Smoking Salmon Once A Week Is.....

thirdeye · February 2009

... just about right for me. You guys know I love this stuff. This week I did some Indian River Peppered Salmon. Last week I did my Pepper-corned Salmon, with red and green peppercorns. Both were my 8 to 10 hour cure and 8 hour rest in the fridge before smoking.

I did the peppercorned fillet in my box smoker at 100°. This weeks fillet was much thicker, so I did an ultra low Egg cook, putting it on around 150°, and keeping the vents cracked so little, I had to wiggle the coals about every hour just to revive the dying fire. I used the plate setter and pizza stone as the heat buffer.

TomM24 · February 2009

That some nice color there too!. I know how good that tastes. I got to do a whole fillet soon.

Sun Devil Brett · February 2009

That looks fantastic. I need to try that cook. What's your 8-10 hr cure before rest?

thirdeye · February 2009

I call it a dry cure because it starts out that way. It does liquefy into a syrup brine after a couple of hours.

This makes enough Dry Cure for about 10 pounds of fish, I keep the leftover in the freezer in a zipper bag.

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

On a cutting board, sprinkle a little of the salt onto the chopped garlic, and mash to a paste with the point of a knife. In a small bowl, combine the garlic mixture with the remaining salt, the sugar, ginger, pepper and bay leaf. Mix this very well. Extra can be stored in the freezer.

Some pictures and tips are on the salmon page on my site, but basically you layout a sheet of plastic wrap, add some cure, place the fillet flesh side down and fold up the plastic. Refrigerate for 8 hours, rinse, then rest in the fridge for 4 to 8 hours, then smoke.

R&R Futures Trader · February 2009

Very beautifull. I wish I had the patience to do that.

Austin Smoker · February 2009

ABSOLUTELY be-utiful Thirdeye. Those peppercorns on the last pic, and the color of the salmon - WOW! I'm not a huge lox and bagels kind of guy, but I'm thinking you could convert me.

Cactus Doug · February 2009

Thirdeye that cold smoked fish looks good, do you use alder or another wood? Also do you ever use a quick cure and then hot smoke the fish (225ish)?

thirdeye · February 2009

I like to start with either alder or apple, or a mix of them. I finish with cherry.

Sure, I've hot smoked plenty of fish....but not sure what kind of quick cure you are talking about. Some water based brines work faster than the dry cures.

Smoking Salmon Once A Week Is.....

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