Did my 3rd smoke on the new 55. Temp swings were what I was trying to control the most since I don't want to "cook" the salmon too much. Caught a 15 pound and 25 pound salmon when we went out last Sunday so smoked the larger one. Fillet fish Monday morning around 3:30 am, cut in 1 1/2 inch x 6 inch long strips (each fillet was about 1 1/2- 2 inches thick at thickest part. Dry brine with 4:1 dark brown sugar and non-iodized sea salt. Added cayenne, white pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and cinnamon. Brined for 6 hours, rinsed, and let sit out to air dry for 6 more hours. Brushed with maple syrup 2 hours into drying and dusted with black pepper and cinnamon. Goal was to keep in below 160 smoker temp as much as I could so started low. Set smoker around 120 and smoked with 3 oz. of Brazilian cherry wood a buddy hooked me up with and 2 oz apple wood. Put half of the wood in at beginning and then the other half 2 hours into smoke. Adjusted temp throughout as I've been having problems with temp getting way too hot when smoking starts. Not a big concern when I'm cooking other meat but more of a concern when I do salmon. Also soaked the wood to attempt keeping temp down. Seemed to work very well. The highest smoker temp I saw was around 190. Stayed in my target range of 160 for most of the time. Took fish out at internal temp of 155 for the thickest piece on lower rack and let them cool off for a few hours and then put in fridge. Woke up the next morning and vacuum sealed most of them. Entire process from start to finish took me about 20 hours. Yielded roughly 140 oz of smoked fish (8.75 pounds)from the 25 pound salmon. At market prices out here for smoked salmon at local farmers markets of up to $35/pound, that's $300 worth of smoke. Business opportunity??? Gave half of it away to friends and got plenty of free drinks out of it and the other half is in the fridge waiting for consumption. This was by far may best smoke so far. Everybody loved it. The maple syrup tasted real good and was a nice touch. Man this is fun. Let you know how next batch turns out. Anybody else out there soak their wood? <*)))))><</body>
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that recipe sounds good i have done only the Luhr Jensen recipe that has worked well for me but will try yours maybe next year. I fish the rivers in sacramento but the last few years its been slow. jeff