I could've eaten that smoked tuna belly day one until I was sick!


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## daveomak (Dec 24, 2014)

dirtsailor2003 said:


> Yeah I've always liked smoked fish better a day or two later. I will say though I could've eaten that smoked tuna belly day one until I was sick!



I used to fish out of Newport....  I ran out 70 miles and stayed a couple days and fished albacore....   Albacore belly on the BBQ was the most awesome stuff I ever ate.....


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## cmayna (Dec 25, 2014)

You know what's the best?   Is when you have smoked a bunch of Salmon filet's  or nuggets,  fridge them overnight in a large Tupperware box to mellow out.  Next day while you are munching on a couple pieces while vacuum sealing the rest, check out the juices at the bottom of the Tupperware.  OMG!  Can you say "Sweet honey nectar from the Salmon gods".  About two TBSP's pure yumminess which I immediately down.  Sluurrpppp!


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## benson56 (Dec 30, 2014)

Finding red salmon is a task in itself......specially in Nebraska. Did find a bag at Sams' Club one time. Once.

Looks great Dave. Best meat I ever ate was well smoked sockeye.


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## daveomak (Dec 30, 2014)

benson56 said:


> Finding red salmon is a task in itself......specially in Nebraska. Did find a bag at Sams' Club one time. Once.
> Looks great Dave. Best meat I ever ate was well smoked sockeye.




Hey Benson....  Sockeye does have an unmistakable flavor all it's own...  Pretty awesome in my book...  2nd place is White King....   Then Black Sea Bass and then Walleye......


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## 2010ultra (Jan 10, 2015)

hey Dave i have a question. can i just take salmon and cure it in salt then throw it in the smoker to get some smoke flavor. i was thinking i could cure it for 10 days or so in salt then smoke it. am i thinking wrong?


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## cmayna (Jan 10, 2015)

10 days in salt?   I typically brine my Salmon for 3-7 hours in a mixture of Dark brown sugar & non iodized salt.  Then rinse and room dry for 2+ hours then smoke.


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## 2010ultra (Jan 10, 2015)

ya like prosuitto!


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## daveomak (Jan 11, 2015)

2010ultra said:


> hey Dave i have a question. can i just take salmon and cure it in salt then throw it in the smoker to get some smoke flavor. i was thinking i could cure it for 10 days or so in salt then smoke it. am i thinking wrong?



It will be really salty...   I salt fish, that is salted heavily for 3 months, then freshen and make lox....  but I add cure #1 and sugar and some herbs and spices for flavor...  the I tried bmudd's lox recipe and I like it very much....  You can salt heavily for a few hour, freshen and hot smoke for kippered salmon.....   all depends on what final product you are looking for...  In any recipe, I would add cure #1 for food safety...
There are something like 7 different strains of botulism and other pathogens that  "may" come into play...


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## 2010ultra (Jan 11, 2015)

awesome thanks for the advice dave. couldnt find anything on here so i really appreciate it.


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