Comments on: The Idiots Guide to Smoking Salmon

By: Simpsonsmovieblew

Simpsonsmovieblew — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:23:20 +0000

You do realize you have posted your opinion on an "idiots guide to smoking salmon" right? Personally I am glad this site exists — at last I can hopefully find out what brand of rolling papers I'll be needing.

By: Gus

Gus — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 15:58:31 +0000

I haven't used milk on salmon, but have been soaking venison in milk for years, especially the older bucks. No need to do anything with the younger deer, but the 3+ years and older are a little gamey depending on the habitat. It works well, and I would guess that the same would be true with salmon. And I agree about Squicker – he sounds a little unsure of himself – too bad

By: WMC

WMC — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 22:24:00 +0000

DID YOU EVER HEAR OF USING MILK TO RID THE "FISHY SMELL"?

By: DJ in VA

DJ in VA — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 02:06:26 +0000

Wow, what a snobby, dismissive attitude. Try it before you insult it!

By: Earl

Earl — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 22:27:24 +0000

Farmed salmon may need red dye, but wild salmon is naturally red. What you have there is farmed salmon, a decidedly inferior (as far as environmental, nutritional, and flavor).

By: dan

dan — Tue, 24 May 2011 20:34:19 +0000

Alec, yours, though no doubt really tasty, is not what most people think of when they think of smoked salmon. Neither is gravlax. To me, lox and gravlax are mushy stuff. I would qualify your method as hot smoked, or smoke grilled.

By: Trent

Trent — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:09:02 +0000

Mary,

Did you table salt instead of kosher salt? It is a lot saltier.

By: Donna Kolo

Donna Kolo — Sat, 29 May 2010 23:52:48 +0000

I've been smoking fish for 26 years and my fish (salmon, trout, blue fish, King salmon, chinook, etc.) comes out great each time. The basic brine is 1 cup of Kosher salt and 1 cup of sugar to 2 quarts of water. (Just to check yourself, drop an egg into the salt water and the egg should bob to the surface and just show a dime sized top of the shell, that way you know you have enough salt to kill any bacteria!). You can eat the salmon raw after letting it marinage after 8 to 12 hours. If the meat is 1/2 " thick, that's about 8 hours or so, if the meat is 2" thick, I leave it in for up to 14 hours. Then I put newspapers under the racks and lay the fillets skin side down for about 2 to 3 hours. You'll see what they call the pelicle shine from the fish, it a little bit whitish, and appears like a film on the meat. That tells you it's at the best time to absorb the heat. Then I throw it on the greased racks of my smoker. My smoker is a Little Chief smoker. It has a small pan on the bottom. For the first 3 to 4 smokings, I use hickory, apple, alder, cherry or any fruit or nut tree wood chips. Cherry wood is more for game birds and deer. I like to mix my first pan with hickory then the last 2 pans with apple and if I have a piece of fish that's 2" I'll smoke an extra pan of hickory. Each pan smoke for about an hour, then you have to dump out the hot burnt down wood chips and fill the pan again. After the smoking part is finished, the salmon stays in for at least another few hours,depending on the temperature outside. On a cold October or November day, I've smoked for up to 20 hours on a big piece of salmon! You can tell it's done by putting your finger on top of the meat and pushing down. If it leaves an indent, keeping cooking. Alto the fish will look likes it's done, it take time to judge when it is done. I've pressed my finger down a few times, thinking it was done, brought it into the house and forked off a piece to realize that it's still "wet" and needs more time in the smoker. I have a book and every time I smoke, I write down every thing – what kind of fish, what kind of brine, the temperature, if it was windy, how long it was brined, how thick it is, how long it took to cook, etc. This book is like my bible, now I only have to look under salmon, 1& 1/2" thick and I know how to cook it from all the information I have written down. You can use all kinds of things in the brine; orange juice, soy sause, fresh ground peppercorns, garlic, any seasonings you like. You just have to remember for every salt you use, you have to also use a sugar. I've eaten my salmon right out of the brine, that's how safe I know my brine is. As far as smoking a turkey, I brine it (aobut 24 hours) then I'll use 4 pans of smoke. Then when the smoking process is done, I turn off the smoker and finish the turkey in the oven. Put it on a rack in the pan and tightly cover with foil. You can cut the time by 20% if you cook it this way. Just remember to keep that foil very tight over the turkey. At the last 15 minutes, pour some maple syrup over it or Karo syrup over it and stick it in the boiler for some nice crisp skin. It's the best!! We don't cook a regular turkey for Thanksgiving any more, we smoke our turkey. This way works great for Cornish Game Hens and chicken – there's never any leftovers! Hope this helps

By: Bev H

Bev H — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:21:22 +0000

native style is preparing the fish by removing the spine from the back, called butterflying the salmon, thinning it a little and making salmon jerky in the process, then hanging the butterflied fish on cedar sticks over the fire made of alder, no brine, no flavour, maybe alittle bit of salt. meanwhile the thin strips can be marinated in soy and brown sugar if you like the flavoured jerky, then hung up on cedar sticks in the smokehouse for up to 6 days, the butterflied fish for maybe 4 days depending on if you want half smoked or fully smoked,dry fish. this is how my mom taught me, except the flavour jerky, because she made her salmon jerky just plain, but it was still good.

By: DecalDude

DecalDude — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:25:24 +0000

Going to smoke my first salmon tonight. THANKS for all the info.