Smoked Salmon

Hey Mike, welcome to the club, and to the devotees of Mr. T's recipe! I am eagerly awaiting this coming season of Copper River and King salmon available fresh. I have vowed to double my tally of 26 lbs. from last summer! Enjoy!

Nice job Mike. The salmon looks great.

Looks real good Mike

WOW Mike, that is looking mighty good to me. Good job, glad you enjoyed.

What did you decide on to use Kosher salt or Tender Quick?

Tom

I used canning salt

Suggest you try using Tender Quick by weight once. We much prefer it over plain salt.

Let us know the results.

Have fun and enjoy.

Mr. T

Mr.T

When using Tenderquick in your Brine recipe what amount should I use? I believe TQ has sugar in it too. Your response would be appreciated on substitution amounts. I have been adding Instacure #1 to your brine recipe. Everyone who gets a taste of the smoked Salmon loves it.

Al

Good question Gardener,
As the salt used in Tender Quick is extremely pure, use the same amount by weight(3oz.)as you would non iodized salt per quart of water.

As well as providing curing ingredients, we find the additional flavors provided in TQ send the salmon over the top.

Hope this helps. Glad you are enjoying your salmon.

Tom

I hear the SPAM there is very tasty.

cannot locate Mr T's recipe, could someone post the link, I would greatly appreciate it...

I just located it, my bad

Hope you like it.

T

Trust me, I have used Mr. T's brine recipe (and my own adaptation of his smoking procedure) for fresh Copper River and Alaskan sockeye salmon for several years. It consistently produces fabulous smoked salmon.I have varied the pelical-formation and smoking schedule a bit, but what my Amerique turns out is uniformly great. Hint: While the salmon is not too expensive, start your way on trying different brines and smokes, to close in on your perfect result. Since the cook time is so short, you can experiment, depending on cost and availability. Good luck!!

I like the way you think Jay. Will be making the trek to town next week, I'll be checking prices then.

T

Thanks Tom, although I find that fresh salmon is basically impossible to find this time of year, except for farmed, which I won't touch. I've often wondered whether wild steelhead is worth the price and good for smoking. Any thoughts?

Jay, It has been a good many years since I've smoked steelhead, but it seems to me it turned out pretty well. This was when I lived in Netarts Oregon, as it is now, if I have to buy fish for smoking, it will be salmon.

Tom

A little research has told me (hopefully factually) that wild steelhead (called "trout" or "salmon" depending on the market) is of the same genus as pacific sockeye, (which also includes rainbow trout), but is an ocean-going fish that can return upstream to fresh water and spawn many times in their lifetime, as opposed to once for salmon. Different species, different habits, growth patterns, and fatty content; therefore different flavor profile and cooking required (steelhead is apparently quite lean). All very interesting, I need to see if the steelhead I see sold next to farm-raised atlantic salmon (which I dislike) is farm-raised or wild.

Just cold smoked some salmon recently. Mmmm... If you like Lox, cold smoke it and it'll be even better. Also made a batch of Gravlax as well. Gravlax is basically the same as Lox, but a bunch of dill is added while it's dry curing.

Andy, yeah, I've done gravalax for many years. No smoking, just cured with salt and sugar, and yes, lots of fresh dill, and fresh ground pepper. It really is great on toast or crackers with some cream cheese! For weighting the fillets while they cure in the fridge, I proudly show people my "culinary bricks" which I wrap with foil and put on top of the curing fish.

I get my salmon from the Faroe islands. Makes all the difference. Put it a quick brine (soy sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice, ginger, garlic)

Smoke with wood of choice.