I am smoking up a nice slab of King today. I don't do it often enough to be good at it. My main problem (I think) is telling when it is done. Mine either seem to be "not done" or salmon "jerky". Any hints would be appreciated.
Took a 1-3/4" thick filet and cut it into 1-3/4" wide strips. Have a big chief smoker.

Tough question, as every smoker seems to be different and variables like ambient temperature, thickness if fillet and fat content all have a big effect. On a day like this I would use my Big chief without a cover and would begin checking about four hours into the process. After a couple of hours rotate the top and bottom racks for a more uniform batch.

The best hint I can give you is to break a piece in half to check for doneness. If it’s close to as done as you like pull it immediately. The fish will continue to dry as it cools. If it’s almost as done as you like when you pull it out, it will be just right when it’s cool

The best I can tell ya is to TEST, TEST, TEST.
Timing has to do with thickness, outside temp, smoker temp, etc. Keep track of time till find it right. The fish will apear and fell more moist when it is right out of the smoker and warm but will dry some as it cools. Keep an eye on it!!

I agree with what's posted above. I think the Big Chief and like smokers are designed to reach 140?, the temperature at which fish cooks. In your case, I'd guess the fish would be "done," that is cooked, in about two hours. But to get a good product, I'd guess about three pans of chips over four to six hours, depending on how dry a product you want to end up with. Good luck...

Thank you for the advice. Put it in at 9:00 and am about 1/2 way through the 2nd and final pan of chips. Will let you know how it turns out. Thanks again for the help.

The key is allowing the meat to dry first. I usually stick mine in and allow them to air dry for several hours before turning it on. After that the first hour is without wood to ensure they dry. Then 3 to 5 hours with wood should be good for thick filets. Every time you check it though you add time as it releases all the smoke. By the way, I've switched to hickory chunks for kings and silvers. It's a sweet deep smoke flavor. Everyone really likes it.

Our tastes all vary. I like mine moist and not too salty or too smoky. I brine 3-4 hours in a dry mix, refridgerate overnight , warm on kitchen counter for four hours and smoke 3-5 hours. I do not liek a heavy smoke flavor, so use only one or at most two pans of chips - usually apple wood. There is no "right" answer, just keep at it till you find what you like.

I use alder, but am not yet convinced any hardwood works as well. Also, at the start of what I figure will be the last hour in the smoker, I sometimes brush the fish with thinned-down maple syrup or brown sugar syrup...gives the fillets a nice, glossy finish. Have fun...it's more art than science.

Another good brush on recipe is whiskey and brown sugar. Just mix in the brown sugar until the whiskey won’t absorb any more. The more times you brush on the more gloss you get.

IMPORTANT LINK, CLICK HERE!


Maybe because I've seen a few guys come in with gastroenteritis from eating thier own smoked salmon I've made some changes to the way I smoke fish. If you want to avoid a 3 am trip to the ER for IV rehydration I'd follow the instructions on the link. Especially if you give your smoked fish away. Do you really want to give the gift of vomiting and diarrhea?

I use a meat thermometer and my propane gas grill to complete the 30 minute, 160 degree cooking cycle. Its convienent to just take out the whole trays from the Big Chief and stick them right in the BBQ. Then they go back in the smoker for another hour or so afterwards. You need to do this to kill bacteria. 140 degree heat doesn't do the job, its almost incubation temperature. But don't start the smoking process with the high temp cooking cycle or you'll 'curdle' the fish. Its that funky curdled fat that develops on fish smoked at too high a heat, too fast.

Don't air dry your fish in the smoker, or outside the refrigerator. You'll definitely invite trouble. I air dry in the fridge for about 6-12 hours depending on the size of the cuts.

The only thing I havn't been doing , that I plan on incooperating into the regime, is adding absorbant toweling of some sort to one side of the bag as I vacumm wrap. Its supposed to prevent mold from forming. I want to find that stuff the butchers use to absorb the juice from steaks.

Lastly, in order to get a perfectly smoked piece of fish you have to babysit the dam smoker the last 2 hours. Some pieces will need to be removed before others are done. Different sizes smoke differently. Different parts of the smoker have higher temps, or better air circulation. Those all affect cooking times.

I smoked over 200 pounds of salmon last year. I made my own mistakes, learned alot too. What I give you is about 10% from my own experience, and 90% from books and the web.

Have fun and be safe.

Vince

Vince,

I have heard that freezing the salmon for several days prior to smoking will kill the germs. The article you attached does not address this.

Thoughts?

I have the Big Block (propane) smoker, and fortunately, the thermometer is quite accurate. I generally run mine up to about 200 for 1/2 hr. after the smoking phase (about 3 hrs. into the process). I have found that this doesn't over dry the fish, but leads to the fish being done quicker. I use a baste of maple syrup and brandy, usually basting before they go in, and twice during the process.

Never had a complaint, but lots of compliments!

Mike

All done at 1:15. Turned out real good. Gonna have to do the baste thing though. Would be nice if it looked as good as it tasted. Thanks again for the input. Lots and lots of variables. I'll just keep trying as experience is most of the "secret" I think.

I have the same smoker as Mike's. My dad was a butcher and we used to smoke fish in a brick smoker with a real fire in a side fire box. Apple wood was always the preferred wood....Prune the apple trees and use that.

I am a believer in using a meat thermometer. I dry overnight in the refigerator. I used to lay paper towels over the fish while it dried overnight. Alot of times the paper would stick to the fish. So wax paper is fine under and on top. I cure for 4 hours with a dry cure that liquifies. I smoked a batch for many hours at low heat and got basically lox...great tasting but very soft. It is the salt that keeps it from molding but I still used twice as much brown sugar as salt. I am told that after an hour in this smoker the fish has absorbed all the smoke it will so it is really not necessary to use more than one bucket of chips..this smoker has a high capacity for chips...I use the new Luhr Jensen chunks which work well...In the old brick smoker with the fire box we went to Sawduct Supply and bought gunny sacks of alder and put that on the coals...nothing finer...A charcoal fire with alder chips is great too. The propane smoker allows for a set it and forget it smoke job...I babysat my first batch but the next one will be set at 160 degrees and the process should be done after 3 hours of so. Best bet is to experiment.

I couldn't think of anything that would improve Grandpa's recipe. Its safe and probably just as delicious.

I think just freezing the fish is a bad idea. Freezing doesn't kill bacteria. It just puts them in a state of suspended animation. When you go to thaw them, you'll also thaw out active germs.



I would recommend picking up some whole lemon peppers. I buy mine from the spice shop around the corner from the Pike Place Fish Market. I grind them very course and roll the fish in them prior to smoking, but after air drying.


vince

The Little Chief recipe book has the perfect recipe with apple. It make great salmon. I find that my fish comes out better if I wait until the fall to smoke. I have an outhouse size smoker. Brine, cure, smoke. Never had a problem. Mark the drier pieces so you can put them into dip. It's all good.

The right smoke flavor for me is to use only 2 pans of chips and rotate the trays every half hour. After you run through 2 pans, just remove the pan but leave the power on. This way I get the right amount of smoke and more heat time. If you rotate the trays, the fish texture will be consistant.

Good Luck

Vhawk, I use a Brinkmann which is quite a bit hotter than the Chiefs. Been smoken fish, jerky, ribs, roasts and briskets for decades and never once been or made anyone sick. If air drying fish for a couple hours right out of a brine from the fridge is playing with fire then all of the butchers should be shut down as their meat sits under the display case all day long which is opened and closed every five minutes.

I have a big chief and really don't feel it gets hot enough inside, particularly when the weather gets nasty out. I cover the smoker but am always a bit concerned about the meat not getting hot enough. I intend to go to a propane smoker for the reasons mentioned above.....better to be careful. I also only allow one pan of smoke to go over the fish, it's plenty! Other than that I only add salt, sugar, and pepper as a dry mix, it's awesome everytime and very simple.

RM

RM: Okay, so I admit I'm an old fart, but my dad smoked salmon in an outdoor smokehouse with the fire in a barrel outside, with the smoke piped into the bottom of the smokehouse. The lowest rack was about five feet above the ground. I highly doubt that fish ever got above 100 degrees. He smoked it for seven days and used only fresh cut alder that smoldered and smoked but made very little heat.

When he was 85, I told him I had smoked some salmon in one day. He was almost offended. He said, "You may have cooked it in one day buy you sure as hell didn't smoke it" I think he was right. What we do now days is to cook it with a smoke flavor.

I'm not knocking anyones methods here. I too use a Big Chief and never have it in there more than 10-12 hours. Just some thought on the "good old days"


P.S. I loved dads smoked salmon, but in hindsight it was dry, hard and smoky as hell. They were smoking more as a preservative than as a gourmet treat.

I use the book from the little chief and have had good results as well. I punched a small hole in the front of my smoker and keep a meat thermometer in it that works pretty good.