ratio of salt to sugar for smoking salmon

egger ave

I smoked a salmon filet today after packing and curing the filet in salt/sugar/onion and garlic and other spices for 3 days. I was rinsed it off and patted in dry before smoking for 2 hours at 200 degrees with cherry chips. It was moist and delicious but a bit too salty. Any suggestions on the ratio of salt to sugar for curing? My wife ways she will eat all of the experiments I want to try to get this right.

thirdeye

eggerave,[p]36 hours?? That is most likely your problem. [p]My salmon cure is 1:2 salt/sugar and I go about 8 hours. Jim Minion's Cardogs rub (I have two fillets ready to go with his recipe for tomorrow) is 1:1 but he calls for a 3 or 4 hour cure.[p]~thirdeye~

Eggin in Peoria

eggerave,
Here is one I have been playing with and enjoy the result. [p]Smoked Salmon Brine
1/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. sea salt
1.5 c. soy
1 c. water
1/2 c. terriyaki
3/4 t. garlic powder
1/4 t. pepper
1/2 t. habenero jackass sauce[p]I only go 12 or so hours (overnight). [p]I also enjoy Thirdeye's but I only use 3/4 c salt.
1 cup kosher salt
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
½ teaspoon pulverized bay leaf

BlueSmoke

eggerave,
I typically use 3:2 (brown) sugar to salt. (Incidentally, I use weight rather than volume.) If you're going to do an extended brine (more than 4 or 5 hours), you will probably want to rinse the fish and then soak it in clear water for an hour or so.[p]HTH
Ken

egger ave

eggerave,
thanks for the suggestions, it will back to the kitchen for the next filet and smoke.

Madhatter

eggerave,
My best results have been with 4 parts brown sugar, 1 part kosher salt...

thirdeye

<p />eggerave,[p]I just pulled off this tail section of the salmon I mentioned yesterday. The fillet should be ready in an hour or two. This one was dry cured, which actually turns to a syrup then rinsed, rested over-night and a brown sugar finishing rub was added.[p]~thirdeye~

ChefDave

thirdeye,
I do a lot of Salmon and have yet to try one one the BGE. Would you share your process and recipe with us? The pic of the tail looks great and I'll bet it's very tasty.

thirdeye

<p />Letts-Do-It,[p]Here is a pic of the fillet. The tail was delicious and a great sampler. The salmon I smoked today was Jim Minion's dry rub recipe. It uses tarragon, dill and savory (the peppery bean spice) along with garlic and onion for the back flavors. Jim's finishing rub is sugar based. I use this recipe about 25% of the time I smoke salmon and almost always when I want to serve two different flavors.[p]Here is a link to [url=http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showpost.php?p=128372&postcount=3
]Jim Minion's Cardogs Salmon [/url] technique. [p]Here is the link to my Dry Cure for Salmon along with my smoking technique. My recipe uses ginger, white pepper, bay leaf and fresh garlic for the back flavor. I add a pepper based finishing rub and sometimes use whole peppercorns.[p]To be very honest, I prefer smoking salmon in an electric smoker box at 185° to 200° because of the ease of temp control and because I change wood at the end of the cook to give the fillets some red color. However, late fall and winter the smoker box will not work and I use my large Egg with really good results. I use a Guru to control my temps.[p]~thirdeye~[p]

ChefDave

thirdeye,
I have also used an electric smoker but plan to use the BGE in the future. I look forward to trying your process and will let you know how I do. Thanks again

egger ave

Madhatter,
I was getting there with more sugar and less salt. Thanks for the suggestion

egger ave

thirdeye,
Thanks for the suggestions and recipe. I will post results.