Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Silver]

I'm by no means an expert...but I researched, and have had a really good outcome for hot smoked sockeye salmon.

Brine:
2 cups kosher salt. Not pickling salt, never iodized table salt, sea salt is difficult to get a      consistent salinity.
4 cups dark brown sugar. Regular brown will be Ok, if you can't find the dark stuff.
10 crushed bay leaves.
2 tablespoons cracked black pepper. Not ground black pepper, it needs to be coarse.
2 tablespoons soya sauce. Light or regular, it doesn't matter.
8 litres water.

Boil 2 litres of water and dissolve the salt and sugar. Add the other ingredients and remaining water. Ensure that the brine is room temperature...add a tray of ice or put in fridge until the temperature drops. Add skin on filleted and cut to size pieces of fish. Leave fish in brine in the fridge for 9 hours.

Rinse fish under cold running water and pat dry with paper towel. Place fish skin side down on elevated oiled smoker trays and leave in room temperature for 1 hour...a fan blowing over fish will speed up the surface drying. I used disposable shooter cups to elevate the racks for air movement. When the fish looks like it has a waxy appearance and is dry on the surface it's ready for the smoker.

For use with a Little Chief electric smoker:
***Overnight, when the fish is brining soak 3 pans of alder wood chips in water***
Place fish in smoker and add 1st pan of drained wood chips.
Add additional 2 and 3 pans of wood chips every 2.5-3 hours.
Leave fish in for 11 hours.

The fish is a little dryer and more smokey flavoured than say Lox, but is perfect for my taste. The thicker pieces are moist and flaky, and the thinner pieces have a candied consistency without the sugary glaze or stickiness...some pieces have both styles in one.
The fish is also not too salty, just right. If, you want it salty...keep it in the brine for longer. If you want to fish moister...smoke for less time. When I first took them out, they appeared to be on the dryer side of smoked, but after they rested, the pieces moistened up...they even produced juice when they were vacuumed sealed.

I will post pictures of the process to follow.

[Silver]

Brine:

Drying stage/pellicle?

Completed smoking:

Vacuum sealing:

[Sandy]

what temp is the smoker at? I use a bradley digital

[Silver]

165 degrees

[Silver]

I have finished a second batch following this recipe. I skinned the fish this time thinking this would allow the brine to absorb more and cook faster. However, the smoker was exposed to windy conditions and I think the temperature was fluctuating. I was able to read 165' when I measured, even as high as 175' close to the element... but I think the unit cooled off later on.
I had to finish off the fish in the oven for an additional 2 hours at 175' to achieve the firmness and dryness that I prefer.

I will need to insulate the smoker to maintain a more consistant temperature.

Raw salmon filleted


Brined and ready to smoke


temperature check


Completed smoking



consistency after smoking



after final oven cooking

[firstlight]

You should have kept the box that the smoker comes in for the colder weather.
Just make a cardboard box to fit over it and you can smoke all winter long.
Looks good.

[Novabonker]

You can also wrap a blanket around the smoker to keep it warm.

[Noahs Arc]

Yea the box really helps. You can easily make another, or use the blanket like Nova said.
Then you could sleep with it later.