Great Smoked Salmon

quote:

Originally posted by Hook:
My pleasure.

Here's Andi's:

1lb canning salt
1/2 lb brown sugar
1 TBSP each:
white pepper
ground bay leaf
mace
clove
allspice
saltpeter (optional)

* Rinse fillets well and dredge in mixture
* Cover and refrigerate for 3 to 12 hours
* Rinse and scrub lightly to get rid of all salt traces
* Dry with paper towels and set on racks to form pellicle (can take as much as six hours. When you touch fish your finger should remain dry and fish is shiny.
* Brush with maple sugar about 1/2 way through drying time.
* Smoke at 150* w/3 oz hickory until done as you like. Start smoke before putting fish in.

Here's what I did:

1 lb tubinado sugar
1/2 lb Kosher salt

Spices the same and no saltpeter

* Covered with dry brine
* Refrigerated for 12 hr
* Dried for three hours
* brushed with Maple sugar
* Dried another 15min
* Brushed with Maple sugar again
* let sit two more hours

Smoked at 150* w/2oz Hickory (didn't want to cover the Copper River flavor) for about 2 1/2 hr until the fish flaked but wasn't too dry.

The fish is a bit sweet from the Maple sugar which is what I was shooting for. What I forgot was a light sprinkling of Chipotle pepper to add a little smoky heat. Did that last time I did salmon and it was voted very yummy.

Pretty tasty stuff.