# disco's Candied Salmon Success!



## SonnyE (Feb 25, 2018)

And... nirvana, almost.
Well, did a 12 hour burn-in with the new AMNPS to season it. That took up Fryday afternoon/night.
So Candied Salmon got off-set to Smokerday. Worked out, because it left overnight to do the cure. Cut up the pieces into cubeulars, put them into a glass casserole sorta dish, 1 cup of packed brown sugar, 1/4 cuppa Sea Salt. Covered the cubes, sealed the dish and put away in the fridge...
Smokerday I started the MES 30 at 100° to insure good draw. Guesstimated 6 hours of pellets, and racked my cubes. Two racks, for good circulation. Then set up a window fan to for the pellical in the cubes.
Sick wife comes out of her room and is NOT happy about the smell in the house. She thought I was burning something. :(
So I moved my Pellical-izing outside on the patio. :mad: 2 hours later I was happy with the cubes, time to smoke. By now, the MES 30 is really warm and stabilized. I lit my AMNPS and got it going, and put the racks in the smoker. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!
6 hours later and we are near evening, I shut down the heat and pulled the AMNPS. It was still smoking, but I guessed really close. The last of the pellets were smoldering. I let them cool and put them in a closed glass bowl to rest overnight in the fridge.
OK, so today is the final! Final-ly! I like Sage Honey, so I opted for a honey glaze. I made my glaze the night before, so I just daubbed and brushed it on the cubes in the bowl, snapped the lid on, and tumbled the lot to spread the Honey Glaze around. Then spread them on lightly greased mats for the 4 hour finish run.
Smoker was nice and warm at 185° - 200°, and I had 1 row of my home made Oak mini-curls in the AMNPS. In ya go and torched the dust. At first, looked good. But the Oak made such subtle smoke I had to stick my eyeball on the stack to see it. About 2 hours later the Oak was gone, there was no more smoke, and the IT of a fat piece was 161°.
So I declared it done.
And although a bit dry, it has wonderful taste, and oil, and the Honey Glaze finish.





















Thanks to Disco for the recipe!


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## SmokinAl (Feb 26, 2018)

It definitely looks delicious!
Al


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## gmc2003 (Feb 26, 2018)

Sonny looks like a nice treat. Job well done.

Point for sure

Chris


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## Bearcarver (Feb 26, 2018)

Looks Awesome, Sonny!!!:)
Bet they're mighty Tasty!!
Like.

Disco's a Great Teacher!

Bear


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## cmayna (Feb 26, 2018)

SonnyE,
Looks good.   Ahhhhh, now I remember Disco's original thread.  6 hours of cold smoke then 4 hours of hot smoke.   Maybe I should get off my backside and give this recipe a try.  Did you follow Disco's wet brine recipe?


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## daveomak (Feb 26, 2018)

I'd eat 'em...  good job....


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## BandCollector (Feb 26, 2018)

daveomak said:


> I'd eat 'em...  good job....



I'd eat 'em too. . . .They look great!


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## SonnyE (Feb 27, 2018)

Thank You All! 
They came out tasting great, but I think maybe a tad dry.
Still the oil stayed captured with the cold smoke/hot smoke method, no white bumps formed. So they are appealing to the eye, overall. And the Honey Glaze is shiney, and pretty dry to the fingers.
I think I tend to over smoke things. But I'm trying to refine my old branded in ways. 



cmayna said:


> SonnyE,
> Looks good.   Ahhhhh, now I remember Disco's original thread.  6 hours of cold smoke then 4 hours of hot smoke.   Maybe I should get off my backside and give this recipe a try.  Did you follow Disco's wet brine recipe?



Thank You Craig!
I used just a simple dry brine with Sea Salt and Brown Sugah. ;) (Sea salt (non iodized) because I have it. It's beginning to lump up, so I'm trying to use it up before it rocks. LOL! :rolleyes: ) 1 part Salt/ 4 parts Brown Sugah.
This time the end result isn't too salty. Just enough Salty/Sweet with the honey glaze.

In retrospect, disco did 6 hours of cold smoking. Even had a frozen water bottle in his chamber to hold down the temperature. I think I made a mistake of running my MES at 100 degrees during the cold smoking stage, and that dried out the Salmon.
So I blame Operator Error. 
Next time, no heat added. Just keep the system buttoned up as long as there is a trace of smoke leaving my stack.
I was trying to insure draw, but the variation dried the Salmon.

I used Hickory Pellets. They are a bit bolder flavored. Many prefer milder fuels.

I would encourage the recipe definitely be tried. Just avoid my mistake... :oops:

Delicious! :)


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## ksblazer (Mar 9, 2018)

I really need to give salmon candy a try. I could eat the stuff until it makes me sick and it's expensive to buy at the markets around here. Not to mention, it would be cool doing it on your own.

your batch looks great to me.


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## SonnyE (Mar 9, 2018)

ksblazer said:


> I really need to give salmon candy a try. I could eat the stuff until it makes me sick and it's expensive to buy at the markets around here. Not to mention, it would be cool doing it on your own.
> 
> your batch looks great to me.



Yep, Salmon *is* quite expen$ive. I normally buy the Plastic Salmon, flash frozen on the ship. Just a bit less than full fillet. 3# froze is ~ $26, where full filet is ~9.98 #. ($30 - equal weight)
I've done both, but prefer the Plastic Salmon for consistent quality.

My Grandson caught a big Salmon and home smoked it with his Dad in a Little Chief smoker with some alder from their 5 acres. It was sooo goood! (They're in Port Orchard, just up the road from you.)


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## idahopz (Mar 9, 2018)

Looks good to me - I like salmon candy a bit on the dry side


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## SonnyE (Mar 9, 2018)

idahopz said:


> Looks good to me - I like salmon candy a bit on the dry side



Then you probably would have liked this PZ.
It's all gone (Of course). So it couldn't have been that bad. LOL!
In retrospect, maybe 4 hours @ 100°?
Or just stick to the plan with fully cold smoked at 6 hours.

I think I'll try totally cold smoke in my MES 30 today. No meat, just burn some pellets to observe smoke and flow.
If that works, try cold smoking some Flounder. (My experimental fish at present.)

Sonny and Stupid Science all start with 'S'. LOL! :confused::D


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