Northwest Fishing Reports

it's smoking time again (gettin yelled at for too much salmon in the freezer already, the skok was good to me lol), and i cant find my brine recipe from last year. My buddy an i have tried a few from the internet, even the lil chief site and they've been to salty or bland. The batch i whipped up today was with the smokehouse brine mix an it's a little on the bland side too. any ideas to spice'em up or a good recipe out there?:chef:

Hey Spokey...I really like Salmon University's recipe. It's very simple and very dependable...follow it to a tee to start with, then tweek it a little for your own custom flavor. I doubt you will be disappointed!!

i've never used a dry brine before, how well does it preserve the fish? i like to carry some with me in my back pack out on the river to snack on (the cooler is usually in the car, an i move to much to keep the munchies in it), will it be alright being packed around all day?

Try using Soy Sauce instead of str8 salt. Also Brown Sugar instead of white sugar.I also add white wine as part of the brine mixture.Red chilli flakes work well also. Think of the taste you desire and add that to the brine. The only real issue is having enough salt so that the fish pieces float. If they sink in the bowl you need more salt.(or soy)The real main goal is too have a nice piece of fish that tastes like the fish in question.

thanks guys, i'm gonna firin up the smokers again this weekend. i'll let y'all know how it comes out

I've dry cured the last several times I smoked fish and really like the way the fish comes out. With a dry cure I can do a whole fillet and have it all come out evenly cured. I just vary the amount of cure I sprinkle on the fillet based on thickness. You monitor the progress by poking areas on the fillet with your finger, the more its cured the firmer it will be. For my dry cures I use 50/50 salt & white sugar, granulated garlic, dill and black pepper. For my liquid cures I switch out the white sugar for brown and add a bit of rum or tequila to the mix.

Be sure to rinse the fish off thoroughly before you let it dry. If you leave any brine on the fish it will most certainly come out too salty. The spices you add during the curing process will impart a hint of flavor unless you use a ton of spice.
So, once you have rinsed the fish and are letting it dry, it is a good time to add some extra spice/flavor, if that is your thing. Sprinkle on anything like black pepper, dill, chili powder, sugar crystals, etc., what ever floats your boat and leave it on throughout the remainder of the process.

New member here (In other words ---- I'm still reading and learning - ;>)).

I just started a dry brine (recipe from Salmon University website) on some store bought salmon. This will be my first dry brine and smoking attempt. I will be using hickory for the smoking on 9/14.

I have smoked store bought salmon using wet brine and was pleased with the results. Given the responses I have read for using dry brine, I decided to give it a try. Hubby will be the judge as to whether I use dry or wet brine in the future.

I can see the opportunity to add flavors in wet and dry brines. If you want hot - add chili powder or pickled jalapeno (sp) juice, flavor - add herbs. The possibities are endless!

Deka

I have used many different types of brines. A couple years back I tried a dry brine.

3 cups brown sugar to 1 cup non iodized salt.
Brine for 24 hrs.
Rinse off pieces and pat dry on smoker rack.
Let air dry 8 hrs.
Then start smoking.

I have maybe used 1 other brine since I first found this recipe. Its the easiest, cheapest and best I have used.

I am also sold on the dry brine - make a big batch, use what you need and store the rest for the next time. I also tend to use less salt. My next batch I am going to be experimenting with different chilis - maybe try ancho, I think it will go good with the sweetness of the brown sugar..

Mmm, my kind of topic I use wet brine but understand the niceties associated with dry brine. Definitely rinsing the fish after the 'soak' is important for even flavor. My cheapo smoker (Brinkmann) cooks fast (about 3 hours) so I hit the smoke pretty hard. I use less salt cuz I don't like salty fish so go 4:1 ratio brown sugar to salt or slightly less for salt. You might try a little fish sauce to get a slight teriyaki flavor. Of course using soy, teriyaki, worcestershire (sp?) can do similar. I tend to brine difft times depending on fish size piece size. 10-18 hrs approx.
I like simple for the first couple batches though so usually stick with just brown sugar/salt and often use Morton's kosher coarse salt using that 4:1 ratio (or SLIGHTLY less). Once I get bored with that, the experimenting fun can start!

Oh ya, when I use alder I usually smoke it with more wood chips than with hickory or mesquite (those 2 have heavier smoke flavor than alder).

Thanx for sharing all.

Here are the results of the salmon smoking using the dry brine ----- Hubby says toooooo sweet!

I washed the salmon very well and even then it was too sweet for him. I will be eating salmon for a number of meals!

Back to the wet brine with slight changes.

Deka

I like sweet! When can I pick it up?:)

Hmm, wonder if that was a 'tactical' error on the brine to reduce the competition for eating LOL?

I use my Brinkman to smoke fish as well and have a pretty good grip on how much charcoal to use to get the temps I want. If you want to cold smoke a fish, lox style, get yourself a cheap hotplate and a small pan for chips. Remove the charcoal pan and place the smoker over the hotplate/pan setup, install the water pan to diffuse the heat and smoke and now you have a cold smoker with a variable heat source! My kid prefers cured and cold smoked over cooked/kippered fish, gotta hide it or else it will be gone in a day.

I musta found the cheapo Brinkman version LOL. I don't have a charcoal pan, it did not come with one and at first I wondered what I was supposed to do. I put the chips in foil and put them up next to the electric heating element but didn't get enough consistent smoke. So then I emptied some tin tuna cans, threw them in a fire to burn off whatever crap I could and then used them by putting them directly on the heating element (tilted a little to avoid too much direct contact with element to avoid shorting/overheating element).
I have the red cylindrical one. It has a heating element in the bottom and some red rock type gravel to pour in underneath the heating element. Then it has the water pan and two metal racks for the fish, followed by the lid (going bottom to top). I regulate smoke by using more or less # of tuna cans 4 cans means I'm burnin' it up with heavy smoke flavor, 2 cans is lighter smoke. I'm sure there's added heat from all the chips I'm burning but that's OK, the fish turns out fine on a short cook and I use less electricity:cheers: Just hope the heating element doesn't short on me by overheating. So far so good and been over a year now. I suppose I could lift the whole bottom part up on something like bricks to allow air into the bottom and dissipate some heat that way. But it is working fine now so I won't try to 'fix' it.
The recipe I will definitely keep tweaking though. Good fun. Thanx for the feedback G-Man.

knotabassturd:

All the sweet smoked salmon has been turned into a salmon spread.

I used fat free sour cream (nice moisture but few calories), dill relish, jalapeno juice for flavor, finely chopped radishes (texture and flavor) and chulula sauce to create a spread. The spread ended up with a spicy sweet taste. I toasted rye bread with melted cheddar cheese on one side and the spread on the other. Yummmm. I can't wait until tommorrow's lunch for more of the spread on a sandwich. (I'm a bit of a pepperhead - LOL)

Sorry but I'm going to claim the Hubby rejected salmon for my own! ;>) AND - no I did not change the recipe to match my taste buds instead of his! LOL

Deka

I usually freeze the salmon Im going to smoke. I find that freezing the fish makes it easier to cut w/o damaging the meat.I cut it about 1/2 way defrosted.The other thing to do when smoking fish is to leave that lil oil sack behind the brain. It adds oil and adds a nice flavor to the fish. The other thing I do is smoke the collars off the main body of fish.Also a real good thing to do is cut the lower belly meet off into strips and make squaw candy.If youve not had the squaw candy before its well worth the effort.
I too found out that the dry rubs for brinning made my fish a lil too sweet and salty even with a good rinse.I still want to taste salmon more then salt and sugar taste.

[quote="Deka"]knotabassturd:

All the sweet smoked salmon has been turned into a salmon spread.

I used fat free sour cream (nice moisture but few calories), dill relish, jalapeno juice for flavor, finely chopped radishes (texture and flavor) and chulula sauce to create a spread. The spread ended up with a spicy sweet taste. I toasted rye bread with melted cheddar cheese on one side and the spread on the other. Yummmm. I can't wait until tommorrow's lunch for more of the spread on a sandwich. (I'm a bit of a pepperhead - LOL)

Sorry but I'm going to claim the Hubby rejected salmon for my own! ]

Dang, that sounds like good stuff. Especially if that cheddar gets browned up on top just a bit with the broiler and not just melted. I'm more of a straight smoked-salmon fiend but the spread sounds good. Maybe kinda like making crab louie from dungeness instead of straight dungie. Thanx for sharing the recipe:cheers:

so i did two batches today one dry (the salmon university recipe) an the other one gpc's recipe with some freshly cracked black pepper over the fish before smoking. both turned out really good (only have about a half pound of salmon left after the relatives found out i was smoking again today tho lol)

thanks for the help guys:chef:

spokey9 wrote:so i did two batches today one dry (the salmon university recipe) an the other one gpc's recipe with some freshly cracked black pepper over the fish before smoking. both turned out really good (only have about a half pound of salmon left after the relatives found out i was smoking again today tho lol)

thanks for the help guys:chef:

Good to hear Spokey...from here on out you can get as elaborate as you want or keep it simple. I'm more of a traditionalist with my smoked fish. I'll add some cracked black pepper, or some Smoked Chipotle Chili Powder, or just plain...those are my 3 favorite ways to fix mine! You know you're doing something right if your friends and family are eating it too!!

gpc wrote:I have used many different types of brines. A couple years back I tried a dry brine.

3 cups brown sugar to 1 cup non iodized salt.
Brine for 24 hrs.
Rinse off pieces and pat dry on smoker rack.
Let air dry 8 hrs.
Then start smoking.

I have maybe used 1 other brine since I first found this recipe. Its the easiest, cheapest and best I have used.

I use the same brine but I use dark Brown sugar and add a cup of sugar to the recipe(I like mine a bit sweeter). I also use Kosher Salt. and 10-12 cups of water making it a wet brine.