For years about the only thing I smoked was salmon caught in BC every year. It just was getting to hard to control smoke and temps and I had been looking for a real smoker since last winter. Well thanx to all of the people and information on this forum I finally stepped up to a 009, bought from Cabela's and retired my old well used Cabela's 5in1 grill/smoker.
I've followed the advice on this great site and seasoned the unit twice, once with just smoke and once with an old freezer burned shoulder roast then started with a flat, 5lb brisket which took 8hrs to get to 195, confirmed with remote thermo (thanx again guys).
Oh and thanx for the constant reminders "it's done when it's done" or I would have taken the flat out early. It was tender, just a little dry and absolutely delicious.
Then this weekend I decided to give it the real test and do just one piece of salmon to see if I could get it close to how I'd been doing it for several years. Here's the recipe I use and with just a few adjustments on time it came out just about perfect.
Thanx for all of the information and great smokin' tips.
Step 1: Prepare fish
Filet salmon, skin on, remove ALL bones.
Step 2: Uniform strips
Cut filets in to uniform strips ½-1" and 3-6 inches long or as long as your racks can handle. Key is uniform thickness.
Step 3: Brining
Soak in brine for 12-18 hrs. I use an Igloo type cooler and throw in a bunch of ice cubes and use something to put on top to hold the meat in the brine.
1 gallon water
1 Qt teriyaki or soy sauce
1 cup pickling salt
2lbs brown sugar
2 Tbsp garlic powder
3 Tbsp cayenne pepper
Step 4: Glazing
Lay the fish on cookie/drying racks, make sure they don't touch and put them in the fridge or a cold garage for about 12hrs. This method or many others will form a hard pellicle on the fish. You can sprinkle on certain spices during this if you like (cayenne, pepper etc)
Step 5: Smoking
100-120 degrees for 1-2 hrs
140 degrees for 2-4 hrs
175 degrees for 1-2 hrs
I use the longer times for thicker pieces or a large batch. I've never had a bad batch even with longer times than I should have used.
For my first batch in the cookshack I used 5 small chips (about quarter size and ¼ inch thick) of apple wood and for me it was a little to strong of smoke flavor so next time I'll probably try it with just 1 or 2 chips.
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