Smokette Elite 025 - Salmon

here's the recipe I use

http://www.cookshack.com/store...Cookshack-Smoked-Lox

If you're looking to cook the salmon and hot smoke it, here's a recipe we really like.

Here's another great one.

you don't say if you are wanting to hot smoke (kipper) or cold smoke (Nova lox). I'm assuming you want kippered salmon. For hot smoked or kippered salmon I suggest a temp setting of around 190 and preheating with wood in the box to get the smoke flowing. After about 30 minutes or so put your prepared salmon in the smoker. It'll take about an hour and a half or so to cook the salmon to an internal temp of around 130.

Reason for preheating is to get past the high temp internal setting of the CS that gets the wood to smoking and let the smoker settle down to the set temp.

Thank you for the great responses. TN Q: You are correct I am planning to hot smoke and your comments are much appreciated. By your response it looks like I am looking for a finished internal temp of 130.

I prefer my kippered salmon cooked to 127-130 internal temp for the thickest part of the filet. This give a buttery texture to the center while the edges will begin to flake. I feel that cooking to a much higher intermal temp tends to preduce a dryer result. Of couse some folks do prefer a dryer product that flakes. I recommend trying the lower temps, as it is always easy to cook longer if you find that more to your liking. I'd say 145 internal is probably the max you'ld want to go.

Welcome to the wonderful world of smoking.

First thing to consider when brining salmon is what the intended use will be when finished. Will it be frozen or consumed immediately as an entree, or do you intend to refrigerate it for an extended amount of time and use it as a side?

If the salmon is going to be frozen or consumed immediately, the dry brining method can be used along with lower cooking temperatures. When finished it should not be stored in the refrigerator for extended times as the % salinity is unknown, therefore proper curing can be uncertain.

If you intend to store the salmon for an extended amount of time in a refrigerator, certain safety guidelines should be met. Wet brine should contain 60 % to 80 % Salinity @ 60° and when smoking, the salmon should be held at 145° for 30 minutes. Using these guidelines the salmon is cured and can safely be air dried at room temperature to form the pellicle, and after smoking it can be vacuum packed and refrigerated for several weeks.

When I first started smoking salmon, I like many started using the dry brining technique and produced some very good product. As time went on I discovered it was difficult to produce a consistent end result. I personally found that wet brining resulted in a consistently very good product with less effort, equipment, refrigeration space and time. In other words my dry brining days are long gone.

My suggestion to you would be to try both methods using proven recipes, keep good notes and most of all enjoy.

Hope this helps. Let us know your results.
Mr. T

Mr. T knows his smoked salmon, and his recipe has produced excellent results for me. We eat salmon often and have used his wet brine several times, much to our delight.

Mr. T's Method

Mr T & Pags

Thanks for the in depth info & pictures. Very good advice and pictures. I am going to start with a dry rub/brine, but now have another method to try using your wet brine recipe. So many choices not enough fish I guess I will be making another trip to AK next spring/summer.

Love Mr. T's recipe for smoked salmon!!! Thanks!

Following on the comments of Mr. T and TN Q, you first need to focus on your desired end result and how you're going to serve the fish. Is it going to be served upon finish as an entree, or is it going to be chilled and served later as a snack, appetizer, or as a component in a spread. Then you adapt your preparation and cooking process accordingly.

If I'm serving the salmon, or most other fish< at finish as an entree, I cook it, smoker or otherwise, to an IT of 120°-125°. I pull and foil it for a few brief minutes, then serve. Some would consider this underdone, but I think it's perfect. As TN Q said, the flesh is creamy with little if any flaking. I once had a conversation with a chef at the bar of his restaurant in NYC, which many critics consider the finest seafood restaurant in the country. He commented that any cooked fish that flakes easily is very overcooked, and I agree with that. He also said that the best way to test the temperature of a properly cooked fish was to insert a metal skewer into the thickest part for a few seconds, then press the skewer to your wrist or lips. If it's just warm, not cool or hot, it's done. I've tried that several times and it matches up with the temps I mentioned.

On the flip side, if I'm doing the fish to store and serve at a later time in whatever manner, I follow Mr. T's process and take the IT to 145°, pull and wrap in foil for 30-60 minutes, then refrigerate for later use.

When it comes to curing or brining, if I'm cooking the fish to serve at finish, other than to impart additional flavors, I don't see why this needs to be done at all. If I choose to do it, I'm just looking for a specific flavor profile and am not concerned about specific salinity levels. Obviously, it's a different story if your preparing the fish for preservation and later use.

When it comes to curing or brining, my preference for a long time was a dry cure. However, as Mr. T said, it's hard to get consistent results unless you have your process down pat. These days, more often than not, I use a wet cure, or brine. In my experience, it reduces the curing time by about 50%. Turning the salt into liquid is effective because it touches 100% of the food's surface in a uniform manner. Salt has to dissolve before it can work its magic, so using dry salt is slower, and less controlled, than using brine.

Smoked my 1st batch of salmon yesterday, I had 2 pink fillets, 1 silver fillet and 6 sockeye fillets. After chunking the pieces I used a dry brine for 10 hours. Rinsed and patted dry and let sit for 4 hours to form pellicle. Smoked using Hickory at 200 degrees for 2 hours and the fish was done. Some was a bit over done, so will decrease temp and keep a closer eye on probe temp. Also thought it may have been a bit salty, so will decrease brining time a bit.Overall very happy and looking forward to trying MR T's wet brine soon. Thanks to everyone for your input.

Whenever you're done brining, thoroughly rinse the salmon in cold running water.