Northwest Fishing Reports

care to share some yummy recipes for smoking fish?

I like this one. I dont salt as long as it says though. I use thicker salmon so 7 hours just gets it done, 8 is a lil better.

Sweet Smoked Salmon

Ingredients:

Kosher or rock salt
Salmon filets cut into 6 oz chunks with skin on
2 quarts soy sauce
2 cups brown sugar
1-cup honey
2 tbsp ground black pepper

Suggested wood chips:

Barkless alder



Directions

Coat the fish completely in kosher or rock salt for and set in refrigerator for 12-14 hours. (Do not go over this time frame. It will make the fish too salty to eat.) Rinse the fish under cold water to remove all of the salt. At this point the fish should have a firm consistency. Combine the soy sauce, brown sugar, honey, and black pepper. Marinate the fish pieces in the sauce for 24-36 hours. Pre heat the smoker to 160 degrees. Lightly grease the cooking racks with oil. Place the fish on the racks, skin side down for 6-7 hours at 160 hours. Check fish hourly after 6 hrs to ensure desired firmness.

This is my favorite, very simple and very cheap. Its a dry brine, here it is

1 c. non ionized salt

4 c. brown sugar

Place salmon in glass bowl and cover with brine. Then another layer of salmon and another layer of brine. Repeat until all salmon is gone.

Cover bowl and refrigerate for about 24 hours.

Rinse salmon off and pat dry with paper towel and air dry on smoking rack overnight (or at least for a few hours)

Then they are ready to smoke. Smoking time varies. Yesterday I did 4 pinks and it took 8 hours. In the winter time that probably would have taken 11 hours.

right on guys, thanks for the recipes. Cant wait to try them out!! have you guys tried this with other fish aswell?

hanapaa808 wrote:right on guys, thanks for the recipes. Cant wait to try them out!! have you guys tried this with other fish aswell?

Sort of, I have smoked kings, silvers, chum and rainbows with the recipe.

im not familiar with the electric smokers here. got any ideas on which one i should get? i have a homemade one that i use charcoal or wood with, its a cold smoker. the electric ones look easier to use. looks like you plug in add chips and walk away. looking for input from you guys, thanks

hanapaa808 wrote:im not familiar with the electric smokers here. got any ideas on which one i should get? i have a homemade one that i use charcoal or wood with, its a cold smoker. the electric ones look easier to use. looks like you plug in add chips and walk away. looking for input from you guys, thanks

I have the little chief and it works just fine. Its a very simple and basic smoker, but has a very basic simple price tag. They actually have them on sale at Fred Meyers right now. I have had a couple charcoal smokers, but they were more complicated

My latest

1 c salt
3 c b sugar
1 c Worstershire
2 q water (have used beer also)

cover fish w/ brine and place in refer for 24hrs

place on racks without rinsing and allow to form pellicle for couple hours

I have an elec Brinkman smoker and I don't have a thermometer for it but I run it for an hour.

remains very moist but firm, you can put it right on the table and eat. I vacuum seal it into a few packs and freeze also.

hanapaa808 wrote:im not familiar with the electric smokers here. got any ideas on which one i should get? i have a homemade one that i use charcoal or wood with, its a cold smoker. the electric ones look easier to use. looks like you plug in add chips and walk away. looking for input from you guys, thanks

I have a Brinkman, its ok but I really like my Masterbuilt smoker. Its temp controlled and has 4 racks so I have more than plenty of space to smoke up a whole mess of stuff.

i've been leaning towards a dry brine lately because of it's simplicity, and i only have to refridgerate the fish for 6-8 hrs before smoking. i use the basic recipe found on salmon university. check it out, it has step by step instructions. i've used the same recipe on trout as well as all kinds of salmon with killer results. you can tweak it to taste. a VERY light honey drizzle on some of the fish after an hour or so into the smoke makes for some sweet treats...

1 cup kosher or canning salt

4 cups dark brown sugar

10 tsp garlic flakes (found in bulk @ QFC)

I have the Masterbuilt smoker, non electric. It smokes fish at 170 degrees (obviously not a "cold smoke") and average smoke time is about 5 hours. It does a great job and I have been very happy with it. I have tried many home made recipes for brine and have also tried a few store bought brines. I use the Luhr Jensen salmon/trout brine exclusively and have had nothing but great results with it every time out. In the last week I have smoked up 2 batches of pink salmon (about 9 fish) and the finished product has been great.

I did a batch using RaMcVey's recipe above and it turned out great!

But I would like to find a recipe that uses little to no salt.

I did a small test batch using 50/50 mix of water and Yoshida's Gourmet Sauce as a brine and actually it turned out pretty good. Wondering how a teriyaki sauce would do..

Does anybody out there have a smoked salmon recipes that use less salt?

I would specifically be interested in two things - something on the sweeter side and something with a little kick (spice).

Anybody?

Gringo Pescador wrote:I did a batch using RaMcVey's recipe above and it turned out great!

But I would like to find a recipe that uses little to no salt.

I did a small test batch using 50/50 mix of water and Yoshida's Gourmet Sauce as a brine and actually it turned out pretty good. Wondering how a teriyaki sauce would do..

Does anybody out there have a smoked salmon recipes that use less salt?

I would specifically be interested in two things - something on the sweeter side and something with a little kick (spice).

Anybody?

Hey Gringo...After over 20 years of experimenting with I don't know how many different recipes, I too have found the Salmon University recipe to be my favorite. It has been the most consistent and reliable brine over and over. I love it. But really it has to be a personal choice. To cut down on the saltiness…I just don’t leave it in the brine as long. Sometimes I like more salt taste than others so I leave it in longer. I too like a little spice on my fish sometimes. I have used flaked red pepper or course black pepper and one of my new favorites…ground chipotle chili pepper sprinkled on top of the fish prior to smoking. After reading some of the great suggestions from this post, I think my next batch will be a sampler platter consisting of one rack each of black pepper, honey drizzle, regular and chipotle chili pepper. Thanks to all for your great suggestions!

Gringo Pescador wrote:I
Does anybody out there have a smoked salmon recipes that use less salt?

Be sure and remember to rinse the fillets well after removing them from your brine.

btw. cooked up a Pink last night in the oven. Just did some Lemon pepper and garlic salt. Pretty tastey.

Mav - I was thinking I would ty that one next - thanks for the tip!

The Quadfather wrote:

Gringo Pescador wrote:I
Does anybody out there have a smoked salmon recipes that use less salt?

Be sure and remember to rinse the fillets well after removing them from your brine.

Ya know, I did rinse em after the salting, but not after the brine (just let em drip-dry a little bit) - will keep that in mind next time Thanks!

soak in this stuff overnite. most excellent.

My latest iteration for low sugar and salt for those of us on a "controlled diet".

mix and chill
1/4 to 3/8 C non iodized or Kosher
1 C of Splenda or equiv.
1/2 C dark molasses
1 QT warm water +-

any other spices for your sig flavor.

Soak fish pieces for 6 to 10 hours.
Rinse completely and rack
smoke after pellicle forms to your desired doneness.

Never reuse brine. Never reuse brine.

Don't look back, add something new.

gpc wrote:This is my favorite, very simple and very cheap. Its a dry brine, here it is

1 c. non ionized salt

4 c. brown sugar

Place salmon in glass bowl and cover with brine. Then another layer of salmon and another layer of brine. Repeat until all salmon is gone.

Cover bowl and refrigerate for about 24 hours.

Rinse salmon off and pat dry with paper towel and air dry on smoking rack overnight (or at least for a few hours)

Then they are ready to smoke. Smoking time varies. Yesterday I did 4 pinks and it took 8 hours. In the winter time that probably would have taken 11 hours.

So I did this recipe with a silver and 2 large pinks I caught yesterday and it is the best smoked salmon I have produced in 10 years. Amazing how something so simple makes such great smoked salmon. I was actually told about this simple recipe from a friend of mine who I fished with yesterday. I made it 1 part salt to 3 parts brown sugar and it was slightly salty which was okay. I will make it 4 to 1 next batch. Good call GPC & my buddy Dan.

thanks for all the recipes, ive been making my way down the list. i hope to try them all this year. keep your brine recipes coming!!!