Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Help!! Salmon smoking

Ain't my bailiwick, but My Grandson brought over some nice size salmon fillets and wants them smoked. Have a decent upright propane smoker. I know how to light the fire and that is it. I do have oak and pecan. I do like pecan.
Help please.

Are you going to hot smoke them? I prefer cold smoked fish but I wouldn't turn down a hot smoked filet either. This is how I cold smoke salmon.

I normally do 3/4 cup of salt to 3 cups of brown sugar. Cover the filets with the salt/sugar mix and let them sit overnight. Rinse with cold water and let air dry for a few hours to form the pellicle. Sometimes I sprinkle the fish with course ground black pepper for a little zing. Put it into the smoker until it gets to the dryness I am looking for. I use a big chief, it doesn't cook the fish. Never used oak or pecan, usually use cherry, apple, and alder.

Sitka Deer should be along shortly, he does it differently and gets rave reviews on his smoked salmon.

I don't know shift about cooking or smoking. I know that it is sacrilege, but I never acquired the taste for salmon. Kinda like caribou, never liked it regardless of how it was killed, field dressed, or how it was prepared. My Grandson and Great Grand Daughter think it is like heaven "salmon". Now I love moose, bear, and all other meat from the sea. I only have 8 pounds of fillets, but that will keep them going. They even like sushi!


Cold? I can only hold about 145deg at the lowest.

I do mine a lot like FishinHank. 1 1/4 cup kosher salt, 2lb package of brown sugar, 2 Tablespoons of garlic powder.
Cover fish with brine, set in fridge overnight.
gentle rinse, then set out to dry. Usually 3-4 hours.
I always use Alder to smoke salmon, just my prefence. 2 pans of chips.
6-8 hours in a big chief, depending on outside temps.

The big chief smokers are supposed to run about 165 degrees, so yours should be goood to go. Run the recipe above and your grandkids will love it.

You can reduce the temp in a Big Chief by opening the pan door and cracking the lid if it is too warm.

I brine and smoke using SD's method:

1 C kosher NaCl/2 C sugar in 1 gal of H2O* - 90 min soak.

Water rinse. Air dry to pellicle.

Alder only in the smoker. 2 pans.


My smoked salmon had been hit and miss trying to find a consistent brine concentration vs. time. Using this method it has been fabulous every time.

* Very cold water. I dissolve the salt and sugar in 1/2 gal of cold tap water. Once dissolved, I add another 1/2 gal of water that has been super-chilled in the freezer.

I also prefer alder for smoking salmon, apple wood is ok too. Keep in mind that propane is something like 90% water so keep that in mind for smoking times (you can thank Art for that info). I also use propane and have a number of vents and ports for temp sensors on my smoker (homemade) to closely monitor my salmon.

FishinHank,
I went with your method and smoked it with the pecan wood as that is what I had. I still don't like salmon, but everybody else raved about it.
I ate my smoked Cajun sausage.
Thanks to all.

Propane is C3H8...
Every molecule that burns produces 3 CO2 molecules and 4 water molecules by combining with 10 oxygen atoms.

By weight 26 pounds of propane produces about 40 pounds of water and 64 pounds of CO2.

I like to use a roughly 50/50 mix of alder and hickory.

I was hit or miss with a wet brine and hence went to a dry brine and had better results. Whether you wet or dry brine, it's key pat the fillets as dry as possible with a paper towel, and then run a fan for a couple hours to get a pellicle to form.

The big chief is a bit too hot if you use to get the salmon to the right dryness which I find takes 5 hours. I use one heaping pan of wood chips and just put the heating element on a timer for five hours. If your smoker is "wet" from the propane heat, after you've smoke it you can put it in the oven at 140F for a couple hours until it is firmed up to your preference.

White boogers from too much heat, but eats just fine

Never was very good at science.

I use a Smoke Chief-or whatever it's named-electric smoker, with alder chips. 458 above pointed a very important key, and that's to air dry the fillets with the use of a floor fan until the fillets develop a sheen. I don't like salty nor sweet salmon, because it's not supposed to be like candy, nor like barrel-salted mackerel (old sailors ate that stuff):

SMOKED SALMON BRINE

INGREDIENTS
-8-10 pounds of salmon fillets, skin on, rinsed, patted dry, cut into small strips not wider than 3”
-8 cups of ice-cold water
-2 cups soy sauce
-1-1/2 cups brown sugar
-1/2 cup sea salt or kosher (not ionized)
-1-1/2 tablespoon granulated garlic
-1 tablespoon ginger

DIRECTIONS
1. Mix the ingredients together in a large bowl

2. Pour mixture over the fillets making sure that all are covered with the brine, or until they float

3. Cover the container and marinate for 8 hours in the refrigerator

4. Remove the fillets from the brine, pat dry with paper towels, and place on racks to dry for about 1 hour-until a glaze forms over the surface of the fillets

5. Immerse the chips in water before putting it in the hot smoke pan, and let it smoke just until the chips turn to charcoal (don't over-burn). When the smoke stops, remove the pan, dump the ashes, and add new moistened chips.

Smoke fish from 8-12 hours, or as indicated by the smoker’s manufacturer. Use alder, mesquite, or hickory wood. A wetter product is suitable for canning, while a dry product is best for straight snacking.

I am a cold smoker and a wet briner. I usually brined my strips in very cold water. My brine is simple non-iodized salt, brown sugar and dark molasses. After brining I rinse the strips well. The purpose of the brine is mostly to prepare the surface to be dried and form a pellicule. Over the years I have reduced my salt concentration. I came up with a system that works well for me. I think higher concentrations of salt allow for shorter brine times. Rinsing the fish after brine is important because if not rinsed the product becomes too salty as the fish loses water weight. I rarely add spices or condiments to salmon as I like the taste with a bit of salty/sweet. After rinsing and patting dry is when I will add pepper, garlic or what have you, as the pellicule is formed the spices will adhere to the fish. Hot smoked fillets is also known as kippering. It is wonderful when prepared correctly. Too often have I seen fish that had been smoked too much. Smoking is another line for discussing. For salmon Alder is king.

No alder here unfortunately. From what is available here, I prefer pecan. Mesquite is good, but too strong for me.

another small 2 cent tip: when salmom is 3/4 done i like to sprinkle some brown sugar on top of the fillet or edible parts. some people put a thin layer of apricot jam on fillet when its 3/4 done and that`s tasty too.

Smoked about 5T of salmon in my lifetime. All good advice so far.

My secret is a few bay leaves in my brine, and a very light sprinkle of dill spice when it's drying. Sometimes I will add dried diced onion.

I use ice water. Keep the temp as low as possible, or refrigerate.

Alder is the only wood that should be used on salmon. If there is a second it would be apple but that is not a close second.

I've just been clearing some alders around the house so if anyone wants to pay for a USPS medium flat rate box I'll gladly fill it full of alder and send it your way. Ought to be enough to smoke 100#'s of fish give or take.

Many of the native Alaskans swear by cotton wood for smoking salmon. I've never tried it and I believe they use it in large cold smokers where there is a light smoke for several days.



You can definitely go too strong with the smoke and ruin the fish. Too much alder leaves a nasty metallic taste and I believe removing the bark helps eliminate that.

PM an address and money will be on the way.
Thanks

When the AFN convention is in town FBXS or ANC smoked salmon strips are available to buy from folks that live along the Yukon River. These strips are typically smoked with cottonwood, dried and not brined. The king salmon is amazingly full of oil. Chum strips are available when the king run is down. Compared to the methods described here the taste of Yukon king is acquired.

That's exactly what I do with mine, set it in ice cold brine then put it in the fridge over night.

No offense Pete, but that do not sound like a winner.


To my taste, all that's needed is salt, sugar, and smoke. In fact, I just use regular old white, store-bought, sucrose. Most so-called brown sugar is just sucrose with a bit of molasses for color. It's nothing special.

One can use cane, molasses, honey, whatever. It's only imparting a touch of sweetness.

Yup, good salmon just needs salt, sugar and smoke. Almost a crime to cover up or alter the flavor.

Now it's farmed salmon, well you gotta do what you gotta do.

Like the bumper sticker says........

Friends don't let friends eat farmed salmon!

Be sure to puff from the front...

Butch-

You can get alder here:
Amazon

And here:
WalMart

Might find them in you local WalMart/HomeyD/Lowes also.

Yeah, probably Amazon. I will be happy to send 458 Lott funds for some real Alaska alder. I doubt a Texas store would have any. If I do it with real Alaskan Alder I know all of my salmon eating family and friends will be impressed.

Well, OK.

Don't think your fish will be able to tell alder from...well, alder!

Good luck, Butch!

I understand. Sometime the BS story means more than the truth.

It don't suck.

Especially if they’re Cuban! ???

So, you cold smokers, what temp. do you keep it under when you're cold smoking salmon?

Out of the old Little Chief.

85F tops for fish and meat, less for cheese, salt, spices, olives and what ever else you want to throw in there. My new venture is going to be hard Italian salamis and pepperonis. I'm building a new smoker which is overkill when all you really need is a cardboard box.

Probably 30 min. too long, but I like them firmed up.

85 F?? Dang, that's lower than I was thinking.

I really miss my cold smoker, need to build another one





I found that given the small size of the smoker it worked best to smoke for ~5 hours and then run the fan for 2-3 days.

Cold smoking is really dehydrating. It's easy to put on too heavy of a smoke in a small smoker.

Better too firm than mushy. Looks good!

Thanks. If the weather dries out, I need to do another batch.

It's hell getting a pellicle @ 90% humidity!

it starts like this

start laying it out like this

then cover with this

After being in the fridge overnight, it'll looks like this

Then just need to rinse and air dry

After 3-4 hours in front of a fan, into the smoker for 6-8 hours.
When it's done, hopefully it'll look something like this




BTW, that big ol piece of king belly on the top was just about the best thing I ever ate.
Like a big stick of smoke flavored butter.

All looks good. I like Salmon, Raw, Grevelax, Lox, Squaw Candy, cold smoked and hot smoked. I have come up with some faux squaw candy recipes but would like to hear if any Alaskans are making it with something other than seal oil? I sometimes add Maple syrup, Teriyaki or Bourbon but best not to add too much of anything other than the basics.

LOL!

Smoked bellies are the best! My friends and family might get smoked salmon but they never get the bellies!

Nicely done! No oil running out! No white ooze!

Thanks.
Blind hog. Acorns.

My little chief is so black inside from use ..I don't have to add wood for smoke...it's built in !

I would have to recommend keeping the radio tuned to KICY if you have to be away for a spell during the initial drying. Bears aren’t Christian apparently, and neither are those evil ravens (obviously). I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the single bark of the 250 Savage which kept the ravens at bay. 😎


http://www.kicy.org/

I've heard that a shot raven left in the horse pen woods helps other ravens learn right quick.

Accidents could happen of course - and we’d all hate that, of course- but there was a swell.

There is a fellow who has passed away who seemed to have some firsthand knowledge ......., pestering dogs in the dog lot....extreme cold...,, stress on training Iditarod athletes...... I have no reason to doubt.


Seen entire seals and kings, hung to dry, (in smaller pieces of course), carried away literally overnight. Not a huge fan.

....... even the Russian broadcasting after 11 pm....... smart birds. Very.

Trickster.

Temperature?

I've burned down three cold smokers... It's an imprecise science and art...

Live a little!

Uh.... questioning your pyrotechnic skills and your English skills...

And so you should.

I have no illusions.

Well, maybe a few.

When a cold smoker builds up with creosote over time, it's blowtorch looking for a spark.

I had a smokehouse burn one time. Classic stack fire it was loud and hot. Burned up about 100 lbs of king strips and for me it was a huge loss. Not the smoker but the fish. I now clean the pipe a couple times a year.

Cleaning the stack and insides is always a good idea, especially if your smoker was built by an Einstein who put the stack in the middle of the top!!! Never put the stack in the top of the smoker!

It acts like a reflux still and condensation in the stack falls back on your product! YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Or you end up with tin foil boats to catch it and that wastes space and gives the opportunity to spill that wonderful essence... the same one Wright's puts in a bottle and sells to the incredibly gullible. YUCK again...

The stack should come out of the back very near the top! A trap with a drain is a very good idea.

Stack???

I LOVE THAT STUFF !

When I lived in BC, my landlord had a freezer full of it. Probably 400 lbs or more. Told me to take as much of it as I wanted... SO I did !

Different smoker style...

Well, since I have neither art nor science on my side, and having learned about wooden smokehouses, I built my current one from the hull of a washing machine. Found some racks that fit perfectly inside, drilled some holes fore and aft for rod to hold the racks on several levels. I use aluminum foil between layers to catch drips and not get on lower levels.

It is mounted up on concrete block. I use a charcoal pan with dry alder on top for smoke, access via the concrete block up front.. Plenty of alder locally - be sure to remove the bark - it is bitter! And dry it.

Recent pic- like, minutes ago. That might be willow on top- have to check. It was "salvage" from cleared pathways, IIRC.

That reminds me - I have to walk the used dog again tonight before bed down thru the state park next door.

I too like less salt content, and use a salt/brown surgar sprinkle between layers marinated 24 hours, I taste-test it- and if necessary, rinse before hanging, then racked until a pellicle forms, then smoked for a couple hours for flavor. Then jar-canned in pints or quarts. I like it - YMMV

My Alder came in to day from a gracious forum member. May smoke meat on the 4th. This 100 degree + ain't conducive to this, but I think the Lady said I would need to enjoy it.

What ever you do, give us the name of the degenerate bastard that would sully the good works of this forum!!!!!!!!!!!!

In all seriousness, if pak says something about smoking, especially cold-smoking (but not limited to) you should be taking notes...

Now, since I no longer own a hatchet or axe, I guess I can quarter each of the very nice short pieces of Alder with my table saw?? I will peel it at that time.

Be careful! Round stuff on a tablesaw is usually a bad plan!

I'm curious as to why dry the alder. I understand the bark, had never known that about the bark but thats easy.

If we dry wood here, and put it on coals it burns. Have to damp it or such.

When we smoke various things we go cut green wood as we need it, put it on top of charcoal and it controls itself and really puts out the smoke.

Thin blue smoke is far better than billowing gray smoke. Run your smoke through a furnace filter (cold smoking obviously) and you will see the difference. Damp your dry wood a bit (reduce air to it) to get it to smolder rather than burn and you will see a big difference, too.

Since I plan on smoking on the 4th, part of it will be green without the bark. I usually use pecan that I put in a bucket of water about an hour before putting it in the smoker. I am a real rookie doing this.

Art, thank you for the kind words and endorsement. A couple of comments about alder. I don't peel the bark from the alder and have never noticed a metallic taste from alder. I do not discount it though. Lott is a detail guy by personality and profession. I may out of practice mitigate it by using a filter in the smokehouse, as described by Art. Additionally, after smoking salmon strips, cheese, butter etc. I will rub the darker smoke accumulation from the product with a soft terry cloth. This along with the filters removes most of the tars and bitter taste from the product, in my observation. Enjoy it, smoking is fun!

Geez, you guys are serious about this. Brought up as I was I ate everything that was called food. My Dad wanted round steak cooked in the frying pan until the inside was black and tough as old leather. Veges were always pinto beans and mashed potatoes. Sunday was a well done pot roast and Saturday was fried chicken. Chickens were small in those days and one fed a family of 6. We each had a particular piece that was ours. I was lucky, I got one thigh. We did have chipped beef and gravy a couple times a week.

Did I get a wake up after getting married. I had never heard of mushrooms, eggplant, peas, rare steak,and a multitude of different things that were actually cooked with spices.

😁

You mean some of you are talking about something you can’t actually asphyxiate yourself inside of? 🧐

As for damp wood: sap damp = bad; dried, rewet/moistened = good; any bark, conifer, rotten = no good. (Punky = okay if good species.). You gots to know your driftwoods.

Butch,
HaHa sounds like my family. Growing up in Ak in the 50s and 60s meant powdered milk, canned everything and a watermelon once a year. we weren't poor but the quality of produce going to Ak was not very consistent. My Mom had a schedule of meals through the week also. Feeding boys meant quantity not quality. We had moose, caribou and lots of salmon, of course, but the salmon was never grilled but cooked in tin foil in the oven and the game meat was always dry and over cooked. I'm no chef but I can cook and I never use any of my Mom's favorite recipes.

Very interesting. I'm not sure what cold and hot smoke are. I have never smoked a fish but hope to learn soon enough.

What we do here is generally smoking fresh sausage around 600 links or so in a sealed smoke house. Put hot coals in and green wood on top and its full of gray looking smoke shortly and it is still full of that or leaning a bit brown smoke by the next morning some 15 hours or so later.

At that point we pull fresh sausage to freeze and then leave the rest to end up with dry sausage and never hit with smoke again.

I'm going to assume this is cold smoking.

From 1953-1956 my Dad was stationed at Ladd Air Force Base in Fairbanks. I know about the powdered milk, but the other food items fit my Dad's appetite. No local game or fish for us. I never complained as I was grateful for what I had. Now, at 12 years old I delivered the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Man, I could afford Cokes and candy!
We got our first TV in 1955 and even enjoyed watching test pattern. Seems TV came on at 8AM and at 10PM they played the National Anthem and closed it out for the day.
We really had it good.

Hot smoking is "kippering" and temps run up to 140F for the product though a bunch of commercial operations go hotter, some for speed and efficiency and some just because they do not mind putting out mediocre product.

Cold smoking uses as little heat as possible to get smoke onto food. Jerky, should be dried rather than cooked and cold smoked salmon is very much like jerky. The smoke source is usually some distance from the smoker and the smoke is ducted to the box.

Cheese is pretty easy to kipper, but a real mess to clean up!

I've done one batch of kings so far in a big chief. The thinner pieces were in it for 24hrs and the thicker pieces took 36hrs to finish. 2 pans of apple chips. I have it set on my back porch and it gets pretty windy which keeps the temps down. I finished it on wed and its gone already (4 medium sized kings). Guess I better go get a few more. I forgot to take pictures of the finished product, will try to remember next time.

We always talked about putting one of our old wood stoves outside and piping in the smoke only. Of course smoke in itself is hot too.

But we never got that far, as we have to run the AC in the smokehouse even in Feb to get the sausage finished.

I have a LOT to have to reverse my brain about soon... worry about smokehouse freezing, Not overheating...

Figuring out what all to add to the power stroke for winter weather... IE has a plug in for cold temps here, but probably need other heaters like battery and such put in and so on..
Bumper for snow blade etc...

Too much to fathom at the moment.

Then will come the first problem. How the hell do I catch all these fish. I"m just a cat fishing person mostly. Little bass thrown in now and then. Have figured out grayling though, cause they are numbers and stupid we figure....

Decided to go to my Nephew's wood working shop and let him quarter my Alder. He decided a very big sliding compound miter saw would work best. Got it done is short order. Now I need to find my draw knife to rid the wood of it's bark.

Hot smoking (smoking/cooking) allows much more flexibility than “cold” smoking. The process even varies just within the state of Alaska since conditions vary a lot. I’ve heard of people from out on the coast - where it may vary between 40s at night upward of 70 during the day with plenty of breeze - and trying to dry and smoke fish where it is both warmer and nearly calm much of the time. They often lose a lot of product or get a very poor outcome. Soured or rancid fish isn’t much good. Neithetr is it fun to deal with flies. We’ve always had our best and easiest outcomes in June when temps are cool, there’s good breeze, and July’s warmer damper days don’t create challenges.

I believe I’d simply go straight to a hot smoke method if my temps are already upwardly-Texan. 😄

Really nice here. 95 just past sunset.....thankful that I didn't have to put full fire gear on, afraid it was a house on fire with black smoke. Thank GOD it was a guy burning a pile with a few tires in it when we arrived. Nothing like bunker gear and HOT bottled breathing air...

Hope that wasn’t Butch’s salmon!!

Tires ad unique flavor

I gotta disagree... hot smoking is a cooking method, not a curing method. Once smoked it still requires canning or freezing to prevent spoilage. Cold smoked is good to go.

A flavor you have to 'nique up on to achieve full benefit!

Laughing!

Good move said the nine-fingered to the ten...



Full disclosure... still sporting ten...

Midnight tonight the Russian River limit goes to 6 per day until the 15th.

But I'm on the Colorado. LOL

True, cold smoked is less prone to spoilage after you get the product processed but that assumes you get it processed correctly which seems rather challenging when ambient temps are ideal for spoiling fish. I was referring to the process, not the final product.

Got ya! Yup, I have seen some spoiled fish.

Wow......

From the clown that put the ugliest fish up ever. Congratulations!

Just WOW..... you could fuuck up a lead ball Arthur.....

Hey stalker, why don't you get a life? You are an artless, pathetic, half-assed whiner.