Ok,Ok I know that some of yer recipies may be more secret than my top secret and above clearences than I have now in the Marine Corps!!
But I'm lookin for a Damn good smoked salmon recipe !! I have enough fish to smoke , that I'll be here for at least two years ! And I would like to experiment.

Demon,

You might try the search tool if you haven't yet. I typed in "smoked" and set parameters for the subject line only and came up with a few past threads that might help you find what your looking for.

Buddy,

Here is my recipe. However, I recommend trying something of your own or adding a twist. Lots more satisfying when you add your own touch.

Good Luck

Fish Brine (2 lbs of fish fillets)
2 cups Soy Sauce
1/2 cup Italian Vinagrette Dressing
2 TBSP Garlic Salt
3 TBSP Coarse Ground Black Pepper
3 TBSP All Purpose Seasoning (Johnnies)
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup Honey or Molassess

Soak the fish in the brine for 12 hours. Place the fillets on the smoking racks. After 4 hours of smoking, baste the honey over the fillets.

Are you familiar with KISS? No, not the band, Keep it simple stupid.

Two ingredients are needed for this recipe, canning and pickling salt and brown sugar.

Sprinkle salt over the skin down filets until you get an even coverage thin coverage, but you can still see the fish flesh. I use between a 1/2 cup and 3/4 cup for a whole fish.

Sprinkle brown sugar on top and use enough so that you can't see the fish. i use about a cup and a half to two cups for a fish.

Cover and refridgerate for 12-18 hours, depending on the thickness of the filets

Before you toss it in the smoker, use the "juice" that has formed in the pan to wash the excess salt off of the fish and then spray the racks with PAM. Run two pans of alder chips through your little chief and rotate the top and bottom racks every 6-8 hours. Usually smokes for about 18 hours.

Smoked Fish

Have been using the following for 30+ yrs. Works very well for all salmon and steelhead.

1----- 1 quart water
2----- 2/3 cup sugar(white or brown, both work)
3----- 1/2 cup salt(all work)(can go less)
4----- 3 Tablespoons Seafood seasoning.
5----- 1 Tablespoon garlic power

Marinate 8 - 12 hours

Drain, rinse......air dry until glazed over

Smoke 8 - 12 hours, I prefer adler but ????
Important...weather has big affect on completion time....if cold add 1-2 hrs. and rotate the racks.

"Worst day sport fishing, still better than the best day working"

Demon, just alittle advice if you had not smoked before; DO NOT let it brine more than recomended. It"ll get too salty. #2 DO NOT use Hickory chips (Alder is great) Hickory is for meats and cheeses and taste bad on fish. Haven't tried Apple yet, guys, is Apple any good? Oh yeh, put your cardboard box over the smoker, it smokes alot faster. Cut a slot in the bottom of the box for the pans handle.

[ 01-11-2002: Message edited by: G-MAN ]

Ummm, cherry!

G-man, I use nothing but apple for my salmon, and it is killer! In ref to the other suggestions, my recipe is very plain: add approx 1 cup salt to 2+/- quarts water, add 2-3 tablespoons each worchestire (sp?) soy sauce, and lemon juice (conc). Ensure there is enough water to cover fish (I use a turkey roaster). Let sit in frige for 36 hours, place in smoker (I have a TEXAS size smoker, so adjust as necessary), use approx 10 #charcoal, when charcoal is almost gone, add apple wood and smoke for approx 8 hours.

this recipe I got from my grandma she got it in westport in the 60's, it;s for 10lbs of salmon


2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup plain salt
1 tablespoon garlic salt or powder
1 tablespoon black pepper

lay fish skin side down in glass or plastic pan sprinkle mix over fish evenly lay next layer flesh side down continue until fish is gone cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hrs rotating fish from top to bottom 1/2 way thru the fishes moisture is all you need no water it will surprise you how much liquid will be in the pan when done. I use apple or alder chips in my little chief usually 2 pans full and 6-8hrs smoking depending on how dry or moist you like your fish.

g-man ,how you figure? the best smoked fish i ever had was done with hickory.is all i use for my own too.guess it's a matter of personal taste.I use brown suger and pickeling salt,take fillets and rub sugar in with hand then put in salt in a plastic container just about 1 cup of salt then let brine overnight,take out and rinse lightly with cool water.place on paper towels and let set for 1-2 hours,sprinkle some garlic pepper then into the smoker.3-4 pans of whatever chips you like

Squaw Candy recipe (harder smoked striped salmon or steelhead)

2 cups of brown sugar
1 cup thick teriyaki sauce (Yachida's teriyaki)
1/8 cup of Non-iodized salt
1/8 cup of maple syrup
1/8 cup of soy sauce
6 oz can of apple juice

Combine let set 2 hours (stir occasionally)

Strip the salmon/steelhead filet with the skin still on in strips of fairly uniform thickness (Cut a small strip to excise the line of bones first). Then filet the skin off (with skin down) to free all the strips.

Marinade in gallon plastic bags and it doesn't matter if meat touches each other. Marinade for about 8-10 hours. Remove meat from brine (don't rinse) and skewer unto bamboo skewers about as wide as your smoker racks. Pam smoker racks and place skewers directly on racks (it won't stick). Smoke until desired doneness. It should be more well done than regular smoked fish (it's somewhere between jerky and smoked fish in doneness). I cover my smoker 70-90% (with a cardboard box) when it's cold out and my batches took about 4.5 to 5 hours. Good stuff.
Try varying brine ingredients.

Looks like with all the variations, you can do anything you want! Whatever tastes good to you, go for it-don't forget the tabasco . Seems everyone but me uses sugar in some way shape or form; seems to me it would spoil faster, but I'm going to have to try it. Now, as soon as the water drops (tomorrow), lets get some brats to put in the smoker!!

G-Man,

I gotta back up what was said about apple. Very good.

Demon seed ( ),

One thing to make sure you do (not sure if this got mentioned already) is strip any and all bark off the wood prior to smoking. It will rapidly add a very bitter flavor to your meat. Also, white smoke is good, blue smoke - not good. I have an offset firebox so mine is cold smoked and if you get alot of blue smoke, it means your wood is burning not smoldering and your "closest to" meat will very quickly pay the price. I also just use regular alder from cut down trees and smoke all day. My neighbors now tolerate it fine since they usually benefit.

I have a good recipe from Waterfall Resort in SE Alaska that calls for coating the entire fillet with Kosher salt for 8 hours. I was sure I wasn't going to like this because I like moist smoked fish, not jerked. After the 8 hours, rinse it all off under the faucet. The meat will have turned leathery on the outside. Then brine it in any solution that appeals to you. My brine uses *alot* of maple syrup and *alot* of garlic. I usually cut the salt by 1/3 because sometimes the fish sits in the brine for more than a day if I get sidetracked and it can get too salty. When you cut the salt content, you cut the keeping time; but if you made good fish, it isn't an issue, is it?
Let the fish surface dry for a couple hours before firing up the smoker. It shouldn't be glistening wet when it goes in the smoker.


I like to use alder chips, but apple and cherry are good, too. I, also, in agreement with the above person, do not care for hickory. And do rotate the shelves or the ones nearest the heat get jerked. I use 3 pans of chips in a Little Chief.
A friend loaned me her vacuum packer ( $140 from costco ) and I packed up some smoked salmon in it and froze it for several months. We took some out at Christmas and you could not tell that it was ever frozen. Amazing. When I have to give it back to her I'll go buy one of my own.
Good smoking!
diana

Apple and cherry, sounds good. I tried the hickory and ended up throwing it all out. But it is a matter of taste. Worth trying alittle of each first to see which you like better. We bought a Vaccupack over the Food Saver because Vaccupack has a 5 yr warr. and the Food Saver has only 1 yr. The Food Saver is alittle easier to use. Vaccupack makes the commercial units and is only $20.00 to repair out of warr and is repaired in Seattle. Bags from costco work on both units. I highly recommend a vaccum packer. All my fillets are now frozen and fresh. Ready to smoke or bake.

Let's see how many of you get this right.

Why do you let the fish glaze?

Fishhead5

Draining the fish after brining alows the salt to even out and the brine flavors to settle into the fish,Before the drying of the smoking process slows all that down.I do mine for 24 hours.Kinda like spagetti tasting beter after a cpouple of days in the fridge!

R RIDGEWAY,
I like you recipe I am going to add that to my cook book,thanks

I would recommend 'SMOKING SALMON&TROUT Plus Pickling,Sausaging&care.' By Jack Whelan
I have seen the book at alot of sporting goods stores.It goes into all factions of processsing fish,Talks about what goes on when you freeze,a very interesting book!

OK...I'm not going to get it right, so I'm not going to bite.
Why DO we let fish glaze?
Personally, I find pools of brine on the depressions of the fillet, but I know that isn't really why it's done. I just do it.
C'mon.....tell us, tell us!

diana

Thank you for all the suggestions