Don's Apple wood smoked salmon recipe
Brine
4 cups water
1/4 cup Kosher Salt
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon granulated garlic
1 tablespoon pickling spices crushed
4 lbs of boneless, skinless salmon cut to about 2 by 4 inch pieces
Apple wood chips
Whisk the brine ingredients in a 2 gallon or larger nonreactive container. Chill thoroughly.
Add the salmon, a few pieces at a time to the brine, being sure that that all sides of the fish have been bathed with brine and that the fish is completely covered by the liquid. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight.
Cure the racks with a coating of olive oil. Remove the fish from the brine and place with good spacing to allow for good smoke coverage
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For Pepper Salmon, dab the pieces with a paper towel to remove any excess moisture, then generously coat the top layer with ground pepper corns.
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For Sriracha salmon - first apply the pepper coating, then add a generous amount of Sriracha sauce on each of the pieces. Think of how they prepare a dragon roll at a sushi joint…
Add the racks to the smoker. I usually let the pieces dry another 20-30 minutes as I don't want the white goo coming out of the top of the salmon as it smokes.
When ready to smoke the salmon, set up smoker for "hot smoking" without steam (dry). Fill the chip container with apple wood chips and preheat the smoker per the instructions until filled with smoke. Smoke at low heat adding more chips as necessary for 45 minutes to 1.5 hours. About every 20 minutes during cooking check the chip supply and replenish as needed to keep the smoker filled with smoke.
Check frequently for your desired doneness, then remove the smaller pieces as necessary allowing the larger pieces more time to smoke. For a long lasting product, vacuum seal, and the smoke salmon will last up to 6 months in the freezer.
Duane's Smoked Salmon and Trout Recipe
Duane's Smoked Fish Recipe
This brine makes enough for 1 pound of salmon/trout. Simply multiply all
ingredients by the number of pounds of fish you plan to make.
Wet Brine Ingredients
Water - 2 Cups (Room Temperature)
Canning Salt - 1/8 Cup
Soy Sauce - 1/2 Cup
Brown Sugar - 1/2 Cup
Minced Garlic - 1 Tablespoon
White Pepper - 1/4 Teaspoon
Brining
Prepare the fish by doing the trimming & cleanup required. Don’t let the fish soak in water while
cleaning up as it will make it harder for the brine to penetrate the fish.
Mix all of the brine ingredients together in a glass bowl. Make sure to dissolve the salt and
sugar.
Put the fish in the bottom of a 1 gallon ziplock.
Stir up the brine to get things mixed again.
Ladle the brine into the ziplock.
Shake/slosh the ziplock around to make sure there isn’t any trapped air in/under the fish.
Close the ziplock most of the way but leave an inch open.
Slowly roll the ziplock on the counter to squeeze the air out.
Once the liquid starts to come out off the top of the ziplock, finish closing the ziplock.
Check that most of the air is out of the ziplock. If not go back to 6.
Put the ziplock in a tray/pan.
Set the pan in the fridge overnight.
Drying
In the morning (or after 8 hours), pull the tray out of the fridge.
Pull the fish out of the ziplock and set the fish on a cutting board. Toss the ziplock and brine.
Pat the fish dry with paper towels.
Set the fish on a cooling rack.
Set a small fan on the counter in front of the fish on the cooling rack.
Turn the fan on low to dry the fish. This will create a pellicle (dry film) on the fish that will keep
the fat in the fish and absorb the smoke flavor better.
This is a good time to get your smoker going. Set it for 140F.
About every 1/2 hour, lightly tough the fish with your fingers. If the fish is wet or sticky, then let it
dry another 1/2 hour.
When the fish is no longer wet and doesn’t stick to your fingers, it’s ready for the smoker.
Smoking
Put the fish on your smoker rack and close the door.
Try to keep the smoker temperature around 140-145F. Any higher will cause the fat (grey stuff)
to cook out of the fish.
Check the internal temperature of the fish every 30 to 45 minutes. When the thickest section
reads 120F pull the fish out of the smoker.
Put the fish on a cooling rack and let it cool down.
Now you can eat it up or put it in the fridge for later.
If I do a large batch, I’ll vacuum seal the fish and put in the freezer.
Martin's Smoked Salmon Recipe
By Pat Hoglund on December 5, 2015 Featured, News/Updates
Eric Martin’s Smoked Salmon Recipe
Although I’ve tweaked this delicious recipe ever so slightly to fit my particular tastes, credit for this amazing brine for smoking fish goes to Shane Nichols, who first posted the steps and ingredients for the “5-Cents” brine on the popular fishing forum Ifish.net.
— Eric Martin
2 Cups brown sugar
1/4 Cup sea salt
1 Tbsp onion powder
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp celery salt
1 Tbsp black pepper
1 Tbsp white pepper
1 Tbsp crushed red pepper
1 Tbsp dried lemon peel
1 Tbsp dill weed
* Adjust quantities for larger batches. Listed amount will work with one decent sized chinook or two steelhead.
Step 1: Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Cut fillets into 1-1 1/2” wide strips. Using a second bowl, or even better, get yourself a two gallon food grade bucket, place a layer of the dry brine covering the bottom, then place a layer of fish skin side down on the brine. Cover the fish with more brine, and then lay another layer of fish, this time meat side down, onto the previous layer. Keep layering brine/fish/brine, and remember to keep meat to meat and skin to skin when layering the fish.
Step 2: Place the container into the fridge. The juices from the fish will start dissolving the brine, and within a few hours, the brine will be completely liquefied. Leave fish in brine for a minimum of 24 hours. Thicker pieces may require up to 36-48 hours. Stir regularly to make sure all pieces are well soaked in brine.
Step 3: Remove from brine and gently paper towel off any big globs of brine. I like to wipe the skin side completely clean, and then place the fish meat side up on a layer of paper towels on top of a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper. The paper towels will help to remove excess moisture. Let the pieces of fish set out and air dry for 1-2 hours. A convection oven works great, just run the fan without any heat. *This step is critical for formation of the pellicle.
Step 4: Once the air dried fish becomes tacky to the touch, it’s time to smoke. The flavor and amount of smoke used is personal preference, just remember to keep the heat low, from 120*-140* to keep from sweating the fats out of the fish. Check internal temps of fish every so often and remove once they reach 130 degrees.
Step 5: Once out of the smoker, place the pieces of fish on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper. Coat the fish with honey, and place into the oven at 325 degrees. Keep a close eye on it, and remove as the edges start to darken.
Step 6: Enjoy!
From <http://www.salmonandsteelheadjournal.com/martins-smoked-salmon-recipe/>