Who has the best brine for smoked salmon?

[Guitarplayingfish]

I am planning on smoking the rest of the salmon I have in the freezer within the next few weeks (4-8lbs).

Anyone interested in sharing their favorite brine?

[LCCFisherman]

James.

[fish gunner]

3-1 brown sugar -coarse salt ether a half head of garlic or ginger. Ensure fish is completely covered by brine . Let sit 8-10hrs .light rinse pat dry . Smoke mmm brush with maple syrup every 2.5 hrs if that's your fancy

[huntin'fool]

This guy has the best brine...hands down!!!!

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=107.0

[AppleJax]

Originally Posted by fish gunner

3-1 brown sugar -coarse salt ether a half head of garlic or ginger. Ensure fish is completely covered by brine . Let sit 8-10hrs .light rinse pat dry . Smoke mmm brush with maple syrup every 2.5 hrs if that's your fancy

Sounds about right.

[Sitkaspruce]

For 8-10 lbs of salmon
1 kg demerara brown sugar
1 cup pickling salt
Mix the two.

Take your salmon, remove the bones and cut into strips 2" wide x 4-6" long. Get a container, can be a small one or even a cooler, depending on how much fish and place the strips skin side down to cover the bottom, then cover the flesh with the sugar/salt mix then place the next group of strips flesh side down into the mixture. Repeat layering until all fish is covered with mixture. Place in a cold place or place a frozen 1l pop bottle in the cooler with the fish.

In 12 hours or so, you will have a slurry liquid with the fish. Remove the fish and mix the slurry up, now add what you want; garlic, seasoning, some type of alcohol what ever turns your crank. Mix it all up and place the fish back in the mix, leave for at least another 12 hours, but you can leave it in for a few days depending on how sweet/strong you want it.

Now here is the trick, when you are ready, remove the fish and place on racks and let air dry (use a fan to speed this process up if you want). You want to have a sticky, dry to the touch on the flesh. Now you can add pepper, garlic or some type of topping if you want.

Place in the smoker and smoke for 2-3 hours and cook for another 2-3, depending on thickness and how you like your fish. I like alder/apple or special blend for the Bradley.

I am doing 12 lbs of spring right now and are using orange rind and brandy in my mix. Will smoke it tomorrow.

This is a basic, you add more or less or what ever you want.

Lots of good info on the net as well.

remember to write what you did down so the next time you can add/remove or use the same.

Good luck

Cheers

SS

[AppleJax]

Originally Posted by Sitkaspruce

For 8-10 lbs of salmon
1 kg demerara brown sugar
1 cup pickling salt
Mix the two.

Take your salmon, remove the bones and cut into strips 2" wide x 4-6" long. Get a container, can be a small one or even a cooler, depending on how much fish and place the strips skin side down to cover the bottom, then cover the flesh with the sugar/salt mix then place the next group of strips flesh side down into the mixture. Repeat layering until all fish is covered with mixture. Place in a cold place or place a frozen 1l pop bottle in the cooler with the fish.

In 12 hours or so, you will have a slurry liquid with the fish. Remove the fish and mix the slurry up, now add what you want; garlic, seasoning, some type of alcohol what ever turns your crank. Mix it all up and place the fish back in the mix, leave for at least another 12 hours, but you can leave it in for a few days depending on how sweet/strong you want it.

Now here is the trick, when you are ready, remove the fish and place on racks and let air dry (use a fan to speed this process up if you want). You want to have a sticky, dry to the touch on the flesh. Now you can add pepper, garlic or some type of topping if you want.

Place in the smoker and smoke for 2-3 hours and cook for another 2-3, depending on thickness and how you like your fish. I like alder/apple or special blend for the Bradley.

I am doing 12 lbs of spring right now and are using orange rind and brandy in my mix. Will smoke it tomorrow.

This is a basic, you add more or less or what ever you want.

Lots of good info on the net as well.

remember to write what you did down so the next time you can add/remove or use the same.

Good luck

Cheers

SS

Very well written, sounds like you know what your doing!

[Sitkaspruce]

Here's another one I use

2-1 litre Dole Pinapple/Orange/Banana Juice
2/3 cup pickling salt
1 bag of Demerara sugar
4 tbsp of pure maple syurp sugar (Dried)
1/4 cup molassas

Mix all together, ensuring that the sugar and salt are completely disolved.
Place is fish chucks/strips and let fish brine for at least 24 hours. Remove and place on racks to dry.

Place in smoker and smoke for 2-3 hours depending on how much smoke you like, then cook for another 2-4 hours, brushing maple syurp or honey on the fish every 1.5 hours or so.

Again, can be changed/added to your taste.

And yes, I have been smoking fish for a long time, just moved from Vancouver Island, where we get to try many different ways to make salmon taste better/different.

Cheers

SS

[simmered]

Yep, now I'm drooling!

[338Bluff]

Originally Posted by AppleJax

Very well written, sounds like you know what your doing!

Yep. He sounds like he is a master at it. I picked up some very good tips from that post. Will be tweaking my recipe for the next batch of bows or lakers.

[50/50]

Yessir .

Just brown sugar and salt . I even cut down the salt to a 1/2 cup per 1 kg bag.

Once the fish has cured (and shrunk) all the bones will be sticking out ; i used pliers and pull them out .

I brush on Honey and coarse ground pepper near the end of smoking.

[Guitarplayingfish]

This is all great stuff! Thanks guys!!

Good call on writing it down sitka... I made some about a year ago and I absolutely loved it... Unfortunately, I have no clue what recipe I used so I am back to square one. I'll make sure I keep notes on what I do this time.

Thanks again!