Brine help

[Maurice]

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 have used this dry mix only a few times still tweaking to my taste, I dont like a salty taste so I only use half the salt they call for and its always Kosher salt. I also add a little extra garlic just because I like the garlic on my fish.

[hewesfisher]

If you ever want to try a wet brine recipe, here's a pretty good one:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup non-iodized salt (we use canning salt)
2 cups soy sauce
24 oz white wine
32 oz apple juice
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp hot sauce (we use Tabasco)

This is from the Bradley Smoker Recipe Collection Vol 1 and is called "Peter's Fish Smokin' Wet Brine" and is the basic recipe we use. We have modified it a bit by adding 1 cup of honey, more or less onion, garlic, hot sauce etc. We have settled on a good variation and I cannot keep the results around, everyone loves them.

I like the convenience this wet brine provides as there is no rinsing required, simply remove fish from the brine, drain, towel dry, place on racks and into the smoker. I might feel differently if I were smoking salmon, but we do a lot of trout so the wet brine is more convenient for me.

The recipe calls for 3 - 4 hours smoke time with 6 - 8 hours cook time between 135° - 150°. If I have a full smoker, I run smoke for about 3 - 3 1/2 hours of about a 7 hour cook time in our Bradley. Cook temp and time varies depending on smoker load, and how thick the fillets are, but I normally use temps between 135° - 140°.

Enjoy.

[Bodofish]

I know I've posted this before. Here it is again. Standard brine is 1/4 cup non-iodized salt per 1 quart of water. This is a good starting place for making your brines of any flavor. Soak your fish for 6 plus hours. It's pretty light so it's hard to over do it. With the salt at that level you can leave it up to 24 hours without getting too salty, just remember to rinse it off well before smoking. I like this method when I don't know what my schedule is going to be as you can leave it up to 24 hours (or longer) with out damaging the fish.

For dry Brine, Cover with Kosher pickling salt for 4 hours then rinse and add any other flavors you may want to add.
This works good for Gravlox, add some onions and dill to the top of the fish and vac pac. Leave in the fridge for several days before freezing. When ready to serve slice very thin while just frozen....... Ralphy that ones for you bud but, be careful with the knife!